Support Mitochondria & Metabolic Health

Our body strives to maintain the balance of all its functions, including metabolism. Complex negative feedback loops from fat cells (adipocytes), the thyroid glands, and the hypothalamus in the brain all work together to make sure we always have the right amount of energy available to us.

The mitochondria are a key part of the metabolic system but they are far too small to fit in it on their own. This is where the endocannabinoid system comes in. The ECS exerts its effects inside the cell, regulating the activity level of the mitochondria.

When they’re not working hard enough, the ECS whips them into shape. When they’re working too hard, producing more energy than we need, the ECS tells them to take the day off and slow down production.

This keeps us in metabolic balance, otherwise known as homeostasis. When we take CBD, we’re essentially boosting the ability for the endocannabinoid system to keep control over the mitochondria.

For obese people, this almost always means whipping the mitochondria back into shape, converting more fats and sugars into energy that we can then burn off.

When combined with adequate exercise and nutritional support, this can significantly reduce overall fat storage by increasing the rate at which we burn through it.

Normalize Insulin to Promote Fat Burning

A lot of people, even after changing their diet and adding more exercise into their daily routine, find that they flatline with their weight loss. They lose a bunch of weight in the beginning, but shedding those last few pounds seems nearly impossible. The problem lies with insulin levels.

Insulin is a hormone released from the pancreas to shuttle sugar into the cells, where it’s then converted to energy. Over many years of eating high sugar foods, insulin levels gradually rise – we call this hyperinsulinemia. Even when we change our diet and lifestyle, insulin levels can remain high.

The important thing to note here is that whenever insulin levels are high in the bloodstream, we can’t burn fat.

This happens because insulin increases the uptake of fatty acids, favors the synthesis of lipids, and stops the breakage of fat. And here is where CBD comes in.

In a large study involving nearly 4700 patients with metabolic disease, CBD use was shown to offer a 17% reduction in fasting insulin.

This is significant because if we can lower insulin levels, it becomes much easier to shed those last remaining pounds. These effects are also extremely valuable for those with obesity, as it helps to stabilize insulin levels, and starts the process of curbing weight back down to healthy levels.

Curb Appetite to Decrease Calorie Intake

One of the main factors leading to obesity is our appetite. Our body’s evolved for an environment where food was hard to come by, so we needed to make sure we stored enough of it to get through periods of time where food wasn’t available.

In the modern world, this has started to work against us. Our appetites remain high, but food is always readily available. This allows us to eat our way to obesity far too easily.

Therefore, one of the best ways to cut weight and bring ourselves closer to a healthy range is by curbing our appetite as much as we can. CBD is an excellent tool for achieving this. You may be thinking:

“But marijuana makes us hungry, it gives us the munchies.”

This is true, but this is due to THC, not CBD.

Using psychoactive marijuana does stimulate the appetite, however, the CBD oil that contains only minuscule amounts of this particular cannabinoid actually has the opposite effect.

THC is considered an appetite stimulant, while CBD is considered an appetite suppressant.

It works by improving the sensitivity of the hypothalamus, the region of the brain responsible for controlling most of our homeostasis, including hunger levels.