If quitting smoking had been a cinch, then 1.3 billion people would not still be using tobacco. Although there are several strategies to get rid of this bad habit, as posted here, the simple truth is that quitting is challenging. And even though there are plenty of programs in the medical arsenal — from popping pills to ripping your way through packs of nicotine gum to help alleviate cravings and withdrawal symptoms — there are natural approaches that might help, as shared below.
Change Your Diet
Certain foods make smoking more enjoyable, and many others less so. Duke University researchers asked smokers to take note of foods that gave them the taste of cigarettes, with 70 percent saying that red meat, alcohol, and coffee provoking lighting up a stick. On the other hand, about half of the group said that good foods like vegetables, fruit, milk, and juice spoiled the taste of cigarettes. According to F. Joseph McClernon, director of Duke’s addiction division in the department of psychiatry and behavioral sciences, “Loading up on fruits and vegetables even before quitting might help cigarettes seem less appealing.”
Have Some Exercise
Exercise also works against cravings. Research from Brown University found that women who exercised vigorously – at about 80% of their maximum heart rate – increased their rates (19% versus 10% at the end of their 12-week program) and had a much longer series of relapse-free periods than those who did not exercise. The researchers noted that exercise might help stop depression, relieve stress, and decrease weight gain in the girls trying to get rid of the habit.
A study at the University of Exeter in the UK suggested that exercise triggers changes in brain activity. In that study, smokers who cycled at a moderate pace had fewer cravings than non-cyclers after abstaining from nicotine for 15 hours, as measured by MRI reactions to cigarette images.
Talk to Your Doctor
It seems too simple to be right: talking to your doctor about smoking increases your chances of quitting. A review of 31,000 smokers in the UK for instance, found that even brief doctor-patient conversations increase the chance of quitting by 3 percent – for an entire year. How you talk to yourself also counts. “We have people who talk positively about themselves when they ruminate about a cigarette,” said Janet Konefal, an acupuncturist at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine. “We tell people to talk positively to themselves when they’re ruminating about a cigarette. Something simple like ‘I can do this’ can be remarkably powerful.”