These days, more and more people are getting in tune with their health and more conscious about what enters their bodies. Fortunately, there are lots of natural choices available that can help just about anyone reach their wellness goals.
One way to kick off a healthier lifestyle is to bring superfoods into your daily diet.
What Is A Superfood?
A superfood is a type of edible substance – fruit, vegetable, plant, etc. – with a higher density of nutrition than more common foods. These extra nutrients can supercharge personal wellness and health.
Many superfoods contain compounds that sharply improve your well-being by providing anti-aging benefits, boosting overall health, and preventing disease. Such superfoods are popular favorites like blueberries, acai berries, and spinach.
Some of the popular lists of superfoods include the following:
- Sweet potatoes: These vegetables contain loads of vitamins A and C and high amounts of manganese, magnesium, beta-carotene, and calcium. They can help lower cholesterol, reduce cancer risks, combat inflammation, and improve vision.
- Acai berries: Sometimes called “Brazilian superfruit,” these berries can help promote better brain functionality and fight against oxidation and inflammation. Acai berries are also abundant with antioxidants.
- Avocado: This fruit contains dense nutrients and packs nearly two dozen minerals and vitamins. Avocados can hinder the development of precancerous and cancerous cells, lower the chance of depression, and supply large amounts of healthy fats and vitamin K.
- Blueberries: A superfood loaded with vitamins C and K, antioxidants, and manganese, blueberries can improve memory, reduce muscle and DNA damage, and decrease blood pressure.
And there are many more types of superfoods available. People who choose a healthier lifestyle often work superfoods into their diet and use other natural alternatives. And currently, an increasingly popular choice is CBD.
What Does CBD Do?
According to researchers, CBD works together with the endocannabinoid system found inside the human body. And many studies claim that CBD has properties that can help to maintain health and wellness.
It’s a non-intoxicating phytocannabinoid that binds to a particular group of cannabinoid receptors in our bodies. These receptors, often called CB2 cannabinoid receptors, attach to the peripheral nervous system that reaches skin cells, muscle organs, and even the immune system.
When CBD molecules reach the cannabinoid receptor, they send signals that communicate with other neurons. This neurotransmission often triggers the best reaction needed to retain homeostasis, which is the healthy balance of our physical and mental abilities in response to an unnatural internal or external change.
Hemp-based CBD oil derives from industrial hemp – a strain of cannabis that, by U.S. law, can only contain up to 0.3 percent THC (tetrahydrocannabinol). Because of its meager THC content, hemp-based CBD oil cannot get its users high or produce any euphoric effects.
CBD oil benefits typically include a sense of calm and relaxation. When combined with other essential ingredients, this can promote better sleep, speed recovery from soreness or general pain, and even help to relieve stress. It all depends on your reason for using CBD oil and how often you use it.
And because CBD comes from cannabis, many people speculate the plant itself is possibly a superfood. But could that truly be the case?
Could Cannabis Be a Superfood?
Early history implies that cannabis was most likely eaten for nutrition and wellness. And similar to everyday superfoods, raw cannabis has a nutritional profile that is full of benefits.
Raw cannabis contains several cannabinoid acids, such as THCA and CBDA, that naturally occur before being heated. And specialists say that natural cannabis is useful as a dietary supplement because of its high levels of neuroprotective and antioxidant components.
Thanks to medical cannabis activists’ efforts, we now know that the nutrient profile of cannabis contains over 400 identifiable elements. Other than the 100 known cannabinoids, cannabis plants also have many nutrients, including amino acids, proteins, ketones, vitamin A, and fiber – to name a few.
Another large portion of raw cannabis is terpenes – the molecules in cannabis that give its flavor and aroma. These terpenes may have notable wellness benefits, such as easing pain and inflammation, reducing stress and anxiety, fighting microbial infection, and many more.
Cannabis plants also contain hemp seeds, the source of hemp seed oil. The nutritional value of hemp seeds is also high, as they contain lots of protein and healthy fats.
And even though hemp seeds and hemp seed oil don’t have any terpenes, cannabinoids, or the other well-known components of CBD products, their qualities still show how well-rounded cannabis is as a potential superfood.
The many different parts of cannabis have their unique nutritional values that can seriously help people who are trying to enhance their wellness.
Should CBD Be a Superfood?
With all the beneficial attributes of raw cannabis, you’d expect anything deriving from it to have a similar health profile. And combined with a diet heavy with natural cannabis and other superfoods, CBD could most likely play a key role in transforming wellness.
Many advocates of CBD already see it as good for overall wellness – and coming from an organic source with several superfood traits is only boosting CBD’s chances to become a type of superfood.
Even though cannabis and CBD inclusion as superfoods aren’t official, more time and further research could eventually change that.