While knowing all the risks of this unhealthy habit, people just go on with it – some because they just don’t care of what can happen, and some because they try to stop smoking but they can’t, and indeed it’s very hard. There are lots of ways to stop smoking: taking medicine, using sticky patches on your skin with nicotine, switch to vaping, and the list can go on. Sometimes these aids can be expensive, or a major turn off, that being the reason why many people can’t stick to them to the end. If you feel like you have a problem with smoking, and want to quit but it seems to hard, there are always certified specialists which can help you and guide you the best through this hard but highly rewarding journey.
What does food has to do with how to quit smoking?
This is a really good question! Which also comes of course with a good answer. Nutrition is very important in this case. Food can have an enormous influence on our bodies and our health. Food keeps us alive, it gives us energy, vitamins, antioxidants and minerals that are essential for a balanced and healthy life. Normally, we eat food to take out of it the macronutrients and the micronutrients that our body needs in order to live, function properly, repair itself and defend itself against various threats. But there are also ways to eat and foods for purposes such as weight loss and muscle gain, and many many other things.
Out of all the things, food can even help you quit smoking faster, and make your body recover as much as possible from the negative effects that occurred on the way. While smoking is a bad habit, food can be one too if not taken moderately. When you will try to go on less cigarettes per day, obviously the pause between them will be longer, and during these pauses, your brain will keep asking for cigarettes (more exactly, for the drug called nicotine). It’s very important that in this situation, you don’t do the same mistake a lot of people do – eating excessively. You may have heard that some people usually link smoke quitting with weight gain. While this is partially true, it’s very important to understand why and how it happens. If you start to quit smoking, that will not make you fat, but eating too much because of it will do. Your brain will try to fill that missing piece with something else, and in this case it’s food. So it’s better to take food with moderation in this case, and everything will be fine. It’s also good to mention that when you quit smoking, you don’t start with something else as harmful as cigarettes, such as too much alcohol.
The good part is – while you kept smoking, your taste buds became pretty much dormant, and you lost most of the taste in food. But now that you are smoking less and less, your taste buds become more active and food will taste delicious again. Basically what you will do, is putting food instead of a cigarette in your mouth when you feel you need to smoke.
Recommendations
- In the first part try to avoid places that will make you more likely to smoke, such as bars or clubs. Even though in the majority of the world, smoking is banned indoors, people still feel the need to smoke, and everyone will go outside to do it. If you go out with your friends and some of them are smokers, they will most likely go out to smoke from time to time, and this will be a big temptation for you – this being the reason why you should avoid such places in the beginning.
- There are foods that makes smoking taste very bad, and your brain will link that feeling with smoking, helping you even more on the way. For example, water, juice made from vegetables and fruits, milk, will help you in this case.
- There are also foods and drinks that makes smoking taste more pleasant. Things such as coffee and alcohol are to be avoided as much as possible, especially in the beginning of this journey.
- When you have no food around, it’s good to always have on you chewing gum or breath mints, because they are a good lifesaver in this case.
Foods that can help you quit smoking
- Veggies – things like carrots or cucumbers will not only make the taste of smoking bad, but will also keep you in shape, cutting down on calories, and they are tasty too! They will also lower your craving for cigarettes.
- Yogurt – it can be of any kind – it will make cigarettes taste bad and have longer pauses between smokes.
- Milk – in fact, dairy products usually will make cigarettes taste bad, so there are lots of options here.
- Oranges – Cigarettes are know to reduce the quantity of Vitamin C in your body. Oranges, and also other citrus fruits, will replenish the missed out C vitamin, will cut down your carving for smoking and will give you a better immune system, which means you will be more healthy and resistant to infection and other things.
- Apples, bananas, pears, peach and so on. Usually fruits have low calories, and will not only keep you in shape, but they are perfect quick snacks when you feel like smoking.
- Snacks with salt – researchers have found that salty snacks usually reduce the brain’s need for nicotine, resulting in lesser need to smoke. Still, if you choose to go on this one, make sure your blood pressure levels are in check, because eating lots of salts will increase your blood pressure levels.
- Ginseng – when you smoke, your brain releases a chemical called dopamine, which is responsible for when we feel good when we do something like smoking. Used regularly, this will lower the release of dopamine, giving no satisfaction when smoking and making it less desirable.
