Why You Will Love Cannabis-Infused Chocolates
Cannabis and chocolate go well together for so many reasons. First off, chocolate contains caffeine, which stimulates the mind and nervous system.
What are Cannabis-Infused Chocolates?
Consuming cannabis through chocolates is an exciting way to intake edibles. In this article, we’ll talk about why cannabis-infused chocolates are extremely popular and why you’ll probably love them. Let’s dig right into it.
What are Cannabis-Infused Chocolates?
As the name suggests, cannabis-infused chocolates are edibles in the form of chocolates. It’s one of the best and most indulgent ways of enjoying cannabis. After all, it combines two of the most popular ingredients around — cannabis and high-quality chocolate.
Why Do Cannabis and Chocolate Go Well Together?
Cannabis and chocolate go well together for so many reasons. First off, chocolate contains caffeine, which stimulates the mind and nervous system. This makes you feel uplifted and energized. Not only that, cocoa is a known vasodilator — it increases the blood and nutrient flow throughout the body.
Meanwhile, cannabis has a flavor associated with herbs and terpenes. This flavor compliments the taste of chocolate. On top of that, cannabis forms such as CBD have antioxidant properties also found in chocolates.
How Much to Consume
Consuming too little or too much cannabis-infused chocolate can lead to a negative experience instead of a good one. As such, it’s important to know how much to intake. Here’s a quick guide:
- First-time consumer: aim between 1 mg and 2 mg at the start. Work your way up from there. This amount will make you feel mild pain relief, less anxiety, and improved focus. After some time, you may feel that you need a higher dosage.
- For health and wellness problems: aim for 2.5 mg to 15 mg if you have existing chronic health or wellness conditions. The higher the dosage, the stronger the relief symptoms are. You’ll also feel greater euphoria. Important reminder: it’s best to consult your doctor about your cannabis intake to ensure no side effects.
- For seasoned consumers: if you fall under this category, you may consume between 15 mg to 30 mg. You’ll experience strong euphoria and other positive effects. However, if you take this much as a beginner, you could experience impaired coordination and perception.
- Consumers with lackluster cannabinoid absorption: take between 30 mg to 50 mg. This range is great if you want stronger effects but your body has a hard time absorbing cannabinoids.
- Experienced consumers: consume 50 mg to 100 mg or higher. One cacao bite contains around 100 mg — you may still want to start out with a lower dosage before deeming yourself capable of taking a full bite.
Remember that it usually takes around 20 to 30 minutes before you feel any effects. Cannabis-infused chocolates, like other edibles, need to pass through your digestive system first before reaching your bloodstream.
Waiting for this time is important. It lets you know how your body is truly feeling before you intake another edible. In other words, waiting helps you prevent over-ingesting edibles.
Cannabis-infused chocolates also improve your cognitive abilities; they can help you improve your brain power and performance over time. If the chocolate has pistachio nuts, better — pistachio nuts are found to produce the greatest gamma wave response compared to other nuts.
Benefits of Cannabis-Infused Chocolates
Cannabis and chocolates are an amazing combination for many reasons. Not only do they make you feel uplifted and euphoric; but the antioxidants and substances found in them also help treat the following:
- Anxiety and depression
- Restlessness
- Insomnia
- Dysmenorrhea
- Migraines
- Digestive pains
- Inflammation
- Muscle pain
Cannabis-infused chocolates also improve your cognitive abilities; they can help you improve your brain power and performance over time. If the chocolate has pistachio nuts, better—pistachio nuts are found to produce the greatest gamma wave response compared to other nuts.
This strengthens brain power. On top of all those, eating cannabis-infused chocolates is a rather fun and healthier habit than smoking or drinking alcohol. It gives you the excuse to enjoy two of life’s guiltiest pleasures. It’s also more fun to take your cannabis when it tastes sweet and incredible.
The obvious question being, why combine it with chocolate? Needless to say, the answer resides in the great taste that chocolate brings which is unmatched by any other ingredient. Simply put, chocolate tastes delicious, while CBD, being a part of a plant, has the signature herb flavour and terpenes that are usually associated with the taste of herbs (marijuana in this case).
When combined with quality chocolate, however, the inherent and delicious flavour of it will complement and cover the terpene flavour of CBD.
Moreover, CBD has naturally occurring antioxidants properties and if you look closely, chocolate has them too! With this, the cacao also has many other essential minerals such as magnesium, iron, copper and potassium. The amalgamation of CBD with chocolate, therefore, gives you many benefits, such as –
- Anti-inflammatory benefits
- Reduced diabetes risk
- Protects against cardiovascular diseases
- Stimulates your nervous system
- Helps with heart diseases
- Helps with stress, anxiety and depression.
However, ensure that you’re consuming them in a limited amount to reap just the right benefits.
You might be wondering, “what does CBD chocolate do for you? ” Well, the mood-enhancing effects of chocolate are well-known. Both dark chocolate and cacao contain the amino acid tryptophan. The brain uses tryptophan to synthesize the neurotransmitter serotonin, which plays a key role in regulating mood.
In an article published in 2009 in the International Journal of Tryptophan Research, the authors point out L-tryptophan’s importance in serotonin synthesis:
“As the sole precursor of serotonin, experimental research has shown that L-tryptophan’s role in brain serotonin synthesis is an important factor involved in mood, behavior, and cognition.”
Furthermore, research shows that CBD “exerts a number of beneficial pharmacological effects, including antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties.” On the other hand, as noted in this article by Di Mattia et al., published in the journal, Frontiers in Immunology, chocolate contains “polyphenols, such as flavanols, which have antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties.”
Therefore, by consuming one or two pieces of a CBD chocolate bar daily, you may experience the antioxidant benefits of both CBD and chocolate at the same time.
As mentioned above, THC is the phytocannabinoid in the marijuana plant that causes users to become “high.” However, CBD is non-intoxicating, so eating CBD chocolate will not make you high.
While CBD does not cause intoxication, anecdotally, some users note that they experience a perceptible change in their mood after consuming CBD chocolate , with reduced anxiety levels being the main reported benefit.
CBD chocolate bars can be infused with either a broad, full-spectrum CBD oil or a CBD isolate. For clarity, a full-spectrum CBD oil contains trace amounts of THC, i.e., 0.3% or less. However, this THC level will not cause consumers to become intoxicated. Neither a broad-spectrum CBD oil nor a CBD isolate contains THC.
