It seems like everyone and their mother is turning toward cannabis to ease a variety of issues—from joint pain to insomnia to stress and anxiety. Take a look around any happening coffee shop and you'll surely find at least one person sipping on a CBD-infused beverage or popping in a few gummies (more on that later). Needless to say, cannabis is becoming mainstream, and there's even an entire holiday dedicated to a specific cannabis extract (that just so happens to be our favorite).  

Yes, today is National Hemp Day, and we at mbg are excited about it. (In fact, we love the plant so much, we created a whole product around it.) Here's exactly why we love this plant and how we're celebrating the holiday:  

A lot of people can be confused about the difference between hemp and CBD (don't worry, there's a full explainer here!). To put it simply, hemp oil is a whole-plant extract, whereas CBD oil is an isolated extract of a single cannabinoid. 

Basically, CBD includes only one cannabinoid, called cannabidiol. On the flipside, hemp oil contains all the cannabinoids (including CBD!). When these cannabinoids are taken together, they have what's known as the "entourage effect," where all the antioxidants in hemp work together to provide an array of health benefits.* 

Here's the highlight reel of hemp's benefits: It helps manage stress, support healthy immune function, and it can even calm acne flare-ups.* With this impressive résumé, it's no secret why hemp extract has become a star in the mbg HQ. 

With all these health benefits under hemp's belt, it only makes sense that it can target each one in a variety of forms.* Whether you purchase an oil, capsule, or topical product, hemp will do its job (but it's always important to make sure your hemp is 100% organically grown). 

In terms of ingestibles, you can purchase hemp in the form of gummies and treats. However, functional medicine doctor Robert Rountree, M.D., warns of popping gummies, as it's more difficult to know exactly what ingredients they have. 

"When you're buying a gummy, you just don't know what's in it. You've got to be really careful," he shares on the mindbodygreen podcast.  

Hemp can even be used for culinary purposes (got hemp milk, anyone?), although that version is a little different from what you can expect from a hemp extract—hemp seed oil, pressed from those omega-3 and protein-rich hemp seeds, doesn't contain any cannabinoids.  

Another reason we love hemp is because it's legal in all 50 U.S. states—as opposed to marijuana-derived CBD oil, which can contain higher concentrations of THC and is only legal in certain states. 

While it can be confusing to know if the CBD oil you're purchasing is derived from hemp or marijuana, hemp oil extract is always hemp-derived and legal. It won't give you the munchies, and it's relatively easy to know exactly where it comes from and how it was extracted (if you're purchasing a trustworthy brand, of course).  

In case it isn't clear, we're pretty excited for National Hemp Day. You can catch us celebrating with hemp multi+ supplements, dashes of hemp milk in our coffee, and sprinkles of hemp seeds on salads. Currently placing bets on how many ways we can use this plant.