Trying to Quit Smoking - Need Safe Snack Ideas

[leosmom]

I am trying to kick a 40 year old smoking habit. OMG it is so hard and I keep falling off the wagon, but I know I need to quit. I have been to quit smoking sites that suggest snacking on things like carrot sticks (nope, spikes my BS), cucumbers (are boring don't do the trick), and hard candy (nope, sugarless ones give me major gastro problems ). Has anyone been through this and can suggest some safe snacks I can munch on at work (office)?

[Morris "Type 1"]

get yourself a copy of

allan carrs - the easy way.

I know many people who have read/listened to it and had zero urges to smoke again. 2 of them has been 6 months, another 3 years, not sure of others but non-smokers still.

[Masher]

I used juicy fruit gum ( sugarless) when I was trying to quit. It did help with my cravings.

I was also using nicoderm patch at the time. and lasted a whole 3 months

now I'm using champix to try and quit

[DannyK]

Masher.... My Dr. wrote an Rx for chantix for me, and I haven't been able to get it filled yet (due to the cost). I was wondering how long you have been on it and if it seems to be helping yet? I hear it seems to be the "best" aid to date.

[slwood321]

I quit two years ago using what is called cold laser therapy. They suggested chewing on cinnamon sticks. They did seem to help as the size is about the same as a cigarette and the flavor isn't too bad.

I will say, it's one of the hardest thing I've ever done but I feel so much better since I quit and my husband and child love it that I'm not always taking smoke breaks and that I don't smell bad all the time.

Good Luck, it's tough, but worth it.

[leosmom]

I used juicy fruit gum ( sugarless) when I was trying to quit. It did help with my cravings.

I was also using nicoderm patch at the time. and lasted a whole 3 months

now I'm using champix to try and quit

I can't use the patch (headaches, even with the lighter ones). I have also heard good reports on Chantix but I'm on so many meds now, I didn't want to add another. I can chew sugarless gum but only 1-2 a day because that also upsets the digestive tract on me (what a sissy I am ).

[ShottleBop]

Pork rinds might work for you.

[adiantum]

It's not really wise to substitute eating instead of smoking. This will just create another habit which will have to be addressed further along.
Have a glass of water instead. I found help with hourly breathing exercises .
try to gently massage your lips with your finger tips.
Have positive thoughts & congratulate yourself on your daily achievements.

[Subby]

It's a good point Lee raises. While I think we need to use a variety of tactics and certainly some replacements and so forth when it gets really crazy in that first month or so, it comes down to this: you don't need a replacement in the long run. That's your cigarrette addiction speaking, that there is a hole there that will need to be filled somehow. It's not true. The hole is created by the addiction. If you manage to let the addiction pass, the hole will disappear (yes, it can be a slow and interminable process at times) and you are left without either.

(What is sad is that mainstream "Quit" messages often don't seem to emphasis this point, and instead suggest a long and strangely very expensive course of nicotine replacement... as if we "need" something to replace cigarettes. In the meantime you stay wildly addicted to the same thing that makes you crave a cigarette. Fine that some say it works well, but having tried patches, for me that way of quitting would be a living ****.)

I'm not saying go puritan or something - you might need a bit of help for a while but it should only be temporary. So use a variety of tactics and don't lean on them if you can help it. In the end the more you can face each craving without actually doing anything (or doing something harmless and not habit forming), or half doing something and half facing it, the faster and better you will quit without other nasty habits in place.

Go wild, let yourself experiment with things to keep yourself occupied. I found drinking either cold water or cranberry juice in a shotglass, was wonderful when I felt I just couldn't avoid smoking. The cranberry juice is high in sugar but in a shot now and then it is ok for me, it is a very strong taste which really helped me "snap out of it", and is packed with antioxidants which will help heal the body.

[tiny]

Hi all, I quit smoking 5 months ago, I smoked for 13 years. I still ocasionally want to go smoke especially if I am stressed or at the bar. Anyway I quit by using welbutrin (which I am still on for fear of losing the battle of cigs.) and also by doing things to distract me from the craving. I will go for a walk, call my mom, anything that I could start quickly so I would lose thought of going out to smoke. It all works and we all have our ways, find which best works for you and you will succeed. Don't pick another cig up again because thats how you fall off the wagon. You can quit, believe me if I can quit anyone can.

Good Luck

[Masher]

Masher.... My Dr. wrote an Rx for chantix for me, and I haven't been able to get it filled yet (due to the cost). I was wondering how long you have been on it and if it seems to be helping yet? I hear it seems to be the "best" aid to date.

so far I've been on the starter pack in which it starts you off at a lower dose(.5 mg once a day for 3 days) (.5 mg) twice a day for 2 days then you go to the full dose of 1 mg 2 times a day

I'm just completing my first pack of it and so far I feel like i have cut back.

My actual stop smoking day ( and you have to completly stop) is the 15th

then I can get back to you on how it is working.


my Sister and her partner both stopped on Champix ( this is what it is called here in Canada) After starting their second pack (this is a 12 week program)

[DannyK]

Thanks for the info Masher...

Good luck tomorrow (15th), I hope it's not too tough, but I'm sure you can do it...We can ALL do it!

[foxl]

I quit two years ago using what is called cold laser therapy. They suggested chewing on cinnamon sticks. They did seem to help as the size is about the same as a cigarette and the flavor isn't too bad.

I will say, it's one of the hardest thing I've ever done but I feel so much better since I quit and my husband and child love it that I'm not always taking smoke breaks and that I don't smell bad all the time.

Good Luck, it's tough, but worth it.

Cinnmon sticks! Wish I had thought of that, way back when! Strong flavor, nice "bite" to it ... and fidgety as well. Would have helped me perfectly.

[Allison]

I smoked on and off for 12 years. Mostly on my hour drive home from work or if out drinking with friends. I got very ill in December of 08 with a respiratory infection and decided then and there that smoking wasn't worth it. This was also before I was officially diagnosed as Diabetic too. So while healing from the respiratory infection I didn't touch them. As I felt better I started to crave the nicotine again but I just kept telling myself it wasn't worth the sickness and pain. I basically quit cold turkey I had no assistance but my own thoughts and willpower. I began exercising and felt better. Even just taking a stroll around the block when a craving hit helped. When I was diagnosed with Diabetes, I was so thankful that I'd given up cigarettes already, as that would be one less battle to fight. Today I'm on day 202 of not smoking and I don't even think twice about it.

Basically, look at smoking as you look at diabetes. It's something you'll have to manage everyday of your life because like bad foods being available to a diabetic, cigarettes are always going to be available to an ex-smoker. You just have to make the right choices as you do with eating and managing diabetes.

GOOD LUCK!

[networkguy]

I quit 7 weeks ago. My problem was I liked smoking. I liked the nicotine. So I substituted. Its not really the nicotine thats harmful, its the 230+ carcinogens in processed tobacco that is. So now I use snus and nicorette gum.

Im sure many will not agree with my choice, but its the choice I made.