Conquer the Munchies
There is a well-known phenomena about some people beginning to crave snacks and other food that’s to hand when consuming cannabis with THC-rich marijuana in it.
This doesn’t happen for all cannabis users.
This effect is most often to happen with those using cannabis as recreation and/or ingesting large doses at a time.
It’s more often to happen for those using inhaling methods of THC-rich cannabis marijuana consumption.
Those using lower doses of a healthy fat edible, like that of the Recipe, this problem is often not an issue.
For some with special needs of needing to gain weight after particular medical procedures or other maladies, using marijuana cannabis can help to increase apatite.
For most people, going on an eating binge while trying to medicate is an unwanted additional side effect.
So here are some ideas many have used to Conquer the Munchies:
1. Plan your dosage and your munchies
If you need to dose cannabis during the day, schedule your doses so if the munchies come on, it’s time to eat anyway. If you’re following the Real Food suggestions, you will be eating small amounts every 2-3 hours and keeping real hunger at bay. But take your cannabis dose then just before your next food:
- If consuming your dose as smoking it or by dry plant inhaler, take the dose 15-30 minutes before a meal.
- Edibles (the Recipe) take your dose at least 1 hour before a meal.
If you’re taking a dose and it won’t coincide with mealtime, check in with your internal hunger scale first.
If you’re even a little hungry, make yourself a healthy meal or healthy snacks (depending on your mood and plans for your day).
- For snacks, think: crunchy, hydrating, salty and sweet (Peat’s carrot salad).
- For meals, think: fulfilling and nourishing.
This means something different to everyone and there’s no perfect meal to satisfy everyone’s munchies, but you know what foods make you feel good, so whip up some of that. Make sure to make enough food on hand so you don’t finish your healthy meal and snacks and then go looking for the Cheetos.
2. Plan to be active or engaged
Binge watching leads to binge eating. It’s a fact.
So plan for a fun indoor activity (video and board games keep your hands and mind busy), an outdoor adventure or a long rambling walk.
My expert tip for you is to get completely ready to go (NOT TO DRIVE) (plan, directions, shoes, house keys, water, wallet etc.) and then toke up, tincture up or eat up.
Otherwise, you could get bogged down and lured back to the sofa and a bag of chips when you can’t locate your keys or don’t really have a destination in mind.
3. Hydrate!
If you get the munchies and you’re not actually hungry, give the Gremlin some fruit infused water, a warm mug of matcha or some iced herbal tea. You’ll satisfy the munchies (if only for a moment) and this habit will help keep you hydrated which is a key to high energy and healthy life.
4. Let the gremlin have his way every once in a while.
I’m a big believer in conscious “binge” days. Dedicate one day a week (or a month) to let the munchies run wild and be a couch potato. Here’s the hitch. Eat a healthy breakfast and do some form of movement before you binge and loaf. Deal?
Commit to the other six days to cage the Gremlin and make healthy choices.
5. When in doubt, clean your mouth.
A fresh mouth is a fresh start. When you catch yourself starting to give in to the munchies when you really don’t want to, just grab your toothbrush or do a session of oil pulling. This simple practice is surprisingly effective for disrupting the munchies.
(Oil pulling is taking a tablespoon or so of coconut oil (NOT MCT) in your mouth and swishing it around your mouth for 15-20 minutes (like mouthwash) and then spitting it into a throw-away tissue for the trash… don’t spit oil down a drain or it could later clog the drain).
