Munchies

In this podcast episode, the host discusses the topic of the "munchies" commonly associated with cannabis use. She explains that the munchies are caused by THC, the psychoactive component of cannabis, and that there are different strains of cannabis with varying effects on appetite. Some strains stimulate hunger, while others suppress it. The host emphasizes the importance of knowing what you're using and reading the labels or researching the strain to understand its effects. She also suggests adding CBD, which can counteract the appetite-stimulating effects of THC. The host provides a list of strains that are known to be balanced and not associated with the munchies. She also advises keeping a journal or notes to track the effects of different strains. The host offers additional tips for managing cravings, such as planning to have healthy snacks on hand. Hi, my name is Deb, and you are listening to the Cannabis Fitness and Nutrition Podcast, where we are hanging out at the intersection of fitness, nutrition, and cannabis. Thank you so much for pressing play today. I have what I think is a very interesting topic today, and maybe not one that you thought your trainer would be talking about, but you know what, this is a cannabis podcast, and all of this is probably not necessarily something you thought your trainer would talk about, right? So here we are talking about the munchies. And this is an important topic for me because not only does it cross the lines of fitness, nutrition, and cannabis, but there's a lot of myths and stereotypes that go into the munchies, and part of my passion is to help explain and educate you on cannabis so that you know and can go in confidently and not worry about the munchies. For example, when I tell people that I, you know, most people know me as a personal trainer and nutrition coach, and when I tell people that I also use and work with and help people with cannabis, one of the very first questions I receive is, well, what about the munchies? Because we all have associated the munchies with cannabis. So I'm here to clear up confusion and give you my tips, my best tips for managing the munchies because the munchies are a real thing. The munchies are caused by THC. Now, just to go back to basics, remember, THC is the psychoactive type of cannabis, and then there's other types of cannabis such as CBD, and that's not psychoactive at all, right? They're both part of what's the cannabis plant as a whole, but they are very different and separate, so they have different components to them, and that's the first very most important thing to know is that THC is not the same component compound as CBD, right? THC is psychoactive. It will make you high in high doses. CBD does not have any of that property. It does not make you high at all. They do have a lot of similarities, right? They both can boost mood. They both can reduce pain. They both can make you feel good. They both can help you sleep. There's a lot of similarities, but so those are the two major, major breakdowns of cannabis is THC will get you high, CBD will not. Now within those parts of the plant, we can drill down and break it down even further into smaller parts of the plant, smaller compounds that are called terpenes, okay? So terpenes are the individual components that make up the CBD or make up the THC, and each strain is what we call the different names you'll see of THC and CBD. Then each strain is made up of a different combination of those, okay? So you may, if you've looked around, you may have noticed that strains have these fun names, right? Like OG Kush or White Widow or Sour Diesel, they're kind of cool, right? They're cool names. And fun fact, CBD also has fun names, you just don't hear about it as much. So each name is named distinctly for the terpenes that it has in it. So getting technical, and I don't mean to overwhelm in this, but in order to explain it, I need to explain and educate that there are so many different parts that make up each strain. That's what makes them different, and that's why it is important to really know what you're using. Back in the day, I suppose if you're my age, if you're middle-aged or older, you may have smoked a joint in high school or in college, or you may have experimented, or someone may have made you brownies or cookies at some point, and you may have experienced cannabis, but chances are you didn't know what it was. You didn't know what strain it was, you didn't know what was in it, and you certainly didn't know what terpenes were in it, right? Now we have technology, and that has led us down this beautiful path of knowing what is in our cannabis so we can differentiate and choose the kinds that are right for us. So back to the munchies. In some types of THC, certain terpenes, so I'm talking about myrcene, carothelene, tymine, those stimulate the hunger hormone in our bodies. It's called ghrelin, and that hunger hormone tells our brain we need food. But other terpenes like humulene, limonene, and I mentioned before CBD and THCV is another new one that we've discovered, they actually reduce the amount of ghrelin, which suppresses your appetite. So when I say not all types of cannabis give you the munchies, that's because there are types that actually suppress your appetite, having the opposite effect. So again, it's important to know what you're getting, right? Even if you are looking on the website for a dispensary, for example, or you know someone that has shared some with you, you can tap on an app online like Leafly is a great one, and you can enter that name in, the strain name, and it will tell you which terpenes are in it, right? And that way you can know, okay, well this type might stimulate my appetite, but this type might not. And that can really help alleviate the munchies, because if you're conscious about your weight or you're trying to lose weight, or if you're trying to be fit or make healthy habits, you're not probably going to want one that stimulates your appetite. Now some people do, right? It's common if you're undergoing cancer treatments to lose your appetite as we age, sometimes we experience a loss of appetite. And so there are situations where you might need a stimulation of your appetite. But if you are just trying to be healthy and, again, manage your weight or get in shape, then you're probably going to want to steer clear of the mercine, the carofiline, the pinene terpenes, and find strains that include humulene, right? Or that include limonene, or THCV, or CBD, and just stick with CBD and not have any psychoactivity at all, right? That's always an option too. So that's my first tip, is to know what you're using, know what you're getting. Before you buy, know what you're getting. Now my second big tip is to add CBD. So if you like THC and you prefer to have some psychoactivity to it that helps you manage whatever symptoms you're managing, whether it's mood regulation, sleep, it could be pain management, there's a lot of things that we can use THC and CBD for. But if you like the THC you're using and you are concerned about the munchies, or maybe it has one of those terpenes in it and you're concerned, add CBD. You can put those two together. In fact, when you do, it's called the entourage effect, because they work together very, very nicely, and they complement each other. But the CBD, it brings down the high of the THC, so in some instances it kind of counteracts it, and similarly, it reduces the appetite stimulation. Because while the THC stimulates that ghrelin, the CBD reduces the amount of ghrelin so that it eliminates that munchy feeling. So adding CBD, you can have some on hand to take if you start to feel like you're getting the cravings, or you can look for products that have a balanced ratio. So a lot of times what I'm seeing now in the dispensaries or online is when they're selling products like gummies and drinks, for example, or chocolate bars or whatever it is that you like, you'll see on there, it'll say right on the package, one to one ratio CBD, THC. And that means it's balanced between both CBD and THC, evening out the high and evening out the munchies, so that you're not going to stimulate your appetite like that. So CBD does not bind to the receptors the way THC will, and I won't get too deep in the weeds on that, because this is a fitness and nutrition and cannabis podcast, I'm not going to go too deep into it, but if you're interested in that, I'd be happy to send you more information in detail about the science of it and how the THC binds to certain receptors and the CBD does not, but that's basically what you need to know. So adding CBD, now I'm going to share a couple of strains that are known to be a little more balanced and that will not give you the munchies. So just a quick rundown of some that are higher in Humaline, Limonene, THC, and CBD. So we're looking at Durban Poison, Girl Scout Cookies, Pineapple Express, Willie Nelson, Blue Dream, that's a popular one, Power Plant, Jack the Ripper, Red Congolese, and Moby Dick. High CBD strains, Harley Sue is a good one, Cannatonic, and Afghan Skunk. Now these are all ones that have been shown to reduce the appetite, so there are no munchies included in that. Little side tip here is to keep a journal or keep a note in your phone and just make a note when you use a type. If you pick up, for example, Durban Poison and you try it and it makes you feel a certain way, make a note of that in your phone or keep a journal or just keep track of it so that you know how that made you feel and you can come back to that note later because if you like to experiment with it like I do and there are just so many strains out there and so many products right now, then it can be hard to remember, you know, from two times ago what did you get at the dispensary, how did it make you feel, so just keep notes. That's my other tip. So knowing the strain, knowing the dosage, those are really the big tricks to managing your munchies. Some additional tricks, now the cool thing about this is that these next tips also apply to cravings in general, which is a big thing that I work on with my clients and my programs online is we work on fighting cravings and we work on distinguishing between hunger and cravings and then we work on how to plan, strategize, and avoid the cravings. So this is similar to dealing with the munchies. So plan to have healthy food on hand, right? Shop. Shop when you are in a good headspace, ideally when you are not using a high THC, where you have a little more focus and to make good decisions and plan to have healthy snacks on hand so that if you do get cravings or munchies that all you have in the house is a healthy snack, maybe it's apple slices and peanut butter or maybe it's carrot sticks or maybe it's just light popcorn, you know, something that will satisfy but isn't unhealthy. In that same vein, keep trigger foods out of the house. If you know that when you get the cravings or the munchies that you go straight for the chips, then don't buy chips, really try not to, you know, try to avoid having things around that make it easy for you, make it hard for yourself. Have grapes to munch on, have blueberries to munch on, right? Eat more protein and more fiber all day long. That's something that we should really be working on anyway is having more protein and fiber because protein and fiber keep you full and satisfied. And being full and satisfied reduces our cravings and can reduce the munchies. So if you had a nice steak dinner and then you maybe go home and enjoy some THC, you're going to be less likely to have cravings or the munchies because your body is going to be so full and satisfied from that steak because that's what protein does. Foods that support dopamine, now this is kind of a fun nerdy fact that I found that I like, is dopamine stimulates our reward and pleasure centers. But it doesn't give us that high, sugar high and crash like, you know, pretzels and bagels and things that you call that white sugar, right, or the white flour products. You know, those tend to give us a quick high and a quick crash. But things that support the dopamine, again, we're talking about protein, chicken, fish, beef, nuts and seeds, almonds, chia seeds, hemp seeds, foods rich in sulfur, all right, that's an interesting one, but collards, brussels sprouts, cauliflower, kale, vegetables, cabbage, onions, garlic, folate-rich foods, leafy greens, broccoli, chickpeas, papaya, black beans, lentils, dark chocolates, so you can see where I'm going with this. It is whole foods, right, foods that come from the ground, foods that come from plants, foods that come from the earth are going to be more satisfying, give you pleasure and, you know, satisfy you that don't give you that quick sugar high, sugar crash because if we're craving chocolate, then when you go eat Hershey Kisses, you know, you're just going to get a sugar high and then you're going to get a sugar crash and that doesn't feel good. So look for things that are a little more protein heavy, you know, your quick tip here is Greek yogurt, put some hot chocolate powder in your Greek yogurt and make it chocolatey, right? So things like that, we need to start thinking along those lines, protein heavy, you know, add sweets if you need, add salt if you need, omega-3 fatty acids, they will boost your leptin and make us full, so fish, algae oil, eggs, anchovies, salmon, more nuts and seeds, spinach, flax oil, things like that, fiber, you know, again, we're talking about vegetables and fruit and whole grains, things that come from the earth, right? So here's another fun tip that I have for you, sweet tooth, do you have a sweet tooth? I have a bad sweet tooth, so I love chocolate and sweets, fun fact here, fermented foods, fermented foods help control sweet cravings because our taste buds have adapted to the bitter sour flavors of the fermented foods, so I'm looking at yogurt, sour cream, cod cheese, sauerkraut, kombucha, kimchi, right, those actually will help deter your sweet tooth, and hydrate, hydrate, hydrate, hydrate, strategize, strategize, again, having healthy things on hand goes a long way because then if you're looking to reach for something, whether it's a craving or the munchies, you'll pick out, you're more likely to pick out something healthy. Use your senses, eat mindfully, slow down, chew your food, use that mind-body connection that cannabis gives us to really enjoy your food, experience the taste, you know, notice the flavor, notice the smells, get moving, get moving, you can start, go for a walk, go for a walk around the block, go outside, you know, get some air, get yourself away from the kitchen, and that can help, and again, along the same vein, distract yourself, wait, wait it out, five, ten minutes, you'd be surprised, if you can wait and distract yourself for five, ten, fifteen minutes, the cravings go away, they do, I know this happens because I experience it and I have clients tell me this all the time, that if they can just wait, wait it out, then it goes away, and you have to find a way to distract yourself that doesn't involve food, the kitchen, or anything mindless, so if you're just watching TV, that might not be enough to distract you, you might need to read a book, or do a puzzle, again, go for a walk, something that really engages your mind, that is the best thing to distract yourself with, and then ask yourself what your body really needs, because a lot of times cravings are our body's way of asking for something specific, whether it's rest, whether it's emotional support, or another form of self-care, and then finally, more of just avoiding triggers, and when I say that, I mean things like, get a good night's sleep, sleep, sleep, sleep is essential, because if we're not sleeping, our body is going to be looking for energy, and it's going to think it can get that energy from food, so we don't need that, eat enough during the day, if you haven't eaten enough during the day, you are way more likely to get cravings, try not to cut out macronutrients, don't cut out your carbs, don't cut out your fats, just eat everything in moderation, and again, I know that sounds kind of cliche when I say that, and I can get more into that on a different podcast, but if you eliminate fats, and carbs, and things, your body is just going to crave them, so that's a very quick summary of my top tips for managing the munchies and cravings, so even if you're not into cannabis, I hope that some of those tips can help you with cravings in general, but this is one of the biggest things that I work on with clients, and inside my online programs, the Cannafit and Forever Fit, we work a lot on this, because this, and if you've experienced cravings, you know that it is really easy to derail all of your progress by getting a fit of cravings, and then, you know, suddenly you find yourself face first in a pint of ice cream, right? It's so frustrating to succumb to that frequently, so I'm here to help you, and I hope this helps a little bit, and I hope this helps dispel the myth that the munchies are a given when it comes to cannabis, because it's not. There are lots of types of cannabis that don't give us the munchies, and if you're interested in anything more, please, please, please feel free to email me. I'm Beth at CannafitnessNutrition, all one word, and I'm on Instagram at Beth underscore CannafitnessNutrition. I'm on Facebook. You can just look up Beth Skinner Jasinski. I'm on TikTok now. There's lots of ways to get a hold of me. I would also love any questions that you have that you'd like me to talk about on this podcast, and I would also love it if you would share this podcast, because that would mean a lot, and it would go a long way in terms of helping us educate, because chances are, if you've talked about cannabis with a friend, that friend may have had the same question, right? What about the munchies? How can you be fit and use cannabis, because what about the munchies, right? So if your friend said that to you, you can point them in the direction of this podcast and say, you know what? My friend Beth knows all about this, and she will tell you all about how to get around that. So anyway, have a wonderful rest of your day. Thank you so much for pressing play, and I will talk to you next time.