Munchies 2

Beth is discussing the topic of "Munchies 2.0," which focuses on a healthy approach to cannabis and snacking. She shares her personal experience of initially being afraid of using cannabis due to the fear of the munchies. However, she later realized that her mindless snacking and lack of control over food were already issues she needed to address. Beth explains that certain terpenes in cannabis are responsible for stimulating appetite, but there are ways to manage munchies and make healthier snack choices. She suggests planning ahead and choosing nutritionally dense foods such as fruits, vegetables, legumes, nuts, seeds, and proteins. Beth emphasizes the importance of fiber and protein in satiety and recommends being mindful of serving sizes. She also mentions low-calorie options available in stores but advises pairing them with more nutritious foods. Hi, my name is Beth, and you're listening to the Canna Fitness and Nutrition Podcast, where we are hanging out at the intersection of fitness, nutrition, and cannabis. Thanks for pressing play today and joining me. Today's topic is Munchies 2.0, a healthy approach to cannabis and snacking. Now, here's the thing. I came to cannabis kind of late in life. I was in my late 30s, and honestly, it never crossed my mind to use cannabis. In all the years I've been into fitness, and I was a long-distance runner, and I did sports, and I've always considered myself kind of a health nut, even before I was a personal trainer. And all that time, while I was struggling, mind you, with healthy eating and body image and mindless snacking and all of those things, it never crossed my mind to try cannabis. Why? Because I was afraid of the munchies. And to be fair, I'm a product of the D.A.R.E. program and the Just Say No generation, so it was drilled into me that marijuana was dangerous. And from there, I just fell into the stereotypes, and I thought that all marijuana induced the munchies, and therefore, that was a terrible idea if I was in fitness and if I was trying to eat healthy. And then it was a terrible idea when I became a fitness professional and was recommending how to stay healthy for myself and others. Of course, it just seemed counterintuitive to use marijuana if it was going to induce the munchies. I was terrified that I would lose control, have no control over what I was eating, and I'd find myself finishing bags of Doritos without even knowing it. And if you've been listening to my podcast, you kind of know my story. I realized later that this was probably because I was buying and eating entire packages of Doritos, or it was usually cookies, muffins, brownies, and feeling out of control because I wasn't mindful and I wasn't managing my emotions. I was letting them manage me. So I was worried about the munchies, but in reality, I was doing exactly the same thing. I was mindlessly eating, and I was letting my emotions control my eating. So I was afraid of not having control, and I was actually not having control at all. So I was doing the exact thing I was afraid of. And again, this was before I knew anything. Again, as we know, knowledge is power, and once we know, then we can change things. So looking back, I wish I knew then what I know now, that cannabis actually helps me manage my emotions and stay more present in the moment while I'm eating to make better decisions about what I'm eating and movement on top of that, of course, too. I wish I knew then that there was a difference between the types of cannabis that stimulated the munchies. I wish I knew that there was a difference and that I could use it to manage my emotions, which would help me manage any munchies that came on or emotional eating and eat more mindfully, and that I would be able to work around the munchies and that I could even incorporate them in a healthy way. And that's what I'm going to teach you today. Because I've talked in the past a little bit about how to avoid them completely by using CBD and looking at your terpenes and being really careful about those things. And of course, those are all still tools. But I'm going to talk a little bit more specifically about what to do if you do find yourself getting the munchies or if you love a certain strain of cannabis that helps you manage all of your other symptoms, maybe it's anxiety, maybe it's pain, whatever it is, but maybe that strain also induces the munchies. So I'm going to talk today about kind of how to handle that. So first, let's talk about what the munchies are. Let's talk about how that works. Terpenes, which are kind of the aromatic compounds in cannabis, those are actually what's responsible for the munchies. So certain terpenes induce them more than others. They stimulate the receptors in the brain that stimulate your appetite. Those terpenes are mercine, limonene, caryophylline, and linalool. Again, research is very new on all of this, but it's exciting when we find things like this, that those terpenes are the most likely to stimulate appetite. Now, everybody responds differently, so it's not a guarantee that those, and I'm not saying to avoid them, but I'm just saying to be aware of them. And there are, of course, there are situations where you want to stimulate your appetite. There are certain medical conditions. Certainly, it's famously known for helping those going through cancer treatments that tend to help you. They make you lose your appetite and make you nauseous, and these terpenes are famously known for helping that, which can be incredible. But if you're using cannabis and hoping to not affect your waistline, and you don't need to stimulate your appetite, then we need to know what to use in that case. And in that case, you're looking for the terpene humaline, which actually is not going to stimulate your appetite. You're looking for CBD or to add CBD to what you're using. So if you're using a terpene, say you love your caryophylline for pain relief, which is one of the big things that it does, you can add CBD in there. And what that would do is that would, it's going to enhance your pain relief because CBD does that too, but it's going to change the way the receptors stimulate your appetite. So it's basically, it just doesn't directly activate the CB1 receptors that stimulate appetite. So that's kind of what we're looking for when we break it down to the science. But just in general, you're looking for adding CBD if you want to avoid it, and certain terpenes are going to probably stimulate your appetite. So if you're looking at controlling your munchies and trying to be as nutritionally sound as possible and not affect your waistline, and even if you are looking to stimulate your appetite, the Munchies 2.0 that I'm calling this is a way to snack healthy. Because even if you are trying to stimulate your appetite, you still want nutritional support. You don't want to go into a bag of Doritos because that has no nutritional value. So you're not helping your body at all. In fact, if you're recovering from an illness, need to stimulate your appetite and get some weight back on you, you want to enhance your nutrition as much as possible. So that's really the foundation of Munchies 2.0. It's nutritionally dense foods, foods with a high nutritional value. And the very first rule of Munchies 2.0 is to plan ahead. Because this is what I see as probably the biggest problem when it comes to snacking in general, cannabis or not, just snacking in general. It gets out of hand when we don't plan. Because it tends to be more of a scavenger hunt in the kitchen for what we want or what sounds good or what will just satisfy a craving. Or sometimes it's a scavenger hunt at the grocery store. And you're just roaming the aisles looking for, do I want a frozen pizza? Or do I want one of the chips? Or are there pretzels? Or what is it that stands out? But snacking doesn't need to be a scavenger hunt. In fact, that's usually when it does the most damage. Planning ahead is the key. And when we plan ahead, we're going to prioritize foods found in nature, which is what I like to call them. So think fruits, vegetables, legumes, nuts, seeds, and proteins, lower fat proteins. Dairy, if you can tolerate dairy. Animal proteins. Select foods high in fiber and protein. For example, fiber in vegetables and fruit will help keep you satiated with little or no calories. There's virtually no calories in vegetables. There's so much fiber in them that they're actually negligible. And same with fruit. There's so much nutrition in fruit. Vitamins and minerals and fiber and all that water. There's a ton of water in fruit. All that goodness just negates the calories that are in it. So I wouldn't worry about that. Nuts, legumes, sweet potatoes, oatmeal, and sprouted bread are some great options. They're what I call nutritionally dense because of the fiber and the protein and the healthy fats that are found in all of those things. Just be mindful of serving sizes. That is all. Protein. Now, macronutrients are your proteins, your carbohydrates, and your fats. Those are called macronutrients. And protein is the most satisfying macronutrient and provides what I call the most bang for your buck because it has only four calories per gram. Now, what does that mean? It means that you can eat a larger quantity of foods like chicken, tofu, turkey, eggs, yogurt, cottage cheese for fewer calories because carbohydrates and fats have nine calories per gram. So they're more calorically dense. Now, fortunately, we live in 2024 when the world knows all this information. It's ingesting the information and putting it to use that we need to do. This is probably not the first time you've heard things like this, but putting them in context and trying to provide practical applications is my goal. So, again, fortunately, we're in 2024. There are low-calorie options everywhere. You walk in the stores, and among the donuts and other things, you'll find on shelves free of this, free of that. Foods are always free of things, free of calories, free of fats, free of artificial ingredients. That's the new thing, right? So you'll see plenty of options. Rice cakes come to mind, those almond crackers, which are like nut thins. If you've seen those, come to mind. Popsicles, one of my favorites, personally. Popsicles, Cool Whip is having a moment where you can combine it with things for virtually no calories. Unfortunately, these foods provide little to no nutritional value, right? Cool Whip is basically a thing of chemicals, whipped chemicals, right? But that's not to say you shouldn't eat them because they can be, especially if you like to crunch, a rice cake can be super crunchy and satisfy that for very few calories. My recommendation, as your nutrition coach, is to pair it with something with more nutritional value. So if you like rice cakes, for example, try to put a thin smear of peanut butter on it, right? Add some nutritional value, or maybe some guacamole would be great on a rice cake, or hummus, or dip those almond crackers in a little bit of hummus. Add some nutritional value to what you're eating. If you're going to eat Cool Whip, why don't you put it on top of a bowl of strawberries and enjoy it that way so it's nice and creamy and sweet. That's my recommendation. So the next step in Munchies 2.0 is to prepare ahead. Now this is key because it's all about making the decision before you consume your cannabis. Because if you're consuming THC especially, there is a level of cognitive impairment that happens, and you may not be as motivated to prepare things, again, depending on what you use it for and how much you use. Even if you're just microdosing, I still recommend planning ahead even if you're not cognitively impaired. It's just easier. It's just taking my advice. It's just easier. But if you do feel cognitively impaired when you're high, then you're going to want to have planned ahead. Go ahead. Set out those snacks ahead. Put them out. Put them out on the countertop where they are visible, or go ahead and pull them out to wherever you're hanging out, in the backyard or whatever. Have that ahead so that it's the first thing you see and it will be the first thing you go for. One of my big recommendations is those charcuterie boards, which I think are super fun to make. Have you ever made a one-person one? Or if you're with a friend or a couple friends, make a two-person one where it's just enough servings of each fun snack for each person, just small servings, but you can arrange them in a fun pattern and you can put a variety of things out. Those can be really fun. But having the healthy food available and you're planning to enjoy it reduces our compulsion to order takeout, spend unnecessary money, and set ourselves up to feel worse. Just plan ahead. Prepare ahead. Have it ready. The next step in Munchies 2.0 is mindful eating. One of my very favorite aspects of cannabis, and I've talked about this quite a bit, is the ability to really focus. I love that it helps me focus and really zone in on a task, a thought, or an activity. This skill can help us tune into every aspect of eating as well. It's just about turning your attention. If you love cannabis because it helps you focus creatively, which can be really fun if you love to write or paint or draw, it can be really fun to use cannabis. Use that same focus and turn the focus towards what you're eating. Explore each food's shape. Look at the color, the flavor, the aroma, and the texture. Enjoy each food. Turn your attention to it. Pay attention to how your stomach feels as it becomes full. Pay attention to tune into how that feels as it goes from hungry to satisfied. Notice how that feels and use this sensation to limit your intake. Cannabis is known to enhance the sensory experience of eating, allowing you to better tune into your body's signals of hunger and fullness. Additionally, here's another good thought, using cannabis as a tool for mindful eating can also help you let go of guilt associated with leaving food uneaten. How often do we not want to waste food because it's drilled into us and we're worried, we're anxious, we're stressed about not finishing our food or wasting food? Well, one of the cool things about cannabis is that it helps with what's called neuroplasticity, which in a very, very short way of explaining that is our ability to make changes. And so sometimes it's a pattern change, it's a habit change for us to leave food uneaten or to waste food. And there's no value judgment on that, and sometimes when we're using cannabis it makes that whole process easier. So in general, kind of to sum up the foundation of Munchies 2.0 is just fostering a healthier relationship with food overall. Preparing ahead, planning ahead, eating mindfully, those are the foundation of Munchies 2.0. So I'm going to transition into just a couple of suggestions that I have for you if you're interested. Okay, so hang tight here, I've got a list. Number one, fruit. Like I mentioned, fruit is abundant in nutrients, vitamins, minerals, water, which is incredible for hydration. Yes, it's true. Everybody says drink your water, but what about eat some melon, right? That helps. It does help with your hydration. So cut up or buy fresh fruit slices. Cut them up into bite-sized pieces, slices. They sell them like that too, just buy them. But think apples, melons, oranges. Or go ahead and buy a pint or a bag of grapes or berries and go ahead and just wash them and set them out in a bowl so that they're right there in front of you, ready to grab. If you feel snacky, go ahead and just grab on your berries. If you want to add protein with it, which would be a great idea to keep your blood sugar even and just make sure you're being satisfied, try it with yogurt maybe. You could have a different flavored yogurt. You could mix it into the yogurt. You could make all kinds of yogurt parfaits with that or cottage cheese. Again, the cottage cheese pairs nicely with fruit. You could have it as a dip or by itself. You could even make a whole yogurt parfait with the yogurt and granola if you want a little crunch. So fruit is number one. Number two, vegetables. Cut up. Again, you can cut them yourself or they sell them pre-cut if you want to just go ahead and buy them. Vegetables, like think carrots, cucumbers, mushrooms, celery, bell peppers, things that are great for dipping because most people aren't really too much into eating raw vegetables by themselves. I don't see that a ton as an option. But they are good with dip, right? They are good with dip and they are good mixed in with things. So salsa, right? I mean, who doesn't love salsa? Guacamole, hummus. I love, there's this dip at Trader Joe's which is called, they usually do a variation of a reduced guilt dip which is yogurt based. They use Greek yogurt. There's one out right now. It should be out in stores. It's spinach and kale reduced guilt Greek yogurt dip. So again, hummus or a yogurt based dip. You can even just make your own if you feel so inclined, you want to look up a recipe, that can be fun, right? So vegetables. Number three, I did mention this already, but the charcuterie board, the snack board. I love that. I think it's so much fun. I've done it with more of a healthy concept. I've also done it as a dessert board. It's really fun. You know, generally you see nuts, you see seeds, fruits, vegetables, lean meats, cheese, olives, crackers. Those kinds of things are what you tend to see. And if you have no idea, then I need you to go Google charcuterie board and look at all the options because you will understand what I'm talking about and it can be really fun. But again, my real tip here is to just limit your portion sizes. So if you're putting out cheese on your charcuterie board and it's just you, then you need to put out like one square, right? Just one serving. Or if it's just two of you, you know, just put out two squares. Don't overindulge just because it's a charcuterie board. But those can be fun because those can be fun for variety. Number four, traditional snack foods. You know, really pretzels and chips and nuts, all those things, cookies. You know, it's not that they're bad necessarily, and sometimes we do crave them and we need to satisfy that craving. Portion, portion, portion. Measure out a portion. If the box of Cheez-Its says a portion of Cheez-Its is seven Cheez-Its, then count out seven Cheez-Its and have those ready in a bowl, right? Make it easy for yourself. Limit the temptation. A lot of healthy eating is just managing temptations, which sometimes is out of sight, out of mind, right? Number five, try edamame. This is an underrated snack. I feel like this doesn't give enough attention. I love it. I get the steamable edamames, so they're ready to heat up. They take five minutes in the microwave. I throw a little bit of salt on them, and then they're a great snack food because you have to kind of suck the little bean out of the skins. So it's something to do, and it's tasty. They're heavy in protein. Soy is really good for you, and that can be a great, fun snack. They also sell them, and I'm sure you can do this yourself too, is to roast them yourself. So you can buy roasted edamame beans in a package, and you can just eat them as a crunchy snack if you like them that way. Number six, trail mix. Now here's the thing about trail mix. Trail mix, by definition, is a combination of nutritionally dense foods, right? It's meant to be eaten on a trail, hence the name, right? And it's meant to be eaten when you don't have access to other food. So I believe I haven't looked into the history of trail mix, but I believe that it is meant to be used when you're out all day and don't have access to a lot of food, because the foods involved, nuts, seeds, dried fruits, are very dense. So always portion your trail mix. I think a portion most of the time is about a quarter cup, so start with that and see. But it can be a tasty and healthy snack. Number seven, popcorn is a super light snack and super high in fiber, and you can find it in a variety of ways. You can air pop it. You can cook it over the stove. You can microwave it, and you can prepackage it. Just beware, because a lot of times people will tell me they've seen popcorn in the grocery store that's got chocolate on it or chocolate in it or peanut butter on it, and it seems too good to be true. Can this be healthy? Because they advertise it as healthy because it's popcorn, but it's really, when you look at the ingredients and the nutritional information on the back, it's not healthy. It's health in disguise, or it's a dupe, basically. It's not usually a healthy choice. So just be careful what you look for. If it seems too good to be true, it probably is, right? But plain popcorn is a great snack. And last one is smoothies, and this is just a combination of the other things, right? Smoothies, fruits, vegetables, yogurt, or almond milk if you like. You blend it all together. Add ice if you like it cold and creamy. That's a fun way to do it. And, of course, if you go online, you'll see a million recipes for smoothies. So those are my first suggestions. My other, my final, last big suggestion is how to avoid takeout, because, unfortunately, takeout tends to be spontaneous, unhealthy, costly, and leave us feeling bloated and gross. And I know it's easy to get into the habit of always ordering takeout, but try this. Think of it this way. Going back to our plan ahead, prepare ahead, what if you had stuff on hand and made your own takeout, right? So if you always find yourself ordering pizza, right, which is, again, just usually because it's spontaneous and you're craving it and you want it and it's easy, right? What if you love pizza? What if the day before or before you consume your cannabis, before there's any cognitive impairment and before the munchies kick in, what if you had everything on hand to make pizza at home, right? What if you had that? And then once you're at home and maybe after you consume it and you're having a great time with your friends or by yourself, you can focus and zone in on making the pizza and make it how you want and cook it at home so at least it's a healthier version. Or maybe same thing with tacos, right? If you end up ordering Mexican food, it can be really fun to have all the fixings for tacos ahead, have it all ready, have it all pre-chopped if you need to or ready to go, and then make a taco bar. Again, you can do it by yourself and really have fun with it or you can make it fun for your friends. Make a taco bar, have it at home. It eliminates any grease or extra additives that they add at a restaurant, a lot of salt, a lot of fat. You can make it exactly how you want it and it can be a fun, easy thing to do and safe thing to do while you're consuming cannabis. And you can load up on lots of veggies if you want and you can control what you're eating that way. So if you must order out and you're just not, you didn't get a chance to go to the store, you're just not a plan-ahead person, which I can help you work on that if you'd like, but if you must order out, consider making your order before you consume your cannabis because once we get that cognitive impairment or the stimulation of appetite from the consumption, right, so once it hits those receptors and starts to kick in and stimulate your appetite, your decision's going to change. So think about ordering before you do that and have it, you know, set it to come later if you want, you know, or have it to come, you can usually express when you want it delivered so you can plan ahead that way, right? Basically, I'm recommending that you make food decisions before you consume your cannabis to reduce temptations and impulsive decisions. So that is Munchies 2.0. It's a shift in mindset. It's just thinking about it all differently. It's understanding how munchies work, how to avoid them, but also how to work with them and change your mindset towards snacking and eating. It doesn't have to be a disaster. It can actually be great for you if you follow these tips. So if you'd like personal help with this, I'd be more than happy to do that. Just send me a message. You can reach me through the podcast. My email is Beth at Cannafitnessnutrition.com. I'm on Instagram at Beth underscore Cannafitnessnutrition, and I would love to talk more about it. I would also love if you would share this with someone you love, and I would also love if you sent in any questions or feedback that you have, and I will see you next time.