We’ve all heard of how marijuana can give you the munchies, and since CBD is also a cannabidiol much like the THC present in marijuana, people have been wondering if CBD would give you the munchies, too.
CBD and THC: The Difference
Though CBD and THC are cannabinoids, they act differently from each other. Where THC is intoxicating, CBD is not. CBD is also non-addictive and has in fact shown an uncanny ability to counter the intoxicating effects of THC; and while both THC and CBD can affect your appetite, they also do so differently.
THC stimulates ghrelin, the hunger hormone. It makes food more appetizing. It tricks your brain into thinking that food tastes better and smells better than it really does. This way it also tricks your body into thinking that you are starving even when you are not.
Will CBD give you the munchies?
CBD stimulates your appetite in a more indirect manner. It will not cause a surge of ghrelin in your body. What it does is influence other areas of the body that affect appetite. Therefore, it stimulates appetite very differently from THC.
For example: CBD has been known to suppress or at least control nausea. When you are nauseated, you tend to not want to be in the presence of food. With CBD reducing your nausea, you can now stomach eating food without fear of throwing it all up.
Another way that CBD affects appetite is through stress reduction. Stress tends to suppress our appetites, or on the reverse, some people under a lot of stress tend to eat as a way of coping. So people who have plenty of stress either eat way less than is healthy, or way more than is needed. With CBD controlling the release of cortisol, a major stress hormone, it indirectly controls our appetite. You will find that stress reduction will also bring your eating habits back to normal levels.
Athletes use CBD to increase their energy and improve their focus. An increase in energy often equates to participation in more strenuous activities. When you are active, you use up more of your stored energy, making you hungrier than if you were only resting. This is another way that CBD drives your appetite. The more active you are, the more you tend to eat.
So that hunger you feel when you take CBD is not the munchies but rather it is your body’s response to CBD bringing everything back into balance.
CBD and Weight Loss
This is not to say that when you take CBD, you will always be within your healthy weight range. It still all boils down to your self-control. If you had poor eating habits to start with, taking CBD will not make you any healthier, nor will it magically suppress your appetite.
Leading a healthy lifestyle is still a very important part of making sure that you keep at a healthy weight. Taking CBD, coupled with making healthy choices and getting enough sleep, stress reduction and an overall overhaul to a healthier lifestyle will ensure that your health will get better and stay better.
Author profile:
Heather Smith is the Communications Manager at Sunday Scaries. She’s a composed copywriter and content strategist. She’s also a CBD advocate, promoting a healthy lifestyle free of stress and scaries.