Episode 32 - Cannabis and the V-word (Not That V-word)
Can changing our diets make us more attuned to the chemicals in cannabis, and thus healthier? Dr. Deborah Kimless says it can.
We don’t know much about cannabis and diet other than that old hippie lore that eating a mango can extend the length of a high. (It’s true, by the way. Mango is rich in the terpene myrcene, also found in cannabis. The hippies got that right!)
But there be a lot more to know, and Dr. Deborah Kimless is passionate about piecing together the clues. When it comes to diet, Kimless, an anesthesiologist and medical director of Forward Gro, Maryland’s first licensed medical cannabis grow, eschews the V word (vegan), in favor of the P word (pH balanced diet). The theory goes like this; Reduce acidity in the gut, and disease won’t take root as easily. An alkaline diet rich in fruits, vegetables, potatoes, and alkali-rich red and white wine, can help prevent unhealthy microbes and organisms from flourishing, lessen damage to tissues and organs and the depletion of minerals. It can also strengthen immune function.
Here’s what an excellent 2012 review published in the Journal of Environmental and Public Healthconcluded: “It is generally accepted that humans today have a diet poor in magnesium and potassium as well as fiber, and rich in saturated fat, simple sugars, sodium, and chloride as compared to the preagricultural period. This results in a diet that may induce metabolic acidosis which is mismatched to our genetically determined nutritional requirements. (1)
Kimless has a lot to say about eating a pH balanced diet and using cannabinoids to bolster the effects. Listen to this episode and you may never eat the same again!