Pine Needles and Chaga; Nature’s way of protecting our immune systems

BY MICHELLE CLARKE

Greetings Community! As promised, I will be bringing you all forms of holistically healthy insights that will allow you to make better choices, proactively for you and your family.

This week I bring you two benefits that both come from trees! Yes! Nature! Allow me to introduce or reintroduce to you Pine Needle tea and Chaga both of which can be consumed by way of tea or powder.

The Pine Needle tea has a better flavour and aroma. Chaga has very little aroma but packs a bitter punch when taken as tea alone. Chaga and Pine Needle are available in many forms and both have been used for centuries if not millennia! They both have extremely powerful effects on the immune system and molecular level.

Let’s look at a quick breakdown of the benefits for each naturally occurring fungus and needle leaf.

Pine Needle comes from the Eastern White Pine, very common across North America and The Canadian Boreal Forests, and later was introduced to Europe. In the 1530’s, a French Explorer was treated by the Iroquois who healed him and his crew from scurvy with Pine Needle Tea! You can identify the White Pine (Pinus Strobus) by the thin needle leaves that grow five in a bungle fan off one thinner branch.

Pine Needle tea is super-rich in Vitamin C, which helps the body fight illnesses and infection. With five times more the concentration of Vitamin C from lemons it can quickly reverse fatigue. Did you know that Pine Needle tea also packs a powerful Vitamin A punch? Vitamin A has been known to improve your eyesight and help regenerate skin. The most exciting fact is that it improves red blood cell production and oxygen production.

Researched evidence also has recorded its ability to help slow down aging!

Did you know that our red blood cells reproduce every 90 days! The natural compounds have been known to also bring about mental clarity, help to relieve chemical depression, and allergies; including turning on metabolism by turning calories into energy!

Men! You may find this next benefit particularly more interesting and note-worthy. Pine Needle Tea has also has been shown to have a positive impact on testosterone! Yes! It can positively affect your sex drive, sperm production, and bone and muscle mass!

You thought you had read it all? Well nope! Let me break down for you right quick the goodness of another extension of the tree, the bark.

Chaga Mushroom (Inonotus Obliquus) is known as Birch Mushroom or Chaga Conk, Clinker Polypore, Cinder Conk (Russian language Komi-Permyak, of the indigenous people in Kama River Basin). It has been used for centuries, (again if not millennia), and is native to Alaska and the North Eastern United States, Siberia and Northern Europe and Korea, only becoming more recently popular in North America.

The black exterior colour should be an indicator that it’s powerful and rich. While the inside will surprise you, as it resembles a blood-orange sponge. Many bypass this ugly growth, but the truth is it contains a potent amount of melanin giving the skin and blood cells natural protection from sun damage/skin cancer, wrinkles/aging, pollutants and toxins! The naturally high melanin from the Chaga actually has it ranked as one of the highest Oxygen Radical Absorbance Content (ORAC)foods ever!

Depending on the region it has been used for different purposes, with results that go above and beyond. For example, in Norway it’s called kreftkjuke, which translates into “cancer fungus.” Found commonly on birch, alder oak, beech and poplar trees to address heart disease, diabetes, stomach and intestinal cancers, liver disease, cholesterol, parasites, anti-inflammatory, stress chemical manager (brain adaptogen) gastrointestinal pains and even tuberculosis!

With a high content of minerals, it packs a Vitamin D punch! The brain’s cognition skills are much improved. As well as aiding the body in maintaining alkalinity and pH! Simply put, Chaga helps stimulate the human immune system, re-collaborate blood cells, release antioxidants and well, provides broad-spectrum immune support (much like CBD) triggering immune responses that fight against pathogens cancers and the body’s ability to flush out free radicals.

*Please Note Not All Pine Needles are not good to ingest and should be avoided during pregnancy, if unaware you could boil. I do not make any medical claims, as I am a holistic researcher and interpreter of alternative medicine. Any results would be individually based on used, source and body type and body’s ability to absorb*