A new cannabis-themed community on the vastly popular website – Reddit – is exploding in popularity, as the trend of ‘keto’ and cannabis gains traction worldwide.
The ‘subreddit’ – R/KetoTrees currently has over 27,400 subscribers and has grown 39% since the start of 2019. The subreddit was established in 2012 and has since been run by users who use cannabis to enhance their keto diet.
The ketogenic diet (often called ‘keto’) gained popularity back in 1997, after the TV movie First Do No Harm. On Keto, dieters restrict their carbohydrate intake by replacing carbohydrate-rich foods with fat.
According to experts from the Harvard School of Public Health, this low-carb, high fat diet designed to put the body into the metabolic state of ketosis, when the body burns fat for energy.
Resisting cravings during the initial stages of a keto diet is notoriously difficult. Dieters are also prone to the ‘keto flu’, which is a temporary period of nausea, irritability, muscle cramps and gastrointestinal distress that takes place during the first few days of the diet.
Although dieters have historically fixed keto flu with salt, pairing cannabis with keto is increasingly popular. Cannabis’s non-psychoactive component CBD has a range of medical uses, including as an anti-inflammatory agent and as an effective solution for neuropathic pain.
Subscribers also cite the drug as an effective tool for fat-loss.
This is supported by a 2016 study published in PubMed, which found that CBD increases the markers associated with fat browning. According to researchers, this means CBD encourages the breakdown of white fat for energy.
Researchers wrote in the conclusion of the study:
CBD may be explored as a potentially promising therapeutic agent for the prevention of obesity.
