Watching what you eat and drink is vital when it comes to looking after your overall health, and it’s now thought that CBD oil could have a part to play
Looking after our health has never felt more important. With the coronavirus still making waves around the world, we’re all taking unprecedented steps to keeping ourselves and the people we love safe.
From remote working to minimal socialising, it certainly is a strange time for us all, and it acts as a stark reminder of the importance of looking after our health and wellbeing.
And one of the most important factors in looking after your body and mind has always been making sure you eat and drink right. Alongside exercise and sleep, diet is one of the key pillars when it comes to health.
But, as anyone who has made the effort to eat healthy will know, it isn’t always easy. That’s where options like CBD oil come in. There is some evidence to suggest that CBD could help to benefit your health and wellbeing alongside a balanced diet, and could even make sticking to a healthy eating regime easier.
We’re going to take a closer look at the importance of a good diet, as well as exploring the potential impact of products such as high quality CBD oil. Let’s take a look.
The importance of a good diet for your overall health
So why exactly are we encouraged to eat healthy? Like anything, if you want your body to work optimally, it needs to be provided with the right fuel. The kinds of food we eat has an impact on everything from how we’re feeling to how we look and how our bodies operate. Exercising effectively, concentrating at work, sleeping well and maintaining energy levels depends on eating a balanced, nutritious diet.
As well as keeping you feeling healthy, eating the right foods can also help to protect you against many chronic diseases, such as heart disease, diabetes and cancer.
The NHS reports that following a healthy eating pattern can significantly reduce your risk of type 2 diabetes and heart conditions, as well as improving the health of your skeleton by promoting strong bones and teeth. Deficiencies in some key nutrients, such as vitamin A, B, C and E, and zinc, iron and selenium, can weaken parts of the immune system. As such, a balanced diet that covers all the appropriate food groups is key.
What constitutes a good diet?
As we are all different and our bodies operate differently, our specific dietary requirements will also vary. For example, children have different dietary requirements to adults, and we all digest nutrients in different ways. Generally, speaking, however, we should all aim to ensure that we have a varied diet consisting of macros – carbohydrates, fats and protein – as well as micronutrients such as vitamins and minerals.
According to the NHS Eatwell Guide, a healthy diet should consist of:
- Eating at least five portions of a variety of fruit and vegetables every day
- Having meals with some degree of high fibre starchy foods like bread, rice, pasta or potatoes, ideally wholegrain versions
- Having some dairy or dairy alternatives (such as soya drinks) for healthy teeth and bones
- Eating protein sources such as beans, pulses, fish, eggs or meat
- Opting for unsaturated fats, and eating them in small quantities
- Drinking plenty of fluids, ideally six to eight glasses of water per day.
In the UK, we tend to consume too many calories per day, and rely too heavily on high-fat and high-sugar foods to make up these calories. Sugar should represent less than 10% of your total energy intake, and reducing this further to under 5% can have additional health benefits.
The World Health Organisation also recommends keeping salt intake down. Limiting the amount of salt and high-salt condiments you use when cooking and preparing foods can help you achieve this, reducing your risk of hypertension, heart disease and stroke in the process.
In terms of calorie intake, men and women have different overall requirements – which can vary depending on metabolism and exercise levels. On average, men are advised to consume around 2,500 calories per day, while women are advised to consume slightly less at 2,000 calories.
CBD, your appetite and your eating habits
So now that you know what is necessary for a good diet, and why a good diet is so important, you’re probably wondering where CBD oil fits into all this.
CBD has grown exponentially in terms of popularity over the last few years. This is largely thanks to an influx of promising research and anecdotal evidence detailing the impact of CBD on your overall health and wellbeing. From anxiety levels to pain, skin conditions and more, CBD is proving itself to a be naturally sourced wellbeing booster. And it could have benefits for your eating habits.
THC appetite stimulant
The impact on appetite caused by psychoactive cannabinoids like THC – present in marijuana – have been well-documented. Many people are aware of the “munchies” impact of smoking marijuana, increasing appetite. However, some research has been done into the effects that non-psychoactive cannabinoids, namely CBD, can have on your appetite, and the results were extremely promising.
A 2012 study published in Psychopharmacology found that CBD had an opposite effect on the appetite to THC, effectively reducing the total food consumption in animal participants. The study concluded by saying that this highlighted the “possible anti-obesity effects” of CBD oil.
And these researchers were not alone in their findings. Another study published in Neuropsychopharmacology in 2012 found that CBD could counteract the hunger-inducing effects of THC, adding further credibility to the case being made that CBD could help to lower the risk of obesity.
CBD can also impact your metabolism, according to early studies in this field. In 2016 Korean researchers found that CBD served to stimulate the proteins and genes that work to breakdown fat. What’s more, they also found that CBD could boost the number and activity of mitochondria, amplifying the body’s ability to burn calories. This study was published in the scientific journal Molecular and Cellular Biochemistry.
CBD and your cholesterol
We’re often told about the importance of lowering our cholesterol, but what does this actually mean for your day-to-day life? Cholesterol is a fatty substance created in the liver and is also found in some foods.
Cholesterol in and of itself is not a bad thing. In fact, cholesterol plays a vital role in how your body works. It is present in every cell in your brain, and plays a role in ensuring that your brain, nerves and skin. It has three main jobs in the body: providing the membrane of all your cells; helping to create vitamin D for healthy bones and muscles; and creating bile, which helps to digest the fats you eat.
However, when your cholesterol levels are too high, it can clog up your arteries and lead to health problems in the future. Your cholesterol levels can be raised in a number of ways, most notably by consuming high levels of saturated fats, and by not being active enough.
High cholesterol can lead to a range of serious health concerns, including coronary heart disease, stroke and peripheral vascular disease. Maintaining a healthy diet is key to controlling your cholesterol levels, and CBD could help you do this effectively.
One study from 2011, published in Cellular and Molecular Neurobiology, explored the relationship between CBD and genes thought to be associated with an increased risk of high cholesterol. Their results were promising, showing the CBD could help to module the levels of cholesterol in microglial cells.
Reduce cholesterol with CBD
Other studies and anecdotal evidence examples have shown that CBD can be used to improve cholesterol levels through its ability to regulate lipid uptake and blood pressure. CBD works by impacting and rebalancing the body’s endocannabinoid system. It binds to the receptors that play a part in controlling blood pressure and cholesterol.
What’s more, CBD’s effectiveness in helping to reduce feelings of stress and anxiety can also help it to lower blood pressure.
CBD oil and diabetes (type 2)
Type 2 diabetes is one of the most common and serious health conditions associated with poor eating habits. The condition causes the level of sugar in the blood to become too high, leading to symptoms such as excessive thirst, excessive need to urinate and fatigue. It can also lead to more serious symptoms such as eye, heart and nerve issues.
Type 2 diabetes is caused by problems with a chemical in the body called insulin. These issues are commonly linked to being inactive and overweight, as well as having a family history of type 2 diabetes.
Losing weight, eating healthy and improving your physical activity can all significantly reduce your risk of getting type 2 diabetes. However, research suggests that your CBD could also have a part to play.
How does CBD work on diabetes?
A study published in 2010 in the Journal of American College of Cardiology found that CBD could reduce the severity of diabetes symptoms, including inflammation and stress. What’s more, another 2010 study found that CBD could help to reduce levels of cardiac dysfunction associated with diabetes.
A 2011 study also looked at the relationship between CBD and diabetes, and found promising results for the use of CBD in treating the condition.
More recently, in 2016 researchers from the University of Nottingham found that CBD could be used as part of a treatment to help lower blood sugar levels and increase insulin production in people with type 2 diabetes.
What else can you do to support a good diet?
We’ve covered the importance of a good diet, and what a good diet involves. We’ve also looked at the potential benefits offered by high quality CBD products like CBD oil when it comes to improving your diet and improving your health.
Alongside CBD, there are plenty of other things you can do to improve your eating habits in the long term.
Mindset is an important part of eating healthily. Making the swap to healthy eating can be hard, so it’s important to go into it with realistic expectations. Avoid having an “all or nothing” approach. Just because you slipped and enjoyed some chocolate at lunchtime, this doesn’t mean you have to call the whole day a write-off and abandon your healthy eating until tomorrow.
Sleep and exercise are just as important as nutrition when it comes to enjoying a healthy lifestyle, and many people find that beginning to exercise at the same time as changing the way you eat can increase your chances of healthy lifestyle success.
Skipping meals may seem like a quick way to reduce calorie intake, but keeping a regular routine can help to avoid grazing and snacking throughout the day.
