Written By Riley D. Kirk, PH.D.

The holidays can be a wonderful time to catch up with family and old friends and of course, stuff our faces with all the amazing home cooked foods. Before indulging in the savory food, many of us go for a pre-meal ‘walk’ to prepare our bodies for the feast. Lighting up a joint or indulging in other cannabis products before the big meal may give you the classic “munchies,” which can make everything taste even better while accentuating the obscure combinations of food you’re about to eat.

One of the most notorious effects from cannabis use is the munchies, or essentially wanting to eat everything in your kitchen after smoking or ingesting cannabis. Many of us have hilarious stories about combining ridiculous ingredients while high, or eating absurd amounts of food, but have you ever wondered why this happens?

To understand why the munchies happen, we first need to understand what is normally controlling our appetite. Appetite is partially controlled by the endocannabinoid system (ECS), the same system in the body that allows us to feel high from cannabis use. The active molecules in cannabis like THC and CBD activate the endocannabinoid system (ECS), which is the reason this plant has so many benefits.

However, we do not need to use cannabis to activate the ECS, because our body makes its own molecules that control it. These molecules are called endocannabinoids and they are produced within our cells and act as the switches that turn on the endocannabinoid system in specific areas when needed. Molecules in the Cannabis plant can activate our ECS in similar ways by essentially mimicking the endocannabinoids that our body makes, and this brings us back to the munchies.

Components of the ECS are present in the region of the brain which controls our appetite, known as the hypothalamus. Endocannabinoids are used by the body to control when hormones are released to the brain letting us know when we are hungry or full. Molecules from the plant like THC can change the levels of hormones being released which control our appetite and eating behaviors.

Beyond the hypothalamus, the ECS also controls food intake in the vagus nerve, which relays information from the digestive system to the brain. Activation in this area, from either the molecules in the plant or those made within us, can cause changes in other hormones being released such as the appetite stimulating hormone ghrelin.

Essentially, smoking makes us hungry because the active compounds in the cannabis plant are activating the system in our body that controls hunger. And although there is limited scientific evidence for this, many people feel that the development of a tolerance to THC may reduce the feeling of hunger after smoking, so the more you use cannabis the less susceptible you are to feeling the munchies.