Mushrooms

charlie

Admin
The Law & Order Admin
Joined
Jan 4, 2012
Messages
14,359
Location
USA
Does Ray Peat say anything about mushrooms? I know they are above ground, so I guess they would fall into the "not so good" category. But mushrooms like Shiitake are touted for their immune system boost. Do you think they are OK to eat or should they be avoided?
 

judi

Member
Joined
Jan 15, 2013
Messages
41
Location
Sydney, Australia
Re. mushrooms RP once said to me: "Since reading about the chemicals in mushrooms I stopped eating them, but using them occasionally is o.k., probably better than many vegetables."
 
OP
charlie

charlie

Admin
The Law & Order Admin
Joined
Jan 4, 2012
Messages
14,359
Location
USA
Judi, thank you so much!

And welcome to the forum! :welcome
 

4peatssake

Member
Joined
Feb 7, 2013
Messages
2,055
Age
62
shrooms1.jpg

:lol:
 

LucyL

Member
Joined
Oct 21, 2013
Messages
1,244
judi said:
Re. mushrooms RP once said to me: "Since reading about the chemicals in mushrooms I stopped eating them, but using them occasionally is o.k., probably better than many vegetables."

Another thing to be cautious of in mushroom is they are hyper uptakers of radiation. Mushrooms That Absorb Radioactive Cesium 137 and Other Radionuclides

Most commercially sold mushrooms are farmed indoors Growing Mushrooms so the biggest concern is the water source and is it potentially contaminated? For example, mushrooms grown in Japan or on the west coast.
 

himsahimsa

Member
Joined
Jan 25, 2014
Messages
148
Most commercial farmed mushrooms are grown on steam sterilized cow manure. The source of the manure should be the main concern. Cow manure is almost universally the choice for agaricus and portabella (an agaricus). Specialties may be grown on anything form sawdust to popcorn. So usually what some cows ate is what is available to the mushrooms. It varies by facility and time of year even per grower.

Very little if any water is added (except what condenses from the sterilizing steam). Mushrooms don't need watering like green plants, in fact it will rot their mycelia.
 

LucyL

Member
Joined
Oct 21, 2013
Messages
1,244
That's very interesting about the growth media. So probably the cow manure is coming from feedlots and therefore grainfed cattle.
 

himsahimsa

Member
Joined
Jan 25, 2014
Messages
148
Shiitake is grown on oak logs or sawdust. Its mineral content reflects that of the oak it is grown on.

All these sites saying this or that food is a good source of some mineral are parroting complete nonsense. All mineral content in all plants is entirely dependent on the soil the plant was grown in. You can assume those minerals that are absolutely essential to the survival of the plant are present because if not, the plant would not be present. As far as "trace" minerals are concerned, it's a crap shoot. There must only be the bare minimum.

Nitrogen
Phosphorus
Potassium
Calcium
Sodium
Can be expected. Look on a bag of all purpose fertilizer to get a feeling for what's in what you eat. Elements are not created by plants, they are created by suns, they must be acquired by plants.
 
Joined
Feb 4, 2015
Messages
1,972
"Well cooked button mushrooms contain an effective amount of aromatase inhibitors, and can improve digestion, and are very nutritious, similar to meat." - RP

Source: Danny Roddy Patreon feed.
 

tara

Member
Joined
Mar 29, 2014
Messages
10,368
:carrot2 :carrot2 :carrot2

Not that I'd been holding back. :)
 

Salty

Member
Joined
Sep 8, 2015
Messages
44
Actually, one of the things that popped out to me in a recent RP newsletter (July 2015) was his inclusion of cooked mushrooms, along with the usual mention of carrot and bamboo shoots, for bowel health. Here is the exact quote (pg 5):

Considering the longevity and stress-resistance of germ-free animals, choosing foods (such as raw carrots or cooked bamboo shoots or cooked mushrooms) which accelerate peristalsis and speed transit through the bowel, while suppressing bacterial growth, seems like a convenient approach to increasing longevity.

It was the first time I had seem him include mushrooms and have been curious since if his opinion on mushrooms has changed.
 

dibble

Member
Joined
Nov 2, 2015
Messages
56
Hiya - newbie to the fourm!

Rays views on mushrooms may well have changed. I emailed him last week to ask his views on vasectomies and he suggested a diet high in OJ and mushrooms - mushrooms specifcally because they are an aromatase inhibitor and block the conversion of testosterone to estrogen.
 
Joined
Feb 4, 2015
Messages
1,972
"Well cooked button mushrooms contain an effective amount of aromatase inhibitors, and can improve digestion, and are very nutritious, similar to meat." - RP

Source: Danny Roddy Patreon feed.
 

Dan W

Member
Joined
Jan 22, 2013
Messages
1,528
Aromatase inhibition
I could swear someone posted a mushroom / aromatase study (maybe you, WP?). But I can't find the post, so here's a few studies:
Plus an anecdote with someone testing their estradiol with and without mushrooms.

Nutrition
Based on the listing for "white mushrooms" in Cronometer:
  • They have similar nutritional strengths to egg yolks (decent sources of selenium, zinc, choline, and vitamin D). It might be worth letting them sunbathe (no, I'm not pranking you) for more vitamin D.
  • They're surprisingly more sugarey than starchy (~2:1 sugar:starch ratio)
  • You have to eat a truckload of them to get any calories (a full pound of cooked mushrooms is 127 calories)

Cooking
I just finished cooking a big batch of mushrooms using this interesting technique, which worked well:
http://cookingfortwo.about.com/od/techn ... hrooms.htm
 

Dan W

Member
Joined
Jan 22, 2013
Messages
1,528
Apparently Peat's next newsletter is about mushrooms, based on this post by Danny Roddy.

There's some info about boiling for long periods to deactivate hydrazine. Maybe that's what Peat was referring to with his older "since reading about the chemicals in mushrooms I stopped eating them" quote.
 

ken

Member
Joined
Oct 31, 2012
Messages
288
I guess I got to preview it too. When I wrote him about a cataract article from science daily he responded with a variety of studies and his article on mushrooms.
 

Jayfish

Member
Joined
Apr 18, 2016
Messages
256
Does anybody have experience with chaga mushroom?

I grows where I'm from and have like 10lbs in my freezer. Supposedly it's a super antioxident and adaptogen. When I drank coffee I'd use chaga water to brew it. Chaga has a very mild taste, a little woody and a little vanilla.

I can't say it had any effect on me one way or the other but there are quite a few studies from Russia, showing tumor inhibiting effects.
 

Similar threads

Back
Top Bottom