Should You Add CBD to Your Food and Drinks?

In recent years cannabis and CBD have become much more popular and mainstream. Ever since 2018, when CBD was made federally legal in the United States, the trend of CBD-infused foods and drinks have become extremely popular. This is primarily due to the presumptive benefits of CBD. 

CBD is known to relieve stress, anxiety, pain, act as an anti-seizure medication, as well as a host of other benefits. Many restaurants have now caught on to this, and you can find CBD in both food and beverage options. 

The only downside to purchasing CBD infused meal or drink from a storefront is that the dose does not necessarily match the price. Like making most things homemade, making your own CBD infused food or beverage is cheaper to make at home. When you make your own at home you not only know how much CBD you are getting but also the quality of CBD that you are consuming too.

In this article, you will learn 

How Do CBD Infused Food and Beverages work? 

There are many different ways to consume CBD. Whether that is in a soft gel capsule, a tincture, a gummy, or even your favorite beverage. Although it is somewhat new, adding CBD into your favorite foods is a great option to avoid the taste of plain CBD infused oils. This allows you to eat your favorite recipes while getting a healthy dose of CBD into your bloodstream as well.

Benefits of CBD Infused Food and Beverages 

• Reduction of anxiety and stress: CBD helps to treat or reduce anxiety. When using CBD in your food and drink, using a high concentration is recommended, with at least a ratio of 20:1 or higher.
• Easy to Use: CBD can be added to your favorite meals and drinks by simply adding a few drops to the finished product. 
• Increases appetite in those with serious illnesses: CBD is often used to treat diseases such as cancer, or other diseases that make it difficult to gain an appetite or enjoy food.
• Taste: CBD oil can taste bland on its own, adding it to your favorite food or drinks is a great way to spice things up. 

How Does CBD Oil Affect the Taste of a Drink or Food? 

The amount of CBD added to your food or drink will somewhat affect the taste. This means that you may not taste one dose, but if you add a bit more, it will become more apparent. Choosing sweeter drinks does help to mask the flavor a bit, especially stronger flavors. To compare, you will taste the oil less in an iced mocha than you would in a green tea without sugar or milk.

How Much CBD Should You Add to Your Food or Drink?

It is recommended to start slowly with CBD because everyone reacts differently. For regular use, you should attempt to take 1 milligram for every 10 pounds of body weight. This means that if you weigh 120lbs, you should be taking 12mg, but if you weigh 250lbs you may need to take closer to 25mg. 

Overall, it is recommended to start with a dose of 10mg and see how you feel after about 30-40 minutes. If you do not feel anything, wait until the next day to try again, and increase your dose in increments of 3-5mg.

CBD Infused Drinks 

CBD Cold Brew Coffee 

Almost everyone loves caffeine, and if they don’t love caffeine, that is because of the anxiety that often accompanies it. Adding CBD to your coffee can help to combat the feeling of anxiety and other negative side effects coffee produces. This way you can enjoy improved concentration, alertness, and high energy while avoiding the jitters and anxiety. 

CBD Kombucha

Kombucha is extremely popular, and if you haven’t tried it, then you should. Kombucha is a fermented tea that has been proven to boost the immune system and provide other health benefits as well. Coupling Kombucha with CBD is great because it helps to mask the flavor quite effectively.

CBD Cocktails

Consuming alcohol is associated with many negative feelings, but it can also be a bit fun too. Making CBD cocktails is a great option if you are someone who gets anxious while drinking, or is looking to soothe yourself. The issue with combining CBD oil and alcohol is that the oil will float. If you use a CBD tincture, you avoid this problem because it has the same density as an alcoholic drink.

CBD in Food 

One interesting fact about putting CBD in food is that it can help increase the rate of absorption of high fat food up to 4 times. When choosing foods to put CBD into, or to eat it with, you might consider the following:

• Coconut oil
• Avocado 
• Olives 
• Nuts and nut butter 
• Oily fish (tuna, salmon, herring, mackerel, sardines)
• Eggs 

Most of these foods contain healthy Omega 3 and Omega 6 fatty acids. These foods are considered healthy because the body often does not store this type of fat as compared to saturated fats. Instead, the body uses it as an energy supply. 

Cooking with CBD Oil

CBD oil is fully decarboxylated when you receive it. This means that if it is exposed to extreme temperatures it will reduce the health benefits. Therefore, you must avoid heating CBD and only add CBD in during the final stages of a recipe. Additionally, because oil evaporates at high temperatures, sautéing food in CBD oil is out of the question. Bottom line, it is important to always add CBD in food after it has cooled down. 

When cooking with CBD, it is easiest to add when it comes to deserts. You can make your own chocolate and add CBD after heat dissipation, or to a chocolate sauce on top. Adding CBD to salads, soup, dips, smoothies is also a great idea, as well as to iced drinks.

Are CBD Infused Food and Drinks Legal?

As of 2018, CBD is completely legal to sell in the United States. Despite this, it is not federally legal to put CBD in food and drink products. This means that in only select states will you find hemp and CBD in food products. Some of the 21 states that allow CBD in food and drink include:

• Florida
• Colorado 
• Washington 
• Ohio
• Texas
• West Virginia
• California
• Hawaii
• Massachusetts

What CBD is Best For Adding to Food and Drinks?

There are many different foods and products that state that they contain CBD, but not all of them are honest about the contents. This means you must go through and put effort into understanding the CBD content and so you won’t buy fake CBD products. A better option is to purchase your own CBD oil and add it to your food. There are three different types of CBD, Full spectrum, isolate, and broad-spectrum.  

Full Spectrum

Full-spectrum CBD preserves all the cannabinoids in the oil that you consume. This is the best option if you are looking to take advantage of the therapeutic qualities of CBD. The only negative part about using full-spectrum CBD is that there is often a small amount of THC. 

Because there is a small amount of THC, this has the ability to contribute to the “entourage effect”. The entourage effect is when cannabinoids work together in order to provide more health benefits. Whether it is illegal in your state, or you cannot ingest it for job purposes, you may not want to use full-spectrum CBD because of this.

Isolate

Isolate CBD refers to singular lab-extracted cannabinoids. This form of CBD oil is great if you want to enjoy the benefits of CBD without the chance of the psychoactive effects of THC. Because the isolated form of CBD lacks other cannabinoids, the therapeutic effect is not as strong as with full-spectrum.

Broad Spectrum

For those who want to enjoy the benefits of full spectrum CBD but do not want the THC, broad spectrum provides that. In broad-spectrum, only the THC cannabinoid is removed. This means that you will be able to benefit from the entourage effect without the added THC. 

Where to Get the Best CBD? – Puure Therapeutics 

When adding CBD to your food or drinks you want to make sure you have a high quality product, so even it is diluted you can still reap the health benefits. At Puure Therapeutics, our number 1 focus is quality. All of our CBD products are 100% organic, non-GMO, and third party tested right here in the U.S. We offer CBD oil that can be easily added to food and CBD lotions for pain and muscle relief. If you are hesitant about adding CBD to your snack or beverage check out our  blog, we have a few articles about how it tastes and different drinks you can add CBD to to help spark some creativity. For more information about our CBD and the health benefits, speak with an expert today!