Food is one of the greatest guilty pleasures that we can have. Making anything from salty to sweet, there always seems to be a smile after every bite that you take. What if you can experience those same foods but also have other medicinal properties that can help you sleep and relieve anxiety. There is something called CBD that does those same things. By adding CBD flour, CBD wax, or any type of concentrate into your foods, your meal will mask the flavor but still receive all the effects.
What is CBD?
CBD, also known as cannabidiol, is a product that is used to help people who struggle with mental and physical illnesses. It is a natural compound that is found in the hemp plant, also known as the cannabis sativa. The hemp plant is grown and used primarily as an industrial plant to make products such as hats, shoes, clothes, textiles, and other sorts of materials.
CBD is one of the main compounds found inside this plant and the other main compound is THC. Even though there are over a hundred different compounds inside the cannabis sativa plant, these are the most prevalent. But, CBD and THC are very different products and they react differently inside the body.
So what is the difference between CBD and marijuana?
CBD contains THC but it contains so little that the THC is not a main contributor to the effects CBD produces. According to the Farm Bill passed in 2018 by President Donald Trump, it states that any hemp based product that is grown and sold in the United States must be below 0.3% in THC levels on a dry weight scale to be considered CBD. Anything above those levels would be considered THC dominant and be classified as marijuana.
Marijuana is currently illegal at a federal level and is classified as a controlled substance under the Schedule 1 list. This means that having this product in certain states can get you in a lot of trouble. But federal laws are different from state laws meaning that one state marijuana might be illegal but in another it is legal. Marijuana is legal in California, Oregon, Colorado, and other states but it is illegal in Texas and Wyoming so it is best to do your research before buying the product.
The primary component in marijuana is THC and THC is a psychoactive property. This compound within the plant is the reason why people get high, stoned, or feel out of body experiences. Because CBD has low levels of THC, people don’t get high and CBD does not have any psychoactive properties. This means the likelihood that somebody would get high off of CBD is little to none no matter how much you smoke.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), they have stated that in humans, CBD exhibits no effects that provide indicative abuse or dependency. They have also stated that there is no evidence of public health related problems with the use of pure CBD. This is great news for the people who are worried about using this product too much in their daily routine or foods. But with anything out there from specific foods or medicinal ailments, take everything in moderation.
What are some of the benefits of CBD?
There are a lot of benefits of using CBD such as pain relief, chronic pains, mental disorders (severe and mild), and muscle dystrophy or decay. Most of these disorders can be treated with other pharmaceutical pills but now, it seems people are trying to distance themselves away from over the counter pills and are looking for natural treatments and remedies.
The current medical uses for CBD are to primarily treat anxiety and depression. Anxiety is characterized as a mental health disorder that produces feelings of worry, anxiousness, or fear that begin to interfere with the person’s daily activities. Some of the examples that anxiety disorders can cause include panic attacks, obsessive compulsive disorder, and PTSD or post traumatic stress disorder. PTSD is a very common mental disease with our veterans and people who have served valiantly in our military.
CBD has been used to treat people who suffer from insomnia and have trouble sleeping at night. Because CBD acts naturally within the body, once taken, it produces a calming and relaxing effect which tires you out. The main chemical compound that promotes sleep is melatonin and CBD does not impede the production of it.
Not only that but it is being used to treat people who suffer from inflammation. Some diseases like arthritis are common and happen to everyone when they get older but there hasn’t been any natural treatment for this. Arthritis is the swelling and tenderness of one or more joints that occur in the body. There are two main forms of arthritis and they are osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis. Both are very painful but CBD can help suppress those pains.
What are the side effects of CBD?
Some of the most common side effects people experience with CBD are dry mouth, nausea, dizziness, fatigue, reduced appetite, and it can lower your blood pressure. These side effects can be treated very easily and generally do not last long. Almost all of them can be cured by eating food or drinking lots of water for your body to begin to metabolize the CBD faster and get it out of your system faster.
The side effects are normally caused by people using too much CBD at once. This is nothing to worry about or let it cause you too much concern because it happens a lot. A way to prevent this from happening is to portion out the right quantity that you think will produce the effects you need and minimize side effects. It also recommended to consult with your vendor or a doctor who has more experience with these types of medications.
Ways you can take CBD
There are a couple ways to take CBD and depending on the individual’s personal preferences, one may be better than the other. The most common ways are smoking, eating, oils, and topical creams.
Smoking has been proven to be the fastest way for your body to feel the effects. You can either use CBD bud or CBD vape cartridge to refill your vape pen. The reason for this is because smoking uses your lungs which is part of the cardiovascular system. The cardiovascular system is the fastest system that helps circulate your blood and adding CBD to that would also circulate at the same rate.
The second most common is eating it which is then called an edible. This is a very good way to use CBD especially if you are not the smoking type. Because it is going through the digestive system, it takes longer for CBD to digest and metabolize. This normally takes anything between 10-50 minutes for you to feel the effects.
Lastly, you can use CBD oils and creams to put on top of your physical injuries. This would take more time for your skin to absorb it but eventually it produces the same effects.
CBD recipes
Some delicious recipes that I have used are CBD infused guacamole, CBD pesto pasta with spicy scallops, slow cooked CBD meatballs, and CBD paleo chocolate chip cookie bars. These are just some of my favorite ways to feel the CBD effects but at the same time, have a tasty snack.
I have never tried it and I do have some aches and pains that may benefit from this