James is an award-winning writer and photographer as well as a 1% for the Planet ambassador.
A professional cynic gives Ned hemp oil a try, and winds up surprising even himself
My foray into using CBD didn’t come naturally.
Call me a cynic, but I’m immediately suspect of anything heralded as a “miracle cure” or “the next big thing in wellness.” I’ve had too many acai berry smoothies or Bulletproof coffee regimens leave me feeling no better and sometimes worse, plus spent no small part of a journalism career watching one wellness pyramid scheme after another be debunked or otherwise fall in on itself. So when the CBD boom began in earnest a couple of years ago, bringing with it waves of new products touting the magic of cannabis for every possible ache, pain, acne, and pet problem, I shrugged and assumed it’d blow over soon.
unlike many of the supplements piled floor to ceiling in health food stores, research was starting to show real, proven results with cannabidiol.
It was easy to laugh off friends raving about transformational experiences with CBD and hemp oil, especially in places like Colorado or Washington where most of these products come coupled with a heady dose of THC. Of course, you feel better, you’re super high, right? But, unlike many of the supplements piled floor to ceiling in health food stores, research was starting to show real, proven results with cannabidiol on everything from inflammation to anxiety. Even the FDA has now recommended a drug made from cannabis-derived CBD that’s about to be released capable of producing “ an amazing transformation” in children suffering from rare forms of epilepsy.
I became intrigued. As bearer of both anxious tendencies and bad joints, perhaps this actually could be a supplement that would make my life a little better. Now, I’m not a pot smoker. Nothing against it, it just isn’t for me – too much paranoia. So I wanted to find a brand that didn’t include the psychoactive compounds (no THC), and I wanted to make sure what I was getting was what it said it was – a task that could be harder than it sounded. That’s when I stumbled upon Ned and its founders at the 1% for the Planet global summit. With their lab-tested contents and <0.3% THC formula, I’d found my match and was ready to give it a go
Seriously, my collarbone has been broken so many times I just stopped going to the hospital for it.
I should elaborate on my condition and expectations.
A writer and photographer, I travel constantly for work, spending a good deal of time running around outside followed by hours and hours in front of a computer editing. I love what I do but also, perhaps because of that, have a tendency to run myself ragged, thus leading to anxiety and trouble getting a good night’s sleep. I also spent 20 of my 43 years skateboarding nearly every single day, despite the fact that I was never good at it and it wrecked my body. Seriously, my collarbone has been broken so many times I just stopped going to the hospital for it. Long story short, my joints are a hot mess of cracking and popping and swelling after almost any extended period of use beyond normal walking. I stretch daily to keep them as limber as possible. I’m also probably burning a hole in my stomach lining that mirrors the one in our ozone layer with the amount of ibuprofen I bomb drop down my gullet on an average week – I’m not one to slow down because of some silly physical pain.
I started with the highest possible strength, the Ned 1500mg Full Spectrum Hemp Oil, because if you’re gonna do something, do it. It quickly became a morning ritual, dropping the oil under my tongue before coffee, the marijuana-esque flavor coating my mouth.
That was two months ago.
So what happened? Have I noticed a miraculous cure? On some levels, you could say that.
My sleep is, without question, much improved. With this comes a better overall mood and sense of spiritual wellbeing. Can I attribute that 100% to the supplement? Honestly, I don’t know if it’s some percentage psychosomatic, but it’s good enough a result that I’m dead set on continuing to take it. My joints are another story. The dull ache that permeated my body every morning is all but gone, even when I have to sleep in my truck for a couple days in a row on a shoot. I still stretch daily, but my range of motion seems to have improved. When there is swelling, such as after a long day hiking in the woods, it’s less pronounced and recedes faster than it has in years. Again, this could be in part a symptom of getting more rest and not necessarily a direct result of taking cannabis oil, but to me it’s proof that there’s truth to the claims about CBD and related cannabis extractions.
My joints are another story. The dull ache that permeated my body every morning is all but gone, even when I have to sleep in my truck for a couple of days in a row on a shoot.
Of course, nothing is a cure-all and anything – be it a supplement or a modern pharmaceutical – should be coupled with a healthy lifestyle and positive mental outlook. But that’s the nature of a supplement, right? That it should add to your quality of life, a tool in the box that helps you build a better you. And I have no doubt that Ned’s supplements are doing just that, to the point that I’m stoked to be working with them to help tell their story.
James Joiner is an award-winning writer and photographer as well as a 1% for the Planet ambassador. A former senior editor at Esquire and The Daily Beast, he recently retired from full-time journalism to focus more on fighting for conservation and environmental issues through storytelling.
