With the rise of social media and the significant role it has quickly come to play in our daily lives, the topic of eating disorders has emerged from the shadows and is being discussed more and more, primarily for the purpose of prevention among young people.
It is estimated that nearly 10% of the French population suffers from eating disorders. Bulimia and anorexia are the most common forms.
What are the characteristics of bulimia and anorexia?
What are their health consequences?
How can cannabidiol help combat these eating disorders?
Eating disorders are mostly caused by psychological factors but can have serious physical consequences, so finding a treatment is essential. A wide range of medication-based and psychological treatments already exist; however, their side effects and costs mean they are not the most appealing or accessible options. It is precisely in these areas that CBD stands out.
What are bulimia and anorexia?
To begin with, it is worth noting that bulimia and anorexia are not the same eating disorder.
On the one hand, there is bulimia. It is characterized by episodes during which a person experiences uncontrollable urges to consume large amounts of food. These binge-eating episodes can last several hours and occur several times a week.
On the other hand, anorexia is characterized by a strict refusal to eat, an obsession with calories, and a distorted self-image that leads to an uncontrollable urge to lose weight constantly.
In both cases, adolescence is the most vulnerable period for the onset of these eating disorders, given that more than 90% of those affected are women.
Bulimia, Anorexia: Their Symptoms and Health Consequences
The symptoms differ depending on whether the condition is bulimia or anorexia.
In the case of bulimia, there are distinct episodes during which there is a complete lack of restraint regarding the quantity, quality, and type of food consumed. These episodes of uncontrolled eating can total up to 3,000 calories—well above the recommended daily caloric intake—all within the span of a few hours.
Generally, immediately after the binge-eating phase, people with bulimia resort to inducing vomiting with equal intensity, sometimes even resorting to the use of laxatives.
In the case of anorexia, however, we see a completely opposite pattern. The symptoms of anorexia include an obsession with weight loss and meticulously counting every little thing eaten or even drunk. A person with anorexia has a distorted body image and sees themselves as overweight; they have a genuine fear of gaining weight and may view every food as an enemy of their health. This can lead them to go without eating for an entire day, or even several days in a row.
In terms of health consequences, both bulimia and anorexia are particularly devastating.
Kidney failure, heart weakness, dental damage, excessive weight loss leading to hospitalization, cerebral edema, or even the cessation of menstruation in women and long-term infertility … These are just a few examples.
The key point to remember is that an eating disorder—whether it involves overeating or undereating—inevitably throws our body’s normal functioning seriously out of balance. The quality of our diet has a direct impact on our neurons, our cognitive and motor skills, our muscles, our arteries, our memory, and also our mental health. Thus, bulimia and anorexia both pose real dangers to a person’s overall health and can even be life-threatening if left untreated.
Cannabidiol: A Natural Remedy for Eating Disorders
Most of the time, people suffering from bulimia or anorexia are dismissed as individuals with psychological disorders—sometimes through their own fault.
This is a completely false assumption. A growing number of studies support the theory that eating disorders are linked to our endocannabinoid system.
This theory is based on the importance of ghrelin. Ghrelin is our digestive hunger hormone; its concentration in our bodies directly affects our feelings of fullness or hunger, as well as our ability to control our appetite. According to numerous recent studies, eating disorders such as anorexia and bulimia may stem from a dysfunction of the receptors in our endocannabinoid system, which are responsible for detecting the level of ghrelin present in our bodies at a given time.
Anorexia and bulimia may therefore be linked to an abnormally high number of H1 receptors in various parts of the brain.
The natural benefit of CBD in this regard is as follows: it regulates the endocannabinoid system. To achieve this, cannabidiol stimulates the H1 receptors, which are responsible for the aforementioned sensations of hunger and fullness.
Since its legalization, CBD has become increasingly popular for treating various everyday ailments. The line of CBD oils developed by High Societyincludes a variety of oils with varying concentrations, all of which make it particularly easy to consume cannabidiol and provide rapid stress relief. You can purchase CBD in the form of concentrated oils at 5%, 10%, or even 30% concentrations, depending on your needs and tolerance. Anyone can use them by placing a few drops of oil under the tongue.
Since anorexia and bulimia are eating disorders, it may also be beneficial to choose High Society CBD extracts. This is the purest form of CBD, which offers the advantage of countless ways to use it, particularly in everyday food preparations. This is a clever way to alleviate cravings or aversions toward food and restore both physical and mental balance in this area. Also available is CBG oil, another cannabinoid derived from the hemp plant. This compound is known to stimulate appetite and could therefore be very beneficial for people suffering from anorexia.
