For new cannabis users, munchies can be overwhelmingly difficult to control. Check out these tips on how to make better choices when you get the munchies.
First, what are munches? When you use cannabis, the active ingredient THC stimulates appetites. Thus, driving you mad with hunger and thirst for snacks. According to the Society for the Study of Ingestive Behavior, normally when a stomach is empty, it releases a hormone called ghrelin. Ghrelin tells your brain it’s time for food. However, researchers found when cannabis is consumed, a ghrelin surge was also sent to the brain1. In other words, your fight against munchies is an uphill battle against your biology.
Rather than raiding your fridge and pantry for corn dogs, day-old pizza, cheesy puffs, cookies and gummy bears; make these healthier choices or use these strategies to try to avoid binging.
Fruit Is a Perfect Munchies Snack
An ideal munchies treat is either intensely sweet, salty, sour and bursting with flavor. If you’re into sweet and sour candy when you’re stoned, try substituting it with fruit. Stock your home with your favorite fruits before a smoke session and you will thank your stoned self later. If you’re unable to get fresh fruit near you, stock your pantry with canned fruit. Avoid eating excessive sugar by purchasing fruit in light syrup or juice only. Fruit can help give your high an elevated sensory feedback experience. Not to mention, biting into a juicy piece of watermelon or a citrus fruit will also cure your cottonmouth.
Substitute Junk Food for Healthier Alternatives
Do your best to make healthier choices. Rather than polishing off a bag of potato chips try substituting the chips for nuts such as pistachios, almonds, dry-roasted peanuts, or buttery cashews. Do damage control. Instead of devouring cupcakes and ice cream eat a little dark chocolate or peanut butter. If you’re up to it, safely make fruit smoothies to substitute ice cream. Skip the sodas and replace it with seltzer waters. These are not perfect replacements, but any improvement can help.
Keep Junk Food Out of The House
If all the other tips are too much work, avoid buying and stocking junk food. Seems like an obvious solution but it’s effective. When you’re stoned on your couch, you won’t put too much effort into scoring some snacks.
Try A Different Strain of Cannabis
If you find the strain of cannabis you are smoking is making you uncontrollably crave food, try another strain. You may have an insatiable appetite with sativa versus indica. Perhaps a hybrid strain won’t illicit hunger in you. Everyone reacts differently, so you’ll have to experiment.
Wait To Eat Dinner Until After Smoking
If eating while you’re high is something you enjoy, try postponing your meals until after you get stoned. Eating while you’re high is enjoyable by some. Flavors can seem more heightened when you’re high. By eating dinner after you smoke, you avoid an extra meals and calories.
In conclusion, these solutions are not perfect, but they are better choices for when you get the munchies. If you indulge in marijuana often, the extra calorie intake from the munchies can add up quickly.
1Society for the Study of Ingestive Behavior. "How cannabis affects appetite: Brain changes." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 17 July 2018. <www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/07/180717094747.htm>.
