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For many people, consuming cannabis is just as much about healing your ailments as much as it is about having a good time. Sure, some stoners are more keen on the trip itself than what weed can do for their mental acuity or physical fitness. Regardless if you’re smoking buds recreationally or dosing cannabis for medical reasons, you can be assured of some health benefits from every interaction with cannabis, in all its numerous forms.
One of the most popular ways to get what you need from weed surrounds our topic today: food. Cannabis infused edibles & beverages are a staple among most weed circles, and they’ve only continued to grow in popularity and abundance of options. Why would someone want to smoke something in today’s ever-increasingly “smoke free” society when you could pop a few gummies, cookies or sips from a carbonated bevvy instead?! Cannabis is also helping people cope with their eating disorders, supporting sleep, treating their diabetes and much more.
On another note, cannabis’ relationship to food is often very complimentary – weed is renowned for its powers of appetite stimulation, soothing gut & gastrointestinal issues, and generally making everything you mow down on more enjoyable when you’re high. The munchies seem to represent just one of many positive side effects of consuming cannabis, so it’s natural for many stoners to find themselves evolving into foodies alongside greenthumbs.
Have you ever tried to learn how to boost your high with certain foods? What enhances your high more: foods or drinks? Do you have to be an amazing chef to enhance your high on weed? Or is it as simple as making a pumpkin pie from your pumpkin bong after you’ve smoked from it? Let’s take some time to appreciate our taste buds and learn about foods that enhance your high the best.
What Enhances Your High?
Before we introduce some of the best foods that enhance your high, it’s important that we go over what actually makes some foods a good pairing with cannabis. When it comes to determining what enhances your high, some foods are stellar for stoners simply because they’re satisfying, enjoyable, delicious or comfort foods. Examples of these kinds of munchies would be crunchy chips or cheezies, creamy melt-in-your-mouth ice cream, stacks of buttery, syrup-drenched waffles or the divine tanginess of a B.L.T. (Tofu, lettuce, tomato if you’re a vegetarian-vegan stoner).
On the other hand – sometimes literally, if you’re the type who double-fists snacks when you’ve got the munchies – there are a distinct variety of foods that offer biochemical advantages to your cannabis experiences. What are these biochemicals we speak of? Terpenes, of course, are the main ingredient in certain foods that make them able to enhance your high on weed – not to mention pair well from flavor & aroma standpoints too.
We’ve covered terpenes in the past, so there are lots of guides and other articles surrounding this fascinating topic. To summarize for this blog, certain terpenoid profiles in fruits, vegetables, herbs and spices can lend to your overall cannabis experience by improving your mood, relaxing your mind or body, or enhancing your senses throughout your weed high.
Terpenes are bioactive compounds that are absorbed through your ECS – endocannabinoid system – the same advanced network of nerves that process cannabinoids when we consume cannabis. Terpenes don’t instill the same psychoactive properties as THC, but they can support or enhance similar effects in your body as cannabis such as relaxation, creativity, appetite stimulation, pain reduction and sleep support.
Here are some of the most well-researched terpenes and what kinds of effects they’re known to exhibit:
Limonene
Citrusy, uplifting, relaxing, anti-depressant
Pinene
Piney, airway opener, anti-inflammatory
Myrcene
Musky, soothing/euphoric, anti-stress
Humulene
Spicy, appetite suppressant, anti-inflammatory
Phytol
Floral, sedative, anti-anxiety
Sabinene
Woody, digestive support, antioxidant
Caryophyllene
Peppery, stomach soothing, antiseptic
Borneol
Minty, energizing, anti-inflammatory
Next we’ll discuss some of the terpenoid-cannabinoid combinations that have demonstrated noticeable effects when taken together. There are obviously thousands – if not millions – of combinations of terpenes & cannabinoids to be had, and we’ve only started scratching the surface of our understanding of both of these kinds of phytocompounds. For now, we’ll focus on the terpenes that have been researched the most, and those that have gained a popular following amongst the cannabis community in recent years.
The Top 8 Foods That Enhance Your High On Weed
When you think of lavender, cinnamon, pine, or jasmine you probably have strong sensations of aromatics, right? This is one of the major ways to enhance your high on weed: by pairing complimentary flavors & aromas, you’re not only enhancing your weed satisfaction but potentially combining terpenes that work in-tandem. As we stated earlier, there are innumerable combinations of terpenes and cannabinoids that can have positive effects, but what are some ways to boost your high using certain terpenes and weed strains?
Just like with pairing a fine vintage of wine with your next culinary creation, there are a lot of considerations that go into finding that winning combination: mood, setting, the people involved, their preferences, and above all the kind of experience you’re trying to create. This last point is something we wanted to focus on before we list the 8 foods that enhance your high on weed. Choosing how to boost your high and that of your partygoers has a lot to do with storytelling – the atmosphere you set, what kinds of vibes you’re putting out there, the experiences you hope to share, and the feelings you’ll create for yourself and for others.
Any and all foods can enhance your high if you enjoy them, but you need to ask yourself: what kind of experience should this be? Exciting or relaxing? Comfortable or surprising? Familiar or adventurous? Long-lasting or short-and-sweet? The central theme of any cannabis-food pairing is an overlooked part of the big picture, but it’s something that can really help you and your compatriots to craft a better experience – both in terms of what enhances your high, and how much you enjoy the whole thing.
So, before you start whipping up THC-infused foam for those spanish coffees, or drizzle canna-butter oil over your linguini pasta dish, pick a theme for the weed & food. Ask yourself some of these kinds of questions:
Is this a fine-dining event? Or a casual shindig?
Are there any dietary restrictions for my group?
What are the themes, emotions, outcomes I’m aiming for with these cannabis-food creations? To get high and relax? Or to provide relief for medical conditions?
What’s the best way to serve the cannabis/food/beverages? Free-for-all party style? Or portioned servings?
You might not find this process to be necessary if you’re simply combining foods, drinks and buds for yourself or family. Nevertheless this process seems to help in targeting the right kinds of weed with the right kinds of munchies, which leads to the best possible experiences for all those involved.
Without further ado, here are the most notable or popular foods that enhance your high – either extending the psychoactive duration, making you feel more high, adding nuances to the experience, and other such things that boost your high:
MANGOES
Mangoes and its high myrcene contents make it one of the best ways to enhance your high on weed. Eating a mango or two up to an hour before consuming cannabis can make you feel psychoactive effects quicker, and make them seem to last longer. Myrcene and other terpenes can interact with your ECS and make you feel relaxed, improve your mood, and make your high last longer as it binds with THC to your receptors, leading to a number of benefits to your health & happiness.
NUTS
The next two food items fall under the same category of ‘healthy fat foods’, but we’ll start with nuts then move onto a much bigger, pitted fruiting product. Nuts like almonds, brazil nuts, walnuts and cashews are chalk full of healthy fats, such as omega 3 fatty acids. Cannabinoids like CBD, THC, CBG and others dissolve in fats, oils and lipid bases – this is referred to as lipophilic. Once dissolved in these states, cannabinoids and terpenes can pass through the blood-brain barrier more efficiently, allowing your body to process them faster, activate quicker and last longer. A handful of nuts before, during and after your cannabis sessions can help you to really feel the high while keeping yourself full of protein, iron and healthy fats.
AVOCADOS
In the same sphere as nuts, avocados are a great source of healthy fats like omegas in addition to LCFA’s – long-chain fatty acids. Coconuts, avocados, fish and nuts all contain these saturated, healthy fats that help to absorb & deliver cannabinoids to your endocannabinoid system. This is essentially a “fast forward” button for how effectively you can process cannabinoids or terpenes, making healthy fat foods one of the best ways to boost your high with food.
CHOCOLATE
Chocolate also represents a healthy snack that is as delicious as it is high in healthy fats, oils and lipids. Not only do chocolate weed products make for a melt-in-your-mouth, pro-binding base for cannabinoids, but it also enhances our anandamide production. Anandamide is an endocannabinoids produced in our bodies that causes “satisfaction”, “bliss” and “calm” – hence why people love to eat chocolate so much. Paired with complimentary cannabinoids and terpenes, anandamide can lull you into a euphoric state of pure bliss.
COFFEE & TEA
Despite the fact that caffeine can make you jittery or anxious, it can help to settle your nerves or focus your mind when combined with certain cannabinoids. Caffeine and THC is known to provide the obvious mental alertness and boost in energy, but they can also balance one another – caffeine improves the lethargic feelings from THC, while Tetrahydrocannabinol reduces the jitters from the energetic properties of coffee or tea.
BROCCOLI
This may sound a bit weird, but it actually makes a lot of sense to eat broccoli during a cannabis session. Eating nature’s ‘small trees’ with nature’s ‘most beautiful flowers’ can create an intense sense of calm, focus and mindfulness. This is due to broccoli’s high beta caryophyllene contents, and when paired with certain cannabis strains – maybe smoke Broccoli strain for good measure! – will enhance the effects of cannabis’ pain & inflammation fighting, making you feel at ease without losing your mind to the high. Caryophyllene is also a very unique phytocompound as it acts as both a terpene and a cannabinoid – absorbed by the CB2 receptors in our endocannabinoid systems which can produce significantly potent calming effects on our brains & bodies.
SWEET POTATOES
Full of protein, carbs and B vitamins, sweet potatoes are a nutritious inclusion in any meal or snack. When combined with cannabis, the results are even better for your high. Sweet potatoes help your mood and general wellness through serotonin increases. Serotonin helps to regulate mood, memory, happiness, hunger and sexual drive, among other things. Sweet potatoes before some sweet edibles can certainly set you in a good mood before you even toke up. One thing to be wary of, however, is that people who already produce a lot of serotonin naturally sometimes find the combination of THC + over-production of the “happy” neurochemical to lead to restlessness or anxiousness.
We hope you find these foods that enhance your high to be helpful in your next weed session. Eating before, during or after your high can satisfy your munchies while also enhancing the feelings you feel while high. We wish you all happy food & weed days/nights this summer, and bonus points to anyone who can combine all eight of these weed-enhancing foods into one meal/snack!
