Eating disorders are extremely complicated and horrible to deal with. There are a lot of assumptions made about eating disorders such as what they look like or the kind of behaviour they involve. We tend to assume that people with eating disorders will be women, that they will either be intensely over or underweight and that they will either starve themselves or overeat. None of this is true, eating disorders are characterised by abnormal or disturbed eating habits. This can mean having a strange relationship with food generally, obsessing over certain foods, having a negative view of food, or using food as a coping mechanism. The main question here is whether or not cannabis can be used to help treat eating disorders. 

Background

First, let’s do a little bit of a background on what constitutes an eating disorder. 

As I mentioned already eating disorders are any abnormal or unhealthy relationship with food. This can be over-controlled eating, binge eating, vomiting after ingesting any food, eating as a coping mechanism and a variety of other forms. Usually, an eating disorder is to do with some form of mental health issue such as trauma. So there is no one straightway to recover from an eating disorder and no clear way to treat it. Eating disorders also change in severity from mild issues that are beginning to develop and can hopefully be treated quite quickly if caught, to severe issues that result in hospitalisation or even death. 

Cannabis and Eating Disorders 

The primary disorders that medicinal cannabis has been used for so far are bulimia and anorexia. This makes perfect sense if you think about the fact that cannabis reduces nausea and increases appetite. In this way, cannabis can deal with the physical aspects of an eating disorder and can increase the likelihood of recovery. However, there are other issues that can lead to an unhealthy relationship with food such as depression, anxiety, trauma and extreme stress. In these ways, cannabis is capable of reducing the origin of the issue. We can have a little look at how weed has been used to treat various disorders thus far. 

Anorexia 

Anorexia or Anorexia Nervosa is a mental disorder that causes a compulsion to keep the weight as low as possible and often creates a hateful relationship with food. Some people become anorexic due to body dysmorphia, the belief that they are overweight when they are the opposite, or some become obsessed with just becoming as thin as possible. Essentially it can be due to delusion or can be a form of self-harm. It can become extremely dangerous when the sufferer begins to use food substitutions such as protein powder for every meal, or plain just stops eating to the point where they begin to starve. 

Though the root of anorexia is unlikely to be treated by cannabis it can definitely be an important part of recovery. Once someone spends a good deal of time ignoring their hunger cues they can completely lose touch with them. During recovery, cannabis can access those bits of the cannabinoid system that increase appetite naturally. This can allow the patient to get back in touch with the feeling of hunger and the reward of eating foods they love. 

Of course, studies have been done in this field and one such study revealed that smoking weed increased patients’ caloric intake by up to 40%. One of the most interesting parts of this study was that patients weren’t just eating meals, they actually began snacking again both in public and in private. This is fascinating because many cases of anorexia nervosa will not eat in public or in front of people. So we are definitely aware that cannabis can assist in the recovery of anorexia patients. 

Bulimia

Bulimia is a completely different type of eating disorder to anorexia and hinges primarily on guilt connected to eating. Often it begins with excessive binge eating where the sufferer has no control over how much they consume. Then afterwards they feel extreme guilt or disgust and feel that they need to get the food out of their bodies. There are forms that are less extreme but equally as damaging where bulimia patients will throw up after every meal, even if they consume a normal and controlled amount of food. 

Once again cannabis can be used in the recovery but won’t cure bulimia on its own. Bulimia is also an extremely dangerous disorder as it can cause a wide variety of health issues in a surprisingly short amount of time. Dehydration can lead to kidney failure, severe gum disease and tooth decay, heart failure or an irregular heartbeat, and severe digestive problems just to name a few. Of course, this kind of disorder also worsens anxiety and depression potentially leading to suicide. 

The reason that cannabis is used in treatment is that, much like in anorexia sufferers, it can promote a healthier appetite and better eating habits. This might raise the question of ‘won’t this make binging worse?’ and happily the answer is no. We all know that when we get the munchies we can eat more but we also really enjoy eating. Bulimia sufferers will just shovel food down compulsively without enjoying it which is more likely to lead to purging. Patients who eat under the influence of weed have been found to eat more slowly, enjoy food and are less likely to purge afterwards. It can also reduce the intense anxiety, depression and other mental health issues that worsen the disorder and slow down recovery. Smoking weed during recovery can also reduce excessive exercise, another symptom of bulimia. While a patient is in recovery and usually exercises more than their body can handle a little bit of stoner laziness is definitely a good thing. In this case, the lack of motivation also reduces harmful manic energy. 

In part 2 we will have a look at a couple of other eating disorders and how weed can either help in treatment or recovery. 

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