Beauty & well-being

Wunderworkshop turmeric product are very much loved and used pretty much daily in my household, so when Zoe launched Golden Shrooms, brand’s third (you can read my review of the first two, Golden Glow and Golden Balance here) adaptogenic product, an adaptogenic blend of Cordyceps, Reishi and Turmeric, I got my hands on the jar as soon as you can say ‘tired’.

According to Zoe ”it was mainly inspired by my fascination for Cordyceps, as I especially relied on it for occasions, where I needed that tiny bit extra energy or endurance. Throughout my twenties, when I used to go to festivals, I would take Cordyceps instead of drugs or alcohol to keep me going and not feel exhausted’.

Interesting fact: Cordyceps really got into the limelight in the early 1990s, when some athletes of the Chinese Olympic team took Cordyceps to enhance their athletic performance.

Since cordyceps are also an adaptogen, Zoe realised that they can be useful for internal wellbeing on a daily basis and therefore it might be worthy to try to combine it with some other powerful and potent ingredients such as Turmeric, Ginger, Cacao and Reishi – another mushroom adaptogen with potent qualities, foremost its immune-boosting effects. In combination with all the ingredients, it creates an anti-inflammatory, immune boosting and specifically endurance enhancing blend.

A note of caution though: it is very important to know that not all mushrooms products are the same and eating or injecting certain types of them can be dangerous, and even lethal in some cases (a cautionary tale on this subject was taught by Nicholas Evans, who wrote ‘The Horse Whisperer’. He went mushroom gathering with his family and later they cooked and ate the mushrooms that they gathered. Unknown to them, some of the mushrooms were inedible and he and some of the family members ended up in intensive care. An event that nearly tore his family apart and had long-term consequences. So make sure you check provenance of mushroom products you buy). One should always look for the extracted powder version, and not just a full-spectrum powder, as that is just ground mushroom. Traditionally they are brewed in hot water and let to sit for many hours in order to extract the functional ingredients. Zoe kindly provided me with some extra information on the subject as well, in order to help you understand this topic better:

“Mushrooms, are chitin based. Chitin is probably the hardest natural material found on earth – it is also the main building block of lobsters’ claws and insect’s exo-skeleton. Chitin does not degrade in alcohol or water (which is the reason why mushroom tinctures are mostly useless, therapeutically speaking). Most people cannot digest unprocessed mushrooms or mushroom products – they lack the enzyme chitinase in their stomach, needed to break down chitin. The bioactive ingredients are embedded in the chitin, like LEGO bricks in a LEGO wall, and in order to benefit from them the chitin should be removed. Heat is very effective to ‘melt’ the chitin and set the embedded “bioactives free, thus making them bioavailable.A hot water extraction is probably the most common and cheapest process to create a therapeutically useful mushroom product. Mushroom teas or mushroom soups are in the core crude hot water extracts. Still, extraction costs money, so many supplement producers skip this step, knowing that 99% of their potential customers will be unaware of the limited bioavailability of their products.

How to use this adaptogen blend: add 1/2 tsp to your smoothie, tonic, juice or warm milk/mylk. Zoe takes it in the mornings, particularly on days when she knows she will need a lot of focus or when a busy day lies ahead and she needs to increase her indurance.

Armed with Zoe’s advice, I tried it in juice (I find that it works well in predominantly green juices with frozen banana, as it does have an earthy, woody taste, so a little bit of a sweet undertone helps to create a balanced flavour), as well as my morning coffee. I also tried it with my morning or afternoon smoothies, mixed with protein powder & can recommend it in a smoothie with papaya, cucumber, green apple & half a tsp of cinnamon.

I can’t say that I feel extra energetic when I take it in the morning, but it certainly helps power me through (without the jitters) in the afternoon, when I feel that my energy is dipping, yet I still have plenty of things to do. Like with most of Wunderworkshop products, this one won me over fairly quickly, but I don’t use it daily – when my schedule is strenuous or I have a tiring concession of days, I definitely now make sure to take it, otherwise it stays on my supplement shelf and waits with patience for the time when my body asks for it. Listening to your body and learning to interpret its signals is something that I highly recommend, if you want to feel well in herself.

Ingredients: Turmeric (23%)*, Cordyceps (Ophiocordyceps sinensis) extract (20%)*, Reishi (Ganoderma lucidus) extract (20%)*, Ginger*, Cacao*, Black Pepper*. *organic ingredients

Before I move on to another product, let me share something else about Wunderworkshop: one of the reasons why I regularly take their supplements is because I place my trust in the brand founder’s knowledge and integrity when it comes to sourcing the ingredients and creating the formulas that can bring long-term benefits to consumers. Zoe is always very measured and honest when it comes to the information she provides, concerning the effect her supplements can have on you, never promising miracles or stretching the truth. To me truth is what matters when I choose supplements that I take, not the clever marketing tricks.

Wunderworkshop ‘Golden Shrooms’, cordyceps, reishi & turmeric mushroom Adaptogen blend, 40g, £17.50

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