Munchies are a well-known side effect of marijuana, industrial hemp’s close cousin, but does CBD make you hungry? CBD and appetite have a working relationship, but it’s not as simple as the popular depiction of the munchies. It’s a fair question, especially since many CBD consumers want to enhance their wellness routine, not induce an impromptu fast-food binge. Find out now.
CBD Munchies: The Link Between CBD and Appetite
Munchies are a well-known side effect of marijuana, industrial hemp’s close cousin, but does CBD make you hungry? CBD and appetite have a working relationship, but it’s not as simple as the popular depiction of the munchies. In order to understand how CBD affects your diet, it helps to understand how CBD works and what causes the munchies.
Cannabidiol Is Not Marijuana
While it has long been lumped in with its psychoactive cousin, industrial hemp and marijuana are different . Both are part of the cannabis genus and contain the same cannabinoids, but their composition is vastly different. Industrial hemp has less than 0.3% THC by weight; this is compared to marijuana, with THC concentrations over 30%. This means that CBD derived from industrial hemp won’t get you “high,” but it’s also related to the difference in the THC vs. CBD appetite relationship. Does CBD or THC increase appetite?
What Are the Munchies?
The munchies are a sense of extreme hunger, often cited by users of marijuana. This is often portrayed in the media as a yearning for junk food like snack cakes and potato chips. It has also been erroneously portrayed as the same effect that fights nausea and appetite loss in some chemotherapy patients. While the munchies may not hurt, the therapeutic effect is provided through several mechanisms.
What causes the munchies?
The cause of munchies is all hormonal. First, THC stimulates ghrelin production, a naturally occurring hormone that stimulates your hunger for fatty foods. While usually this hormone only spikes when your stomach is empty, THC causes it to release early, whether or not you have food in your stomach.
THC also interacts with the CB1 receptors in your brain’s appetite control centers. This area regulates your hunger throughout the day and, unlike CBD, puts appetite areas into overdrive, creating a desire to eat.
Finally, THC increases the dopamine levels in your brain. Dopamine controls pleasure, and with the dopamine increase, food tastes better, smells are more appetizing, and the act of eating can bring more pleasure. This creates a reward system for feeding the first two mechanisms that increase appetite. This combination of effects is ultimately what causes the munchies.
CBD Can Still Affect Appetite
CBD munchies aren’t a thing, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t affect how you eat food. Under certain circumstances, CBD can help you find it easier to eat and eat more, but this is done without affecting the hormones or brain areas that cause and regulate hunger. Rather, CBD can create better situations for food intake in your body.
To start with, anecdotal evidence and some studies indicate CBD helps control nausea. By easing nausea, the normal appetite drives of your body are free to take effect. That means a previously nauseous person is more likely to eat food, find it enjoyable, and keep that food down.
Users also cite the calming effects of CBD on both the nervous system and digestive tract. This helps users keep food down and gives them the confidence to eat more freely. Rather than CBD being what causes the munchies, this is another case where the return of the body to “normal” is seen as an increase, and the long-held boas to see hemp and marijuana as the same causes a regular eating pattern to be mislabeled.
So CBD Won’t Make Me Gain Weight?
Because of the relationship between CBD and appetite, users can end up being more robust eaters than before they began using. This can present itself as a normal, healthy eating habit, but just as with people who do not use CBD, poor eating habits can also be adopted. These habits aren’t CBD munchies but normal poor eating decisions due to stress, availability of quality food, budget, and other factors most Americans constantly struggle to balance.
Using CBD responsibly while making healthy decisions about food and exercise can help you reach and maintain a healthy weight. Rather than a direct effect like that promised by common weight loss supplements, this is a secondary effect brought about by CBD’s other benefits .
Because CBD helps ease stress, users prone to “stress eating” as a coping mechanism may find that they can easily say no to the cravings, thus making CBD for appetite regulation and effective strategy. CBD’s ability to promote a calmer demeanor and a more positive outlook can help reduce this need or help you make better decisions by reducing the urgency you feel to eat. In a way, CBD is anti-munchies.
CBD is also popular among athletes for its ability to aid focus and recovery after exertion. This makes maintaining a healthy level of activity easier. The American Heart Association recommends 2 ½ hours of moderate physical activity per week as a minimum for better heart health. By helping you heal and replenish after each session of exercise, CBD gets you ready for your next workout faster .
Getting a decent amount of quality sleep is an often unheralded part of maintaining a healthy weight, as lack of sleep can lead to the buildup of cortisol, which has been shown to increase belly fat. CBD can help you relax at night, encouraging deeper, better sleeping habits. By getting the proper amount and quality of rest, you’re more refreshed and ready to face the day’s demands.
Finding the Best CBD
When choosing a product with CBD for appetite control to avoid munchies, make sure it has a 0.0% THC content. That way, you get all the benefits of CBD without the potential for any THC side effects. Our CBD products start with naturally-grown American industrial hemp. Once it’s processed in our medical-grade facility in Colorado, the ultra-pure CBD oil is tested to ensure it’s both potent and uncontaminated by THC. These tests are repeated for our eventual finished products and verified by third-party labs , so you know you’re getting a safe premium product. If you want better CBD results, you have to use the best CBD products on the market.
If you have any questions about our CBD products , CBD and appetite, or how our CBD promotes overall health and wellness, call our experts at 888-519-2445. Order your premium CBD products online from CBD Choice today.
Does CBD Give You the Munchies?
It’s a truth universally acknowledged that smoking (or ingesting) marijuana can make you want a snack… or a lot of snacks. We’re all familiar with the c liché of a blazing-high cannabis user ransacking the kitchen cabinets . There are even whole TV shows about the imaginative culinary concoctions created by super-stoned chefs. But do the same rules apply where there is no high? In other words, does CBD induce the same ravenous effects as its psychoactive cousin, THC?
It’s a fair question, esp ecially since many CBD consumers are looking to enhance their wellness routine , not induce an impromptu fast-food binge. So …
D oes CBD give you the munchies?
No . CBD doe s not trigger your appetite the same way THC does.
The Wrong Receptor
While “the munchies” are often a source of cultural amusement, THC’s appetite-stimulating properties may actually have life-saving benefits. For example, THC products can be a godsend for people struggling with disordered eating, and they’ve long been used to alleviate the nausea experienced by chemotherapy patients. It wo rks like this: THC activates your body’s CB1 receptors, found mostly in your central nervous system, to send a variety of messages to different cells in your body – messages like, “Thanks, back, you can stop hurting now,” “Thanks, brain, you can calm down and let me sleep,” or, of course, “Hey, stomach, it’s time for a snack.” This is all part of a nuanced interaction with your own endocannabinoid system (ECS), a complex network of stimulators and receptors that help the body to maintain balance.
CBD also interacts with your ECS, b ut in a different way. It binds instead to your CB2 ( not CB 1 ) receptors , which are primarily connected to your immune system and typically associated with effect s including anti-inflammation and stress relief . (CBD also interacts with other receptors , including your 5-HT1A serotonin receptor… but that’s a story for another blog post).
All this is to say: CBD does not appear to push the “hungry” button in you r body the way that THC does. Which is good news for those of us looking to enhance our calm without increas ing our calorie count !