The Healthy Drink Ingredient You Never Knew You Needed

Who doesn’t love mushrooms? For eating yes, but if you’re stressed, need to relax or need an energy boost, you can drink mushroom elixirs for a natural and tasty boost!

Used in cuisines the world over, mushrooms are the least offensive and one of the most versatile vegetables around for good reason. These tasty fungi (of the non-psychedelic variety) contain tons of vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants, meaning that you don’t have to feel guilty piling them on a pizza — your body will love them.

But in addition to all these numerous pros the mighty little mushroom boasts, what if we told you that they not only help repair the body as you’re transitioning toward your rethinking drinking journey, but that you can also drink alcohol-free alternatives with mushrooms that do good for body and mind?

We spoke to Dr. James Yoon, a naturopathic doctor and natural health expert, and Leanne Kisil, the founder and CEO of Sol Brü, a line of mushroom-based alcohol-free elixirs, to learn more about the ameliorative and detoxifying power of mushrooms, particularly in relation to alcohol consumption. Here’s what we found. 

Alcohol’s effects on the immune system

To be able to understand how mushrooms help our bodies, it’s important to first get an understanding of how alcohol can tear away at the body’s defenses. According to Dr. Yoon, when alcohol is in the system, many of the body’s immune functions become jeopardized. For example, white blood cells have a more difficult time getting to infected or injured sites within the body, Dr. Yoon says, and alcohol can cause various cells in the immune system to develop abnormalities.  

On an immediate level, for the occasional drinker having a few glasses of wine, you are more likely to impact the integrity of the gastrointestinal tract, Dr. Yoon stresses. “For example, alcohol alters the numbers and relative abundances of microbes in the gut microbiome,” he says. “These organisms affect the maturation and function of the immune system. Alcohol disrupts communication between these organisms and the intestinal immune system.” In other words, after a night of drinking, you might need to pay special attention to your gut and immune function. Here’s how you can do just that.

Immunity boosting Shrooms

Everyday mushrooms — the kinds you get at the grocery store — are packed with antioxidants that help cells to stay protected against damage. Specialized and medicinal mushrooms can work to boost immune health and brain function. The types of medicinal mushrooms that can support immune health are turkey tail, reishi, maitake, cordyceps, and chaga.

To understand how fungi work to help us, it’s helpful to understand the complex ecosystem they have constructed in nature — this is certainly how Kisil came to appreciate the power of mushrooms, as she learned about the history of their use in Chinese and Indigenous cultures. 

“There's two different components to the mushrooms,” she says. “There's the fruiting body, which is what we see on the surface. And then the mycelium highway, which is essentially like roots but made from the fungi, and they're connected to plants and trees and to each other, sending messages to each other.” Through the mycelium highway, the mushrooms communicate about whether a particular plant or tree needs more nutrients, whether a particular organism needs more help, and then they act on it. “They're just all connected that way and support each other,” Kisil says. “That was the coolest part of it. And then just understanding the phytonutrients that are in the mushrooms that can help support our bodies.”

According to Kisil, mushrooms work wonders in the body by “[affecting] the neurons, and this is called brain derived neurotrophic factor,” she says. “Neuroscientists call it BDNF for short. [For example,] lion's mane can help regenerate and make those connections between different neurons.” 

How to use mushrooms on your rethinking drinking journey

The simple way to re-charge your liver if you’re rethinking drinking or cutting back is to supplement your meals with functional mushrooms such as chaga, reishi, shiitake, and cordyceps — these shrooms, Dr. Yoon says, have amazing hepatoprotective (or liver-protection) properties.

Additionally, you can take mushroom supplements and extracts, which you can find at your local health foods store. “Add them to salads or use it as a protein in a veggie burger. There are plenty of recipes out there - be adventurous!” Dr. Yoon says.

Another way to make your liver happy is by drinking Sol Brü elixirs, which are made of functional mushrooms and herbs that work to elevate mood and restore performance. Sol Brü has four elixirs on offer at the moment: Connect, Elevate, Inspire, and Restore. Kisil recommends that consumers go for whichever elixir speaks to them flavour- or functionality-wise. But there is also a method to the colour-coded variety.  

“I would [recommend] maybe going from the bottom chakra up,” Kisil says. “So Restore, Elevate, Connect, and then Inspire. So red, yellow, green, indigo. And then we [recommend] one to six ounces during a sitting, because we're also trying to promote balance.” These elixirs are an alcohol alternative, Kisil says, and if a person is used to polishing off a bottle of wine in one sitting, then Sol Brü functions as the perfect crutch on a rethinking drinking journey, with its vibrant flavours and plethora of mixing options. 

Kisil, with Sol Brü, is making it easier to put Dr. Yoon’s advice to action. You can get your hands on one of her many elixirs here.