CAN CANNABIS CONTROL WEIGHT?

CAN CANNABIS CONTROL BODY WEIGHT?

Honestly ii do not really understand why people are constantly trying to analyse why Cannabis stimulates the appetite when this is surely one of the biggest benefits when dealing with ill people as they need to eat up in order to heal up.

It is exactly the same as with sleep therapy, everyone knows that Cannabis helps you to sleep better.  In my personal opinion after studying and working with this plant for over 35 years ii can honestly say that when you stimulate your EC system by consuming Cannabis, wherever there is a problem in your body, on any level, Cannabis will start to rectify the problem immediately.  It is very tempting to say that it is as simple as that but it is true that studying the chemical composition of Cannabis is in fact quite complex and the intricacies of this remarkable plant continues to baffle students and scientists. But the fact does remain true that you cannot improve upon what nature has already perfected.

So in terms of weight control ii surely can understand why people are struggling to understand why it is then that people who consume Cannabis and generally over eat during the process but yet they do not seem to gain weight.  Indeed this is a mystery and here are some pointers to consider when we try to develop an understanding of this unique plant and the effects it has on our bodies.

 

There are many different explanations for why Cannabis both stimulates and suppresses the appetite.

Some people say that Cannabis tricks your brain into thinking it is hungry; well honestly this doesn’t really make any sense and ii really do not believe that such a profound and chemically correct plant plays any tricks on the human body.  Other people say that Cannabis stimulates and heightens our sense of smell leading to increased food intake. And still other people claim that THC causes a drop in blood sugar signalling the body to take up some food. 

Many of my Elders who now no longer puff Cannabis have enlightened me with explanations of how Cannabis sets our brains on fire causing excessive overthinking. In an altered state of mind, a person does tend to analyse everything too deeply which in turn results in an increase of energy consumption.

The human brain may only represent around 2% of our body weight but it uses around 20% of our energy. So it does make a lot of sense that the brain would demand more energy when stimulated by Cannabis.

For me personally it is all about fats. The human brain is 60% fat, Cannabis and Cannabinoids are fat soluble and need fats to bond to and in my opinion, this is the reason why you begin to feel hungry. For instance if you eat a meal or a snack about 20 minutes before smoking Cannabis you will most likely not develop the ‘munchies’ as there would be adequate fats in the body for the Cannabinoids to bond to.

REGULATION OF METABOLISM

Researchers have recently discovered that Cannabinoids can actually increase the amount of energy and fat which the body burns.

Most people have heard the expression “the munchies” so Cannabis is better known for inducing hunger in those who consume it, but scientists have now found that Cannabis also has an appetite suppressing effect.

It has been clinically proven that Cannabis boosts metabolism, leading to lower levels of fat in the liver and reduced cholesterol in the blood stream.

There is a definite link between Cannabis use, glucose, insulin and insulin resistance. Insulin resistance is the condition where the body has trouble absorbing glucose from the bloodstream.

Many research studies have been conducted all over the world and the most noteworthy differences between people who smoked Cannabis and those who never or no longer smoke, was that in people still smoking, their insulin levels were reduced by 16% and their insulin resistance was reduced by 17%.

Scientists now know that Cannabis activates the stimulation of Adiponectin, a protein involved in regulating glucose and lipid (fat) metabolism, proving that there is a strong relationship between Cannabinoids and therefore Cannabis, and exterior metabolic processes.

The importance of fats cannot be overlooked and as ii have stated many times before it is interesting to note that Cannabinoids are fat soluble components and the human brain is 60% fat. This is one of the reasons why the pharmaceutical industry struggles with Cannabis because it is not water soluble and therefore cannot be administered via any water solution.

 

THE IMPORTANCE OF CBD AND THCV IN WEIGHT CONTROL

One of the ‘big six’ Cannabinoids known as THCV (Tetrahydrocannabivarin) has been found to increase sensitivity to insulin while also protecting the cells that produce insulin, allowing them to work more effectively.  THCV also has the ability to regulate metabolism and suppress appetite and this has raised hopes in the medical world that Cannabis can be developed into treatments for obesity related diseases as well as diabetes.

The effect of THCV on the CB1 and CB2 receptors is different to the effects of THC.

THCV is in reality an antagonist (inhibitor) of the CB1 and CB2 receptors, so in other words instead of stimulating these receptors THCV actually blocks them from being activated which is what makes THCV so important in the study of obesity,  appetite control and metabolic regulation which it is showing signs of being able to control, as an appetite suppressant. This is exactly why you don’t often see an overweight person who consumes Cannabis.

Some of the best loved sativa strains are known to be high in THCV for example Durban poison and many of the Haze and Cheese strains as well as their hybrids.

It has also been revealed that another of the ‘big six’ Cannabinoids known as CBD (Cannabidiol) has an effect on the genes which affect cholesterol metabolism and also has an appetite suppressing effect.

So both THCV and CBD have shown to reduce body weight and increase metabolism of fat cells.

There is not much you can do to increase THCV or CBD levels other than to choose strains with a known high CBD/THCV content.  Both THCV and CBD are naturally found in higher amounts in low THC varieties such as Cannabis ruderalis and some hemp species.

So in other words, people suffering from diabetes and other metabolic conditions would need to source a ‘lower THC quality’ herb to prepare a high THCV/CBD medication. Some of the more popular high CBD/THCV strains include Charlotte’s Web’, Harlequin, AC/DC, Sour Tsunami as well as Cannatonic.

THE CANNABIS COCONUT CONNECTION

WHAT IS THE SECRET OF COCONUT OIL?

The Coconut palm (Cocus nucifera) and the Cannabis plant (Cannabis sativa and indica) have both been condemned and persecuted throughout the ages despite their many highly beneficial medicinal properties and this has prompted me to pursue this avenue of study in my quest to find the perfect natural extraction solvent for Cannabis.

CANNABIS	COCONUT
Anti-tumor (anti-cancer)	Anti-tumor (anti-cancer)
Immune Boosting	Immune Boosting
Anti-fungal	Anti-fungal
Anti-bacterial	Anti-bacterial
Anti-microbial	Anti-microbial
Regulation of metabolism (weight control)	Regulation of metabolism (weight control)
Anti-oxidant	Anti-oxidant
Skin care	Skin care
Osteoporosis treatment	Osteoporosis treatment
Fat soluble	Over 90% Saturated fat
No negative side effects no deaths	No negative side effects no deaths
Components found in human breast milk	Components found in human breast milk
Regulate circulation	Regulate circulation
Used for over 5000 years as medicine	Used for over 5000 years as medicine
At the forefront of medical research and breakthroughs	At the forefront of medical research and breakthroughs
Criminalized since 1930’s	Condemned for over 60 years
Controls regulation of fat	Controls regulation of fat
Raw plant has no psychedelic high	Raw plant has no psychedelic high
Aides nutrient absorption	Aides nutrient absorption
diaphoretic (perspiration-inducing)	diaphoretic (perspiration-inducing)
Anti-malarial	Anti-malarial

For over sixty years coconut oil was the victim of mass media anti-coconut oil campaigns, condemning coconut oil as being the number one cause of heart disease and high cholesterol because of the high saturated fatty acids.

As the truth continues to unfold, more and more people are beginning to realize the real health benefits of coconut oil, just like the current situation with the Cannabis plant and the proven medicinal benefits for a variety of killer diseases and many immune and endocrine disorders for which conventional medicine says there is no cure as yet, well now we all know that there are cures, natural cures, and sadly some are illegal. It has always been my opinion that if Coconut possessed psychedelic properties for sure it would also be illegal right now.

The truth is that not all saturated fats are created equally and the emphasis is on the word “created”.

Some saturated fats occur naturally, mostly in coconut and palm kernel oil, while other fats are artificially manipulated into a saturated state by way of the man-made process referred to as hydrogenation.

The process of hydrogenation manipulates vegetable and seed oils by adding hydrogen atoms while heating the oil, to make a liquid fat hard, and producing rancid and thickened oil that really only benefits processed food shelf life and monetary profits.

 

Pure virgin coconut oil, containing no hydrogenation, containing up to 92% saturated fat - the highest amount of saturated fat content found in any kind of fat ever.

Continue reading below...

Unlike animal fats, tropical oils - palm kernel oil (not to be confused with palm oil), and most abundantly in coconut oil – contain saturated fats that are called oils but depending on room temperature can be solid, semi-solid, or liquid, and do not contain any cholesterol at all.

Like all fats, coconut oil is also a blend of fatty acids.

Coconut oil contains an unusual blend of short and medium chain saturated fatty acids, primarily lauric acid (up to 44%) and myristic (up to 16.8%) acids. It is unusual because this combination of short and medium chain saturated fatty acids is not found in any other source in nature, just as the unique combination of Cannabinoids found in the Cannabis plant is not found anywhere else in nature.

The natural affinity of Cannabis to the highly saturated fat in Coconut oil, makes Cannabis and Coconut a medical match made in heaven to produce a truly remarkable natural medicine with serious healing properties for a massive variety of medical disorders.

Up to 50 percent (on average 43 percent) of the fat content in coconut oil is a saturated medium chain saturated fatty acid MCFAs) found mainly in coconut oil and is called lauric acid.

Lauric acid is also present in human breast milk (6.2 % of total fat), cows milk (2.9% of total fat), and goats milk (3.1 % of total fat).

Nursing mothers would do well to consume coconut oil while breastfeeding as the increase in lauric acid would greatly benefit their baby’s immune system.

Saturated fats are known as saturated because all available carbon bonds are tied up with a hydrogen atom, which basically means there are no openings for rancidity or product spoilage.

Unsaturated fats are fats that have had carbon added to them under heat process and results in rancidity and an unhealthy product which causes many heath disorders for example cancer and heart disease.

A great deal of research has established the fact that lauric acid is used by humans to destroy viruses, and various pathogenic bacteria and microbes such as yeasts, fungi, bacteria, parasites, and moulds.

The human body converts lauric acid into mono-laurin, which has anti-viral, anti-bacterial, and anti-protozoa properties, and acts as a highly effective natural immune system booster.

Mono-laurin is a monoglyceride that can actually destroy lipid coated viruses such as:

 

·         HIV, herpes

·         Measles

·         Influenza virus

·         Various pathogenic bacteria

·         Protozoa such as giardia lamblia

Lauric acid is a powerful virus and bacteria destroyer, and coconut oil contains the most lauric acid than any other known substance on Earth.

Capric acid is another coconut saturated fatty acid present in smaller amounts, and has recently also been added to the list of coconut's antimicrobial components. Coconut oil is the main source of Monolaurin in our diets

 

CAN COCONUT OIL PREVENT OBESITY?

It is estimated that people who live in the United States, have an almost 70 percent chance of being overweight and the UK is not far behind also breeding a nation of ‘fatties’. 

In South Africa the statistics are not looking much better and despite the fact that so many of our people live in extreme poverty we are still faced with an increase in obesity especially in that sector of the nation which constantly and almost addictively continue to invest in the fast food industry and their cheap and unhealthy food products.

We are all well aware that obesity affects our quality of life and is linked to so many health disorders. 

One of the best benefits of coconut oil lies in its ability to regulate our metabolism and is therefore useful in metabolic control, appetite and weight control as well as thyroid function which is directly related to weight control and energy consumption by the body. Due to its metabolic effect coconut oil is able to increase the activity of the thyroid gland.

Back in the 1940s, some American farmers found out about this effect by accident when they tried using inexpensive coconut oil to fatten their livestock. It didn't work and instead, coconut oil made the animals lean, active, and hungry.

Many animal and human research studies have demonstrated that by simply replacing LCFAs (long chains) with MCFAs (medium chains) in the diet results in both decreased body weight and reduced fat deposits. 

 

New studies reveal the ability of MCFAs to be easily digested, to help stimulate the metabolism and be turned into energy and this information has entered the sports arena, with keen interest, with several studies showing that medium chain fatty acids can enhance physical or athletic performance.

 

Besides weight loss, there are other advantages to boosting your metabolic rate. Your healing process would automatically accelerate. Cell regeneration increases to replace old cells, and the entire immune system performs better. 

 

THE BENEFITS OF MEDIUM CHAIN FATTY ACIDS

Fats and oils are composed of molecules called fatty acids. Three fatty acids joined together form a triglyceride molecule.

Some fatty acids are smaller than others. Medium-chain fatty acids are smaller than long-chain fatty acids. Likewise medium-chain triglycerides are smaller than long-chain triglycerides.

The size (medium or long chain) of these molecules is very important because of the fact that our bodies process and metabolize different size fat chains differently depending on its size, so basically our body’s process medium and long fatty acids in different ways with different outcomes either way.

Mostly all of the fats and oils in our diet are composed of long-chain fatty acids, whether they're unsaturated or saturated.

There are only a few dietary sources of medium-chain fatty acids, the primary source being tropical oils, particularly palm kernel oil but most abundantly found in coconut oil.

Because the medium-chain triglycerides are smaller than the long-chain triglycerides that are in most fats and oils, they are digested quicker.

In fact, they don't even need pancreatic digestive enzymes to break them down. By the time they enter the intestinal tract, they are already completely broken down into free fatty acids, while long-chain triglycerides still need the digestive enzymes to break them down.

What's important here is that the long-chain fatty acids (LCFAs), when they're finally broken down, will be absorbed through the intestinal wall.

From there, they are packaged into lipoproteins and released into the bloodstream. So the long-chain fatty acids (LCFAs) go straight into the digestive tract and then into the bloodstream where medium-chain fatty acids (MCFAs) are taken up by the liver.

As LCFAs circulate in the bloodstream they supply the fat that collects in fat cells, the same fat that collects in artery walls.

With medium-chain fatty triglycerides in coconut oil the process is different.

They are digested quickly, so pancreatic enzymes are not even needed, putting less strain on the digestive system, allowing the pancreas to do its work, which is to control and regulate blood sugar, instead of processing unhealthy fats.

By the time MCFAs (medium chains) enter the intestinal tract they are already completely broken down into fatty acids.

This means that MCFAs are immediately absorbed into the portal vein, and sent directly to the liver, where they are used as a source of fuel and are stored as energy instead of body fat.

Therefore, they bypass the lipoprotein stage, and they don't circulate in the bloodstream to the degree that other fats do.

Therefore, they do not supply the fat that collects in fat cells or the fat that collects in artery walls. They produce energy and not body fat and definitely not arterial plaque.

Despite sixty odd years of being convinced otherwise, most people now agree that these manipulated trans-fatty acids in various products are best avoided in our diets.

 

Coconut oil does not in any way cause heart disease and also does not contain any cholesterol at all. If you really think about it the claims that coconut oil cause artery blockage simply don’t make any sense especially when you realise that body temperature is around 37 degrees Celsius and coconut oil solidifies at room temperature which is only 23 degrees Celsius.

 

HOW DOES COCONUT OIL HELP FIGHT DIABETES?

Your body automatically sends medium-chain fatty acids (MCFAs) directly to your liver to use as energy, via the portal vein, therefore the majority of the small and medium chain fatty acids do not even end up in the bloodstream, as opposed to long chain fatty acids (LCFAs) which are absorbed into the intestinal tract as they need the pancreatic enzymes to break them down, and are then released into the blood stream.

This makes coconut oil a powerful source of instant energy to your body, a function usually served in the diet by simple carbohydrates. 

But although coconut oil and simple carbohydrates share the ability to deliver quick energy to your body, they differ in one crucial respect.

Coconut oil does not produce an insulin spike in your bloodstream.

Coconut oil acts on your body like a carbohydrate, but without any of the debilitating insulin-related effects associated with long-term high carbohydrate consumption.

Diabetics and those with pre-diabetes conditions as well as hypoglycaemia should immediately realize the benefit of a fast-acting energy source that doesn't produce an insulin spike in your body.

 

Sugar and insulin conditions such as diabetes and hypoglycaemia are fast becoming an exploding health epidemic across the world and especially in regions where there are more fast food outlets than green grocers and where fast food has become cheaper than fruit and vegetables.

 

In fact, coconut oil added to the diets of diabetics and pre-diabetics has actually been shown to help stabilize weight gain, which can dramatically decrease your likelihood of getting adult onset type-2 diabetes.

 

So now we know that Cannabis and Coconut both possess properties which have been proven to help maintain our weight and metabolism.

 

There are many similarities between the healing properties of both Cannabis and coconut oil; anti- cancer, immune boosting properties, anti-fungal, anti- bacterial, anti-microbrial and metabolic regulation.

Another interesting similarity between Cannabis and coconut is that neither have any serious side effects and only a few cases of coconut allergies have ever been reported and these reports are rare and scarce, and each are actually believed to be peanut related allergies instead of coconut allergies.

Most people who are allergic to peanuts and other nuts are able to consume coconut as an alternative.

 

But seriously before we start developing ideas that Cannabis can keep you slim, it really is very important to bear in mind that consuming large amounts of food without burning them off will definitely not help your weight loss plans, no matter how much Cannabis you smoke, so please do not make the mistake of believing that you can eat anything you want and lose weight if you are consuming Cannabis because believe me this is not true.

 

So even though Cannabis has been proven to help reduce arterial plaque build-up and improves the body’s ability to absorb glucose, the truth is that if there is an excess of sugars and fats in your diet, not burnt off through regular exercise, then for sure you are going to put on weight, and therefore, in order to reap the benefits of Cannabis for weight control you do still have to exercise regularly and eat nutritional meals.

 

While on the other hand, a deficiency of Cannabinoids could also result in eating disorders, for instance there are people who if they do not consume Cannabis they will completely forget to eat because they have nothing to stimulate their appetite.

The bottom line is that just as no two humans are alike, the same can be said for Cannabis in that no two plants, in fact, no two buds on a plant are alike and it is the truth that Cannabis does affect each human being in an unique way.

 

There really is no miracle weight loss program which will work while people continue to stuff their faces and refuse to make the effort to burn these extra calories and therefore people should not expect this result from Cannabis either.

 

A word of warning, never ever take any medications which claim to control appetite and weight loss.  Always consult with a healthcare practitioner because seriously some of these drugs are very dangerous and often fatal. 

 

Be very aware that there are fake weed products out there which are causing people to have heart attacks and die sometimes only after the first time of using it. Any synthetic Cannabis medicine is not likely to work as effectively as whole herbal Cannabis and ii have written about this before but all evidence indicates that Cannabinoids simply do not function or some of them do not even exist or occur in the absence of others so trying to synthetically isolate the Cannabinoids simply does not produce the same healing as when working with whole herbal Cannabis.

 

It is the same story as when the pharmaceutical industry took the Hoodia plant from the Khoi San people to develop an appetite suppressant drug.  Personally ii did try it as well as the natural plant and guess what? That’s right the pills did not work as well as the raw plant material.

 

Be Blessed Be Healthy