OPINION: Cannabis munchies are a gift and a curse

Watch any movie with a stoner character and chances are they are depicted as spaced-out losers with no ambition. Red eyes, scraggly appearance and locked onto the couch, these cartoonish characterizations are no longer relevant — as many professionals and brilliant thinkers are consuming cannabis daily.

But there is one behavior displayed by these characters that carries over into real life and there’s science to back it up — the “munchies.” This sudden stimulation in appetite can be a lifesaver for individuals suffering from debilitating medical conditions which eliminate their appetite, but it can also be a curse for healthy individuals whose hunger becomes like that of a bear preparing for hibernation.

In 2015, researchers at Yale University discovered the neurological mechanism that causes the “munchies.” They found that the “hungry feeling is driven by neurons in the brain that typically involve suppressing the appetite. When responding to marijuana, however, neurons that normally turn off hunger pangs instead made users ravenous — at least when those users were transgenic lab mice.”

According to Tamas Horvath, the study’s lead author and neurobiologist, "It fools the brain's central feeding system. We were surprised to find that the neurons we thought were responsible for shutting down eating were suddenly being activated and promoting hunger, even when you are full.”

Many long-time cannabis users are well familiar with that pivotal and profound moment when they reached the crossroads of either “I have to stop using cannabis or I’m going to continue to gain weight and feel bad about myself” or “I need to control my eating if I’m going to continue utilizing cannabis.”

If you’ve been consuming cannabis regularly for any length of time, it’s more than likely you’ve experienced at least one uncontrollable eating rampage. The line between self-control and destroying every piece of food in your kitchen is so thin it’s virtually translucent. And, once it begins, nothing is safe — not the Christmas desserts mom labored over, nor your kid’s bagged lunch that your spouse already asked you to stop devouring in the middle of the night. One of my friends recently admitting having this conversation with his wife after she’d grown understandably annoyed at his midnight rumblings in which lunches mysteriously disappeared.

An interesting study released in February 2019 by a UConn economist found a correlation between state recreational marijuana legalization and increased consumption of certain high-calorie foods.

According to UConn Today, “Assistant professor of economics Michele Baggio conducted the study in collaboration with Alberto Chong, a professor at Georgia State University’s Andrew Young School of Policy Studies. The study looked at data on monthly purchases of cookies, chips and ice cream from grocery, convenience, drug and mass distribution stores in more than 2,000 counties in the United States over a 10-year period.

“The researchers compared purchasing trends to the implementation dates for recreational marijuana laws in states including Colorado, Oregon and Washington. Their analysis showed that legalizing recreational marijuana led to a 3.1 percent increase in ice cream purchases, a 4.1 percent increase in cookie purchases, and a 5.3 percent increase in chip purchases immediately after recreational marijuana sales began.”

But don’t fret, there are plenty of ways to avoid and/or alleviate the pound-packing feeding frenzy that may be unleashed after cannabis is consumed.

First and foremost, you must regain self-control – because all it takes is one taste of a sugary treat to trigger full refrigerator destruction after consuming today’s hyper-potent cannabis strains.

Breaking the behavior of reaching for food right after consuming cannabis is the most difficult part of the equation. You must make a conscious effort to get your post-consumption appetite under control before moving forward with a healthier routine.

I would never claim to be a pillar of healthy living, maybe more like a chair with three legs. But I do have some things that may be helpful if you find yourself in the throes of a cupboard-crushing trance.

Two of the most basic rules to abide by are:

- Never go grocery shopping when stoned, this will never go well. Healthy meals for the week, including fruits and vegetables, tend to give way to several pints of Cherry Garcia, soda and other sugary garbage.

- Don’t keep junk food in the house. This way, you will create an extra step. This breaks up the possibility of an instant food binge, as you now have to travel out to satiate your junk food cravings.

The problem is that once you start munching on things around the kitchen, there’s no end to it. If you absolutely must snack after consuming cannabis, it’s best to find something that you can eat without packing on pounds. The following foods may not all be particularly healthy, but they’re a good way to change the behavior. This includes items such as:

- Popcorn

- Freeze pops (Preferably made with sugar-free juice)

- Sugar-free lemon drops

- Chewing gum

- Grapes

- Water with a lemon slice

Cannabis is a beautiful medicine in its ability to give those suffering through serious medical conditions like cancer an appetite, which inevitably provides the individual with much-needed nutrition in order to stay strong and fight the disease. The plant is meant to be used for wellness, so its appetite stimulating effects are a godsend for many.

However, for the healthy recreational user, it can quickly add unnecessary weight. As we get older, it becomes more difficult to shed this weight. Be mindful of this, follow some of the tips in this column – and you’ll find the balance needed to remain healthy without giving up cannabis for good.

Gregg Padula is an employee of GateHouse Media New England. He has experience in several areas of the cannabis industry, and now serves as an advocate for both patients' and workers’ rights. He can be reached at gpadula@wickedlocal.com.