Mushrooms are crazy, man. They can kill you in incredibly gruesome, painful ways that involve bloody diarrhea and liver failure; they can unravel the stitches that hold reality together when their psilocybin meets your neurotransmitters; and, if you eat reishi mushrooms for decades, they can extend your lifespan to rival “those of the Immortal Fairies,” according to a 16th-century Chinese text by Li Shih-chen. No word on whether he was shrooming when he wrote that.

Anyway, if you want to become an immortal fairy (and really, who doesn’t?), or if you just want to kill cancer cells, lower cholesterol levels, stave off Alzheimer’s disease, and curb allergies, read on for why you should get yourself some reishi mushrooms.

What is reishi? Is that like reiki?

Reiki is a way you can send a person life energy by laying your hands on them and looking at a secret power symbol. Reishi is a life-sustaining mushroom that was given to humans by Osiris, ancient Egyptian god of the afterlife and goatees. See? Nothing alike.

Anyway, reishi mushrooms have roots in Eastern Asia, where Chinese, Korean, and Japanese royalty, herbalists, and spiritual practitioners have used the antioxidant-rich fungi for more than 2,000 years to increase longevity, boost immune function, and treat illnesses.

Also known as lingzhi (Chinese for “spirit plant”), reishi are pretty rare in the wild, growing in humid conditions on plum, maple, chestnut, oak, and hemlock trees. Fortunately, humans have learned how to cultivate the “10,000-year mushroom,” so you don’t have to find a spiritual guru to get reishi — you can just order it on Amazon.

About those benefits, though — reishi mushrooms may help prevent cancer

The sugar molecules in reishi mushrooms stimulate the immune system, giving a kick in the pants to immune cells like T-cells and macrophages, whose job it is to attack cancer and other foreign cells. This is a good preventative measure, but some cancer patients also use reishi to keep their cancer in remission. Read More: https://bit.ly/2NHlAHQ