One of the most fantastic trends of recent years is the quest for better food. Much attention has been given to organic farming practices, extending from well-raised meat products to organic kids cereals. Vegetarianism, veganism, and raw diets have been rising in popularity for their benefits to both the body and the wallet.
Awareness of quality products extends beyond food. Marijuana users are on the lookout for quality mail order marijuana in Canada and not only for smoking purposes. We all know about edibles, but did you know that you can juice fresh cannabis too?
That’s right: you can gain the benefits of marijuana without smoking it, delivered fresh to your system! All you need to do is find yourself a juicer, some fresh bud, and a recipe!
Why Juice Cannabis?
This is a good question: why would you go through the whole rigmarole of juicing fresh weed when you could just mail order marijuana online in Canada, roll it up, and smoke it?
For starters, as with many raw foods, the nutrients exist in a different, often more potent form when raw. In the case of cannabis, different compounds exist in fresh marijuana that have their own special set of benefits. This keeps these compounds intact to supply a higher dose of beneficial nutrients all at once while sparing your lungs the process of smoking!
Another reason people juice is being able to pack in a bunch of nutrients at once. Some people find it hard to eat a proper portion of fruits and veggies on a daily basis. Juicing can deliver a significant percentage of your daily requirement all in one delicious, refreshing glass. Adding cannabis to your juice routine ramps up the nutritional density while adding a whack of nutrients not found in an
y other greens.
Nutritional Benefits of Juicing Cannabis
Being a dark, leafy green, raw cannabis is host to many favourable nutrients found in most greens: iron, calcium, and the ever-important fibre. These nutrients are hugely important for the health of your blood, bones, and digestive system. In other words, the overall function of your body.
But cannabis is also host to a very special set of compounds: cannabinoids. We often talk about THC and CBD as the two most popular cannabinoids. While appreciated for their healing attributes, THC, at least, comes with psychoactive effects that may not always be desired. The cannabinoids found in raw marijuana are slightly different than their heated counterparts. In their raw form, both of these cannabinoids exist as cannabinoid acids: THCA (tetrahydrocannabinolic-acid) and CBDA (cannabidiolic-acid).
If you’ve ever done any home cooking with cannabis, you’ll know you have to decarboxylate it first to achieve maximum potency. The decarboxylation process turns the THCA into THC (likewise with CBDA) and activates the psychoactive compounds. Therefore, the raw THCA does not give the user psychoactive effects and can be consumed in higher quantities to gain nutritional benefits.
Health Benefits of Juicing Cannabis
First thing’s first: when we are talking about juicing marijuana, we are talking about using fresh leaves – not dry! If you mail order marijuana in Canada, that dried herb will have decarboxylated, so the psychoactive compounds will be activated, and your morning juice will give you more than you bargained for!
If you’re lucky enough to have the space to grow your own marijuana, you’ll have access to fresh marijuana for at least part of the year – and you’ll be better for it!
The health benefits of consuming raw cannabis are innumerable. As mentioned above, the nutrients found in cannabis contribute to your body’s overall health and structure. Vitamin C and zinc, key players in immune health, are high in raw cannabis, alongside phosphorus, magnesium, folate, and Vitamin K.
Many of the trendy leafy greens (kale, collards, etc) are prized for their superfood status – and cannabis is one of them! Being high in antioxidants (some specific to cannabis, such as cannaflavins) makes raw cannabis useful for treating inflammation, slowing degeneration, and even warding off cancer.
Chlorophyll, responsible for giving the green colour to leafy greens, is present as well. It is an important antioxidant that helps replenish red blood cells to carry oxygen around the body. It is thought to be helpful in healing skin wounds or ailments. Perhaps the most prized effect of all is its potential as a cancer treatment and preventative – studies in rodents are looking very promising, though human trials still lag behind.
Raw Cannabis Reduces Inflammation
One considerable perk of consuming raw cannabinoids found in fresh marijuana is their ability to reduce inflammation. Chronic inflammation is a pain (literally) and can significantly decrease a person’s quality of life. Inflammation occurs when your body is trying to protect itself, but sometimes the pain messages don’t stop after the initial injury has passed. This is known as one-way communication: nothing tells the nerves to “turn off, ” leading to chronic pain. Introducing cannabinoids to the body helps re-establish two-way communication, which reduces inflammation and, therefore, pain. Raw cannabis delivers these cannabinoids to your body without getting you high – which is convenient if you drink your juice first thing in the morning!
There are many more benefits to consuming raw cannabis, but let’s move along to the actual consumption of cannabis juice.
What Does Juiced Cannabis Taste Like?
If you’ve ever mail ordered marijuana in Canada, you’ll know there is a huge selection of dried bud to choose from, with all kinds of names and flavours. But fresh cannabis? You likely haven’t tried it if you haven’t juiced it. So what does it taste like?
All on its own, juiced cannabis isn’t exactly delicious. It is very potent and “weedy” and is generally considered unpalatable on its own (unless you’re totally hardcore). The good news is, you can mix your cannabis with other tasty fruits and veggies to make a delightful, delicious delivery of wholesome goodness straight to your system.
Cannabis Juice Recipe
As with all foods, it is best to seek out the most organic marijuana you can find. If you can find a local grower, ask them if they’d be willing to sell you some fresh marijuana on the regular. You can add cannabis juice to your favourite juice/smoothie recipe, if you have one. If you don’t, check this one out:
You will need:
- A juicer (a centrifugal one works fine, though a masticating juicer is the best if you can afford it)
- 10 – 15 large fresh marijuana leaves, and/or up to two 2-4” fresh buds
- 1 cup packed spinach or kale (steam-blanched is best)
- 1 – 2 apples, cored
- 2 stalks celery
- ½ lemon, peeled and seeded
- ½ teaspoon lemon zest
- ½ inch fresh ginger, peeled (optional)
Soak your marijuana leaves in a mixture of water and apple cider vinegar – just enough to cover them for between 30 to 60 minutes. Roll them up tightly and feed into the juicer with the rest of the ingredients. Separate the juice into three servings and enjoy over the course of your day.
Start with a smaller serving to be sure that the heat of your juicer hasn’t decarboxylated your marijuana. Cannabis juice has very rarely been known to cause digestive upset – as always, start with a little to be safe. You can keep juice in the fridge for up to five days.
