Benefits Of Juicing Raw Cannabis

As juicing continues to make more of a name for itself within the health-conscious and cannabis communities, a crossover between the two was inevitable. Juicing your cannabis will result in a drink that has all the medicinal and nutritional value of cannabis, without the psychoactive effects normally associated with smoking or ingesting the plant.

Juicing cannabis originated from the green juicing movement that uses raw and leafy vegetables, fruits and greens like kale, lettuce and spinach to make a fresh product that contains all the vitamins, minerals and nutrients the ingredients have to offer.

WHAT IS JUICING?

Traditionally, our vegetables and greens are prepared by cooking over heat. However, this method robs ingredients of most of their vitamins, minerals and overall nutritional value. On the other hand, when veggies are put into a blender or juicer, almost all nutrients remain intact and are easier to digest.

Drinking green juice is a quick and easy way to provide your body with all sorts of minerals, vitamins, antioxidants and phytochemicals. Green juices should also be free of colouring agents, artificial sweeteners and sugars. When choosing produce to use in a juice, the goal should be to use as many organic and fresh ingredients as possible.

JUICING CANNABIS

When adding cannabis to your green juices, you are incorporating a whole variety of beneficial minerals and vitamins to the mix. Cannabis contains beneficial chemicals known as cannabinoids that have pretty amazing properties; they can bring about positive changes in mood, relieve pain and even help you work up an appetite.

Some of the most important health benefits of cannabinoids include their antiemetic properties, anti-inflammatory functions, mood enhancing capabilities and potential to stimulate hunger. Furthermore, cannabinoids are now being employed as anticonvulsants and antimetastatics.

When dried and cured, cannabis has very potent psychoactive properties. When live and fresh, however, psycho-inactive precursor molecule THC-A provides beneficial nutrients to a green juice. This variant of THC is believed to contain all the medicinal properties, but none of the psychoactive effects associated with decarboxylated cannabis. Essentially, drinking your juice won’t leave you in a powerful couch lock or send your head in the clouds.

But cannabis consists of much more than just cannabinoids. Plants are also highly fibrous and contain a lot of magnesium, omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids. Additionally, cannabis has a quality amino acid profile and even contains complete proteins. This definitively ranks cannabis plants and seeds as superfoods that make a great addition to green juices.

CANNABIS JUICING TIPS

Using a high quality juicer will ensure that you get only the best from your greens and vegetables. Efficient juicers minimise waste and therefore allow a higher concentrations of vitamins and minerals to make their way into the finished product.

FRESH IS BEST

Since you will be ingesting the products you juice, it is best to choose fresh and organic produce over the alternative. The same goes for your choice of cannabis. Organically grown cannabis should be free of pesticides, herbicides and other chemicals that you do not want roaming around in your body.

It may not always be easy to find, but remember that this is your health. Fresh, organic and undried cannabis might be even more difficult to locate, but is the optimal choice for green juicing. Fresh produce loses a lot of its nutritional value when dried and the same goes for cannabis. Additionally, THC-A will convert to regular THC once cured, which is not ideal to maintain the dietary benefits of raw juice.

CHOOSE YOUR FAVOURITE FLAVOUR

Cannabis has a wide variety of scent and flavour profiles, making it the perfect plant to experiment with. When it comes to green juices, try to pair your cannabis strain with vegetables, greens and fruits that complement each other's flavours. By adding additional tastes and aromas, you can potentially mask any unsavory flavours while adding even more vitamins, minerals and nutritional value.

As a final tip, we would like to add that your cannabis plant matter and resulting green juice should not be heated. When heat is added to the mix, the cannabis will likely start to decarboxylate, turning THC-A into THC. This will make your cannabis psychoactive and destroy most of your juice’s nutritional value. In fact, decarboxylation is said to reduce green juice’s effectiveness down to one percent of its original value.