Weight Gain After You’ve Quit Smoking
Many people attempt to quit smoking every day. Some attempt it on their own without outside assistance – referred to as cold turkey. And other smokers plan to quit smoking with the help of pills, capsules, hypnotism, aromatherapy, and ecigarettes. Some, like Geoff Spice of Scotland in 2009, who have tried yet been thrown off the quit smoking trail with temptation, resort to self-quarantine on remote islands.
Recent Quit Smoking Statistics
It is estimated that 17 million Americans attempt to quit smoking each year. Of the 17 million, about 1.3 million or 8% of Americans quit smoking for good. There are a few good reasons why quitting smoking does not have a lasting impact on the remaining 92%: physical nicotine withdrawal and the psychological effect of a mind conditioned over a period of years to expect a cigarette in times of stress, after a meal or in routine locations such as the home porch or balcony or the car. Becoming an ex-smoker involves intent and a daily plan to (try to) avoid urges and tempation.
The fact that 1.3 million Americans quit smoking each year is still a good amount of people – it’s like the people of the city of San Francisco quitting smoking. It’s important now that these “successful quitters” have a plan to compensate for the void of time and a hole in their daily routine of smoking. With no plan in place to combat the consequent “stir-craziness”, many will eat – in fact, consuming more and more food each day to where weight gain as a result of quitting smoking becomes as critical a health problem as smoking.
Techniques to Use When Trying to Prevent Weight Gain After You’ve Quit Smoking
The habit of smoking a cigarette is usually replaced with another habit. Some people change behaviors so as not to be reminded of places they once smoked. Others enter a program to be with other likeminded people for support. Others find food substitutes like hard candy, lollipops, gum, and fruit. The point is that if you don’t plan on the fact that smoking urges will return – and at your weakest moments – then you may turn not just to fatty foods but to a regimen of overeating those unhealthy foods. Suddenly, before you know it, you look in the mirror, discover bulges where a stomach used to be, maybe an extra chin, and you realize the errors of your ways. The integrity of a healthy three meal regimen, suddenly, has been compromised with increased meal portions, snacks or desserts – all in a folly attempt to remove yourself from the temptations of returning to smoking.
So, have a weight loss plan in mind that runs concurrent to your quit smoking plan. If you find yourself prone to substituting your cigarette habit with a food habit, use a healthy nutritional herbal supplement. If you can eat nuts, munch on those. Eat fruit, low fat yogurt, sparkling water, foods that make you feel a bit full after consumption. Bananas are good. Be careful with citrus. According to the Fit For Life Diet Plan, oranges will energize you naturally and are healthy for you but the orange will pass from your stomach to your small intestines in 10 miutes meaning you will be hungry again in 10 minutes. Some ex-smokers eat alot of oranges which take longer to leave the stomach. It takes bananas 45 minutes to pass through your stomach. If you’re at work, stay away from morning Danish and afternoon candy bars. Don’t even look at them. Seek another route to your office door. Also, take the stairs down to the ground floor at lunchtime. Exercise also helps to reduce hunger. So, really, whether you’re trying to address your weight gain after you’ve quit smoking or you’re being proactive and trying to prevent weight gain, be smart about your eating and munching choices. It’s like compound interest – it all adds up.
You might also consider aromatherapy as an effective, affordable and proactive way to combat unnecessary food intake. You can visit an assortment of health or spiritual stores. Or, if you’ve used a stop smoking aids, you might find that an aromatherapy product is included such as Finally Free’s AromaMagic which was included to help stop the cravings of smoking cigarettes after quitting.
