I travel extensively for business and pleasure and have found myself on the road more than ever this year. Constantly switching time zones and battling jet lag while scooping up street tacos in Mexico City and Lhaksa in Singapore, rubbing elbows with Proboscis monkeys in Borneo and accidentally brushing teeth with tap water in Sao Paulo – it’s remarkable that I haven’t been sick once this year.
15 countries, five continents, zero instances of getting sick. This is the greatest year of my life, and I’m feeling amazing for it.
So what’s the secret?
Well, for one – I cut out alcohol – that’s huge. Although pounding vodka with babushkas on a catamaran in the Black Sea and drinking moonshine with tuk tut drivers in Sri Lanka holds a certain aesthetic appeal to me, I didn’t always make it out unscathed.
But a second, equally important investment I’ve made in my health is adopting a daily functional mushroom routine. I’ve tried dozens of different medicinal mushroom products and tinctures over the last few years, and have landed on a handful of brands that actually work for me. I travel with a backpack and a single 22x14x9 inch Rollie suitcase – meaning that space is precious in my travel kit. These are the functional mushroom products that have a earned a spot on the road with me.
I take six different fruiting body extract tinctures from Performance Fungi on a daily basis – some of them twice. I kick off the morning with a 1 ml each of Cordyceps, Lion’s Mane, Chaga, Turkey Tail, and Chaga tincture. Around 3 pm I usually do another .50 ml of Cordyceps and Lion’s Mane, and then in the evening before bed I tap in with 1 ml of Reishi.
I find Performance Fungi to be unequivocally one of the most potent mushroom extracts I’ve ever tried, and have been a fan of them for a long time. They grow everything themselves at a family-run farm in Pennsylvania, and are incredibly active in the myco community. I can’t recommend this product highly enough, and will be a supporter and amplifier of their brand for as long as they’re growing mushrooms and making tinctures.
I only recently tried Mushroom Revival products for the first time despite hearing great things about them for a few years, and the Cordyceps that they’re known for actually helped me kick a nasty caffeine habit. I went from drinking six or more double espressos in a day to zero caffeine overnight by resolving to adopt a Cordyceps protocol in place of my caffeine fix. It worked, and I went three full weeks without a drop of coffee. I mix in a scoop of Mushroom Revival Daily 10 extract with my morning green juice on a daily basis, and take their Lion’s Mane and Cordyceps gummies regularly as well. I also consume their tincture, which has a delightful flavor profile that goes down a little smoother than some of the straight alcohol extract tinctures.
3. Mycroboost
I’ve recently added Mycroboost functional mushroom capsules and gummies to my travel wellness routine as well. I’ve sample a number of the Mycroboost products over the last year, and after much due diligence it was a no brainer to bring them on my international travels with me. I take these on an as needed basis, and have been quite impressed with the potency and the overall benefit that I feel they add to my daily health routine.
Hericium Labs is my go to for Lion’s Mane extract capsules. I’ve been taking this product for over a year and continue to wholeheartedly recommend it to friends. Hericium Labs is run by the same people behind Performance Fungi, and the potency and quality control on their products is through the roof.
I hope to be traveling the world for the rest of my days on this earth, and I aim to be packing potent and immune system protecting functional mushroom supplements as long as I’m jumping on flights, rickshaws, and gondolas anywhere I’m called. Travel has enriched me in an immeasurable way, and continues to shape my personality and sense of belonging on this planet. This is the first year I’ve not gotten sick at least once during my travels, and I’m doubling down on investing in my health to ensure that such remains the case indefinitely.
So here’s to drinking raisin juice from a street vendor in Baghdad, climbing a volcano in Bali for the sunrise, eating live grubs in Borneo (Hakuna Matata!), and staying healthy throughout everything else that this crazy world throws my way.
