Endocannabinoid System, CBD and Fertility, THC

There was a recent study that showed that high levels of THC can actually impair mitochondrial function, particularly neural tissue. And so you actually lose the ability of the mitochondria to function properly. I think there's a time and a place for things like pain management, for example. You know, I've had times when, for example, like stem cell protocols that leave you in a lot of pain for the first couple of days. And I'll use something like THC rather than common opioids. But at the same time, I try to avoid THC whenever possible for a lot of the reasons of the side effects.

You had also mentioned to me that the endocannabinoid system was something that you had somehow linked to fertility and you began to use different cannabinoids as well. Is that correct?

I mean, owning that, we produce CBD and we distribute it. To me, it's the highest level of cbd. I've taken everything. I've tried hundreds of brands. And what we were producing from my friends and family in these really small batches was just so potent, you actually got it, like, right after it. Right after I'd ordered labels and bottles. Yeah, I believe on Amazon.

Yeah.

I was just selling it to, like, my friends so they could improve their sleep and just have, like, a more balanced sensation.

Yeah, no, that was the elements element stuff, which I still use. You send me those droppers, and I still do two or three droppers. Just about any evening where I've got levels of anxiety or stress, probably five nights a week, I'll use that. And, you know, now you have the gummies, which seem to work really well too. But I've never really experienced a CBD like that that really seems to agree with my system. Allow me to stave off anxiety and, you know, as opposed to, like, smoking a joint or taking a hit on a vape pen, you know, you still stay fully alert. And in my opinion, high levels of thc, they can be kind of feminizing, like. Like it's kind of like a female plant. And that in and of itself tends to impact testosterone. There was a recent study that showed that high levels of THC can actually impair mitochondrial function, particularly neural tissue. And so you actually lose the ability of the mitochondria to function properly. There's. There's a lot of issues. I think there's a time and a place for things like pain management, for example. You know, I've. I've had times when I've had.

For.

Example, stem cell protocols that leave you in a lot of pain for the first couple of days. And I'll use something like THC rather than common opioids. And I know you have a history of opioids. We can talk about that later. But at the same time, I try to avoid THC whenever possible for a lot of the reasons of the side effects. But the CBD that you make, where are you actually getting the, the raw ingredients for that? Because it is super unique for some reason, the way I feel on it.

So we have family farms in Kentucky, and my wife, it just so happens, Kentucky, Kentucky, they to me, that's where we produce the strongest cbd. I'd like to grow in Florida eventually. But right now the rules are very, very strict.

Okay.

And Kentucky, we had some like the original licenses for research for CBD with the US Department of Agriculture. So there's a long history of farmers that know what they're doing in terms of hemp, but all sorts of crops. And it just so happens that my wife's family is from Vermont and they have family friends with farms and we'll do work with them as well. But it's such an amazing. What happens right now is how I discovered CBD was in 2016 and I was using it and I really enjoyed the effects. And then I just started noticing it was tapering off.

Okay.

And when I started studying the effects of CBD on the endocannabinoid system, how it works with serotonin receptors, we can go into details. It's not supposed to have that effect where you lose the sensations of better sleep, anti anxiolytic effects, all the cardiovascular effects, improved focus during the day. You shouldn't be losing this. You don't need higher doses like you would with say, pharmaceutical drugs or even thc.

So I started finding out that these companies, as they grew, they were moving to California and Colorado and we started doing more research. We were flying out there and we were seeing that they were mass producing these plants. And there's nothing wrong with mass producing as a company grows and you have to sell more. That's what happens. And they're hiring the cheapest labor possible. But all the grow techniques, from the quality of the soil to the water they're using, everything was just starting to go downhill. And they began, this is really interesting, using genetics from high THC plants. And they were genetically modifying it to lower the THC and increase the cbd. So they weren't using these old, old strains of hemp, which has been around for thousands of years. They were actually trying to make it better. And Better. Just like they're using CBD isolates for everything in synthetic CBD and synthetic cannabinoids. Cannabinoids, which aren't necessarily better. Sometimes we have to take a few steps back. And we developed a really old strain, an old industrial strain from the uk, and there's something about the cannabinoid profile that is just phenomenal. It has the perfect amount of what I think of cbd, cbn, cbg.

So it's not just CBD in your product.

We're doing full spectrum to the max. We're doing a crude formula, which means it's going through even less filtration, distillation. I mean, you've tried ours. You can't mix it with food. Some people put it in their coffee. It's not bad, but it's. It's like you're eating the earth.

Yeah.

Other companies, they're making CBD flavored with strawberry with mint. And I get customers that want that kind of stuff. And I say, look, if you really want the benefits and the effects and you want to connect with the earth and feel balanced, you got to get over your sense of taste a little bit.

Yeah. And you use that during the day, you had mentioned, for focus.

Yeah.

And, you know, my primary use for it is like, sleep and relaxation. But if you were to use it for focus, tell me about the dosages and the difference between, like, daytime use and coffee or for focus or whatever, and what you'd use in the evening. Like, what kind of. What kind of. I realize it's gonna vary widely from person to person, but approximately.

Well, I use a substantially lower dose during the day.

The diurnal effect of the endocannabinoid system, which is something I dove into after hearing you mention it on a podcast. And that's the amazing thing about cbd. Well, CBD in itself doesn't attach to the cannabinoid receptors. It's not like directly activating them. It works by degrading fah, which is the enzyme responsible for degrading.

Anandamine, which is the primary endocannabinoid, the one that we produce internally. So that's cbd. But when you have a full spectrum formula, I'm getting cbg, cbn, minuscule amounts of thc. And the way these work on the endocannabin.

When you say minuscule amounts, by the way, you mean, like, less than 0.3? Is that the CN?

Less than 0.3.

So there's still, like, mild amounts of THC in it, but nowhere near what you'd experience for Getting high?

Oh yeah. You won't get high unless you're eating a couple gummies or taking a few really big droppers.

Yeah. Well, I have found if I take like four droppers of your stuff and I do that before bed, if I wake up at like midnight or one to pee, I, I feel like I'm a little bit high. Like nowhere near. If I were to like take a THC gummy or something like that. But you can, you can, you can feel the THC a little bit.

Oh for sure. And especially with our new gummies, I formulated them just have slightly more still. All within the legal amount. What's allowed. But yeah, the gummies I'll use more recreationally. But circling back to your, what you said during daytime use, I try to use very small amounts. And if you take it with your coffee or tea, you don't get like the, the drop in a dentistine. Like you know how they talk about waiting at least an hour and a half to drink your caffeine in the morning, otherwise you're going to experience a crash later on in the day.

Right.

Well, CBD also works very well with caffeine in preventing that crash by maintaining your levels of adenosine.

Similar to. Would that be something that, that something like theanine would do as well? A lot of people mix theanine with coffee.

Oh yeah.

To enhance the alpha brainwave production and kind of allow the coffee to be oxidized a little more slowly. From what I understand. You think that CBD could be used similarly.

Oh, even more effectively. I personally like tea. I use like a yogi brand tea called Vanilla Energy, which is mind blowing, has different forms of tea with theanine.

Really?

Yeah. And I'll take. I'm usually so focused from the moment I wake up and I start that gratitude, practice my meditation. I'm ready to go all day. But days that I don't know, especially before when my baby wasn't sleeping as much, you know when they're a couple months old and they're feeding every few hours and we had them in our room the entire time, I needed a little extra focus. So I would take it in the morning.

Yeah.

And it's phenomenal, the effects. I took a little bit this morning and I just felt so sharp.

Really?

Yeah.

Interesting. I have a bottle here that you gave me. I think. Can you hand me a bottle?

Before we started here, we had a bunch of bottles.

Okay. So I'm just grabbing this bottle out. Cuz I, I may actually try this while we're Podcasting, just to. Just to see if it kicks in at all.

Like a quarter dropper.

I have some somewhere. Oh. Either way, I. I'll find it later.

Yeah.

Because I don't really do a lot of daytime cbd. You have a bottle over there? Yeah, bring it over. We might as well make this a. A live experience on the show. Those gummies are fantastic, by the way. So back to the fertility piece. That's. That's the story that we were on and you had discovered. Just give this a shake. What do you think?

Like, one dropper with that size, you could probably do three drops is 8 milligrams.

So, yeah, half a dropper would be like, what, around, like, 10? Something like that? Yeah.

Maybe 15. All right. You could just twist it. The plastic will come.

I fall asleep during our show. Now we know why. So back to the fertility piece.

Tell me about what happened in terms of the cannabinoid system and fertility.

Oh, right. So in my research, I discovered that there are receptors, cannabinoid receptors, on the testicles, in the whole reproductive system of both males and females and on sperm cells as well as eggs. So if this is allowing us to function more optimally in every way, I consider the endocannabinoid system sort of like our interface from the human body to nature.

Okay.

I use the example, and you probably want to put it under your tongue. Leave it there for.

I'm doing it right now.

You know how to do this?

There's a video version of this if you guys want to see what it looks like. We're going to put up BenGreenfieldLife.com AdamWinger so go ahead with the fertility piece.

So, yeah, the endocannabinoid system. I think so.

Very earthy.

That's how it should be.

Yeah.

Right. Not hiding from the flavor. Yeah.

Reminds me a little bit of kava, almost flavor. Interesting. So what'd you. What'd you find? Endocannabinoid receptors in the testicles.

Right. So if the endocannabinoid system I consider an interface to nature, the human body, our experience to nature. And I. I don't know if I used this example on our previous podcast. If we were walking in the forest and a tiger came out. Scares the living crap out of you. The fight or flight response kicks in. Whatever the outcome might be, eventually the nervous system has to calm down and there's a whole cascade of hormones, neurotransmitters that contribute to this. Without the endocannabinoid system functioning at a high level, it's Going to take much longer for the body to reach homeostasis. That's on a hormone level. But the endocannabinoid system is responsible for so much in terms of muscle digestion.

The central nervous system is filled with cannabinoid receptors, our immune response. I haven't been sick in five or six years.

Wow.

And this is in the middle of COVID I was training with people that found out they had Covid. And we were grappling, like, literally fighting, spitting sweat, perspiration, breathing on each other. I never felt anything. I haven't had a cold in forever. And I believe that's too. That talks to what CBD can do for your immune system as well. So coming back to fertility, there haven't been, like, distinct studies on it, and every doctor said we can't recommend taking CBD to improve fertility, but that was a major component of it. I increased my doses. I was taking more during the day, a little bit more at night. My wife was also taking some. Once she got pregnant, we changed, we took her off cbd. We used it as needed. I completely cut out thc. I'm a fan of thc. I think it has its place like anything. I think everything is use or misuse. Nothing is inherently bad. If God gave it to us, it's meant to. It has a use, whether it's for us or not. And, yeah, on that fertility journey, I just knew. I just got a sense when I hold something, when I hold cbd, maybe it's my practice of seeing things, not necessarily with these senses. When I feel my cbd, I knew it was good for my body and I didn't even want to take hcg, but I felt it. There was something about it. Clomid. I didn't respond that well. I just had a weird sense about it. And there are odd side effects with Clomid, but you have. People have to find out what's right for them in terms of what's going to improve their fertility. Some people have to trust the medical establishment, which I get. But I really encourage people to do their own, own research, realize that CBD and a lot of other natural compounds can really contribute to improving your fertility. Men and women.