Tero Isokauppila: Adaptogens, Medicinal Mushrooms, and the Trippy Pagan Origins of Jolly Saint Nick | Ep.011

Release Date: 02/21/2017

AHR 32: How to Use Deep Connection and Holistic Resistance as Tools for Inclusion and Equality with Aaron Johnson

Ancestral Health Radio

Although making up 13 percent of the population, African Americans own less than 1 percent of the rural land in the United States. White Americans, however, own a staggering 856 million acres, which is about 98 percent of all rural property in the United States. Wild, right? So it's not crazy when I say that communities of color, low-income residents and other historically marginalized groups have traditionally faced barriers to accessing nature. That's why Ancestral Health Radio is dedicated to, and promotes, inclusivity and social justice through transitional lifeways. ...

AHR 31: Privilege, Identity Politics, and the Transhuman Agenda with Daniel Vitalis (Part 2)

Ancestral Health Radio

Is the first person to live to 1,000-years-old, alive today? And if that's true, what does that inevitably mean for the future of the human condition? One of the world's leading anti-aging researchers, Aubrey De Grey, (and strangely—my neighbor) believes that to be 100% true. Because, well, Aubrey's the one who said it. And if what Aubrey says is true, would you then believe Arthur C. Clarke's third law, which states: Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic? Meaning that modern technology can seem like literal witchcraft to the...

AHR 30: Privilege, Identity Politics, and the Transhuman Agenda with Daniel Vitalis (Part 1)

Ancestral Health Radio

Did you know that some scientists say that oaks produce more nuts annually than every other nut tree—both wild and commercial—combined? Nuts, right? (Yeah, yeah—laugh it up. The pun was intended.) Acorns, or oak nuts, are nutritional powerhouses. Depending on the species, a single acorn can contain up to 18% fat, 6% protein, and 68% carbohydrate—with the rest just being water, minerals, and gut-healthy fiber. Acorns are also great sources of both vitamins A and C, as well as having a long list of essential and nonessential aminos acids. With those numbers, it’s easy...

AHR29: The Beginner's Guide on How to Hunt, Field Dress, Skin, and Butcher Wild Game with Fisher Neal

Ancestral Health Radio

Think about this for a second: More Americans hunt and fish than play baseball. What a trip, right? That's more than 38 million Americans. And if that doesn't surprise you, this will: Hunting—overall—brought in more revenue ($38.3 billion) than Google ($37.9 billion) or the Goldman Sachs Group ($36.8 billion). Now ask yourself this question: "Why don't I hunt?" Really think about this for a second. Mull it around for a few minutes, hours, days, whatever. But really think. Is it because of the blood, guts, and sinew? Is it your ethics or...

AHR 28: How to Understand and Use Practical Animistic Rituals for Personal and Family Healing with Daniel Foor, PhD

Ancestral Health Radio

Is it possible to heal trauma in our personal and family lives by connecting with our well, deceased ancestors? Well... Provided you possess a beginner’s mindset equipped with the right animistic framework, my guest today, Dr. Daniel Foor of, would say yes—you absolutely can. This week, Daniel and I delve into practical animism: where ritual and ceremony are used as tools for personal, family, and cultural healing. A few months ago I was surprised to receive an early copy of Daniel's magnum opus, aptly titled Ancestral Medicine: Rituals for Personal and Family Healing. Since then,...

AHR 27: Homesteading Skills for Abundant, Sustainable, and Regenerative Living with John Moody

Ancestral Health Radio

Have you ever thought of starting a homestead on your journey towards ancestral health? How about composting or gardening? Well... Today is a special opportunity to help a community member whose passion is about dismantling the industrialization of people and food through the acquisition of abundant, sustainable, and regenerative homesteading skills. Enter: John Moody of . John and I share a very similar mission, in that we understand there are skills and wisdom that need to be shared from the first-hand experience of elders within our community. And that today is an amazing opportunity...

AHR 26: Holistic Land Management, Desertification, and Tracking the Wisdom of the Wild with Doniga Markegard

Ancestral Health Radio

Can agriculture be a sustainable path forward? This is the main question surrounding today's episode: Can we use the same technology that, arguably, has been one of the single-most destructive advents in the epoch of human history to move or usher us forward into a time where we're projected to hit an all-time population density of 9.5 BILLION people by 2050? With global desertification, warming oceans, shrinking ice sheets, glacial retreats, decreased snow cover, rising sea levels, declining arctic sea ice, ocean acidification, and extreme weather events… What tools do we have...

AHR 25: Botanical Biotics, Renegade Beauty, and Holistic Body and Dental Care with Nadine Artemis

Ancestral Health Radio

Did you know... That the average woman uses 12 products per day containing over 168 ingredients (absorbing close to 4 and a half pounds of toxic chemicals a year)... A man goes through 6 products with 85 ingredients... A child is exposed to 5 products with 61 ingredients... Whilst a teenage girl is exposed to a whopping 17 products with over 230 ingredients, every day... Most of which are untested, unsafe, and scientifically and clinically unproven. -- That's why it's important we pay close attention to what we put on our bodies just as much as what we put in our bodies,...

AHR 24: Endangered Languages, English-Prime, and the College of Mythic Cartography with Willem Larsen

Ancestral Health Radio

Guys, listen up... About every two weeks, another language dies. Or, perhaps, a dialect. There are over 231 completely extinct languages and 2,400 of the world’s languages are considered to be in danger of dying out. That's why today's guest—Willem Larsen of the College of Mythic Cartography—joins me on the Season 2 Premiere of Ancestral Health Radio. Willem shares ways at how to look at story and language from an indigenous people perspective and how, if we wish to be heard in today's culture, the types of stories we need to build for ourselves. In today’s episode, you’ll...

AHR 23: How the Paleo Thyroid Solution Can Stop You From Feeling Fat, Foggy, and Fatigued with Elle Russ

Ancestral Health Radio

Did you know that more than an estimated 20 million Americans have some form of thyroid disease? And up to 60 percent of those with thyroid disease are unaware of their condition. Crazy, right? Not only that, but women are five to eight times more likely to develop thyroid problems than men. And one in eight women will develop some form of thyroid disorder during her lifetime. This is just another clear example of an evolutionary mismatch disease... And the problem with trying to heal yourself and your thyroid is that most of the information will have you running in circles, including the...

More Episodes

Did you know... Some of the oldest living mushroom colonies are fairy rings growing around the famous Stonehenge ruins in England?

The rings are so large that they can best be seen from airplanes.

Crazy, right?

Well, be prepared to dive headfirst into mycology 101 with Tero Isokauppila, founder of the popular 'shroom company... FourSigmatic.com

Four Sigmatic is a superfood company founded by Tero and his group of Finnish friends. It's based on their belief that health can be vastly improved through simple dietary tweaks, and the easiest way to do this? Mushrooms, the most scientifically studied and proven superfood. Four Sigmatic wants to popularize medicinal mushrooms by incorporating them in popular products like coffee and hot cocoa.

In today's episode, you'll learn...

Why most medicinal mushroom products in North America technically don't contain mushrooms,
Why people on ketogenic diets shouldn't fear polysaccharides (i.e. complex sugars),
The three tiers of mushroom identification and foraging Tero suggests we begin with, and...
Much, much more.

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Episode Breakdown

Tero shares the cliff notes version of his family history and how studying mushrooms led to his current passion with his company Four Sigmatic
Why Tero says drinking mushrooms catches people off guard
Why most medicinal mushroom products in North America technically don't contain mushrooms
What Tero says is the most important part of consuming medicinal mushrooms
How and why upgrading an existing ritual is easier than creating a new one
How to "fat-hack" the bitterness from coffee
How heat and fat can unlock the medicinal power of an unextracted mushroom
What happens when you combine rosehips with mushrooms
The difference between the fruiting body and mycelium of fungi
Why people on ketogenic diets shouldn't fear polysaccharides (i.e. complex sugars)
Tero explains the fungi circle of life
The differences between foraging laws in the US versus Finland
The cutthroat business of commercial mushroom foragers
Everyman's Right in Finland
Why Finnish people run off to rural cottages for weeks to even months at a time
The importance of celestial events in Finnish culture and the origins of Santa Claus
Why Finland and surrounding countries are some of the least religious countries in the world
The difference between edible mushrooms and medicinal mushrooms
The accident that led to Tero discovering a rare Japanese mushroom in Finland
Where Four Sigmatic sources their "superfoods"
Tero explains—with a clever anecdote—how adaptogenic herbs can modulate both mood and energy
Why you should be relaxed, focused, and calm in the mornings
The mindset that Tero sees that causes many people to panic and stop taking action
Tero's three levels of mushroom foraging
Special discount code for 10% off your next Four Sigmatic purchase

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Episode Breakdown

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