Quit Smoking - With Herbs and Natural Aids

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It is much better to help yourself quit smoking with herbs and natural aids than with pills and patches; a lot healthier for your body.

There are several herbs and natural aids which you probably keep in your cupboards already. First and foremost iswater; drink at least eight glasses per day, more if possible; water will help keep you hydrated and also help you feel full, so less likely to want to eat. Keep a glass of water at hand constantly, so that when you would normally reach for a cigarette you can reach for the glass instead. This will keep your hands busy and hopefully start another habit, this time a healthy one.

Herbal infusions are a great help, especially the calming ones like chamomile, lavender, St Johns wort and lemon balm.

Baking soda increases the pH in urine, which will slow the elimination of the nicotine already existent in the body. This may sound strange, but slowing the elimination of nicotine results in less craving.

Smoking causes an excess of free radicals in your body, which will need antioxidants to counteract. Vitamin C is a great source, so make sure you consume plenty of fruits and vegetables.

Among the best herbs and natural aids to quit smoking is licorice root, which is very useful to calm cravings. It has stress relieving properties which will calm your nerves and lessen irritability, as well as helping to break down body fat, so proving helpful in the case of compensating with food. Licorice is also a natural expectorant, helping greatly when the body needs to expel catarrh and phlegm.

Herbal oats are a remedy used by healers in India, traditionally to help opium addicts to quit. This herbal remedy is believed to work by affecting the levels of neurotransmitters in the brain, and suppressing the centre of addiction. It will calm the anxiety and 'jitters' associated with withdrawal symptoms, and its effects are known to be very long-lasting.

Oatmeal or porridge would be a good breakfast, and also in place of another meal during the day. It is a fact  that oatmeal can help you relax, and aids sleep; a bowl of oatmeal before bed will help with a good night's sleep. Oatcakes and oat cereal bars are good snacks for 'picking' at during the day, as are other cereal bars and all types of seeds, whole grains and nuts.

Fresh fruit and vegetables are extremely necessary when trying to quit smoking, as along with herbs and natural aids they can replace cravings and give your body the supplements it needs.

Sugarfree gum and candy may be necessary for the 'sweet tooth' while trying to quit smoking, but grapes and cherries and other 'candy' sized fruits are even better.

Nowadays most public places are smoke-free zones, so you really have no choice but to go several hours at a time without smoking, in which case you should be able to totally quit smoking with herbs and natural aids to support you.

There is no doubt you will feel a lot healthier if you avoid nicotine patches and other chemical aids. Nature’s pharmacy is best!


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Quit Smoking - Graphic Demonstration of Tar in Your Lungs Due to Smoking (Video)

Every cigarette is doing you damage. Every time you inhale, tobacco smoke condenses in your lungs to form tar. In this video, a healthy lung is compared to a lung that contains one year worth of tar that a pack-a-day smoker breathes in. If I were you, I'd quit smoking today!

Quit Smoking - Nicotine-Free 'Fake' Cigarettes May Help Smokers Quit

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Article from WebMD:

May 13, 2011 -- Nicotine-free plastic inhalers -- fake cigarettes that allow people to simulate smoking -- may increase some smokers’ odds of quitting smoking, a study shows.

Unlike electronic or "e-cigarettes," the nicotine-free inhalers are billed in Europe as aids for people who are trying to quit smoking that can be used in conjunction with nicotine replacement, drugs for smoking cessation, and counseling.

The study is published online in the European Respiratory Journal.

Italian researchers studied 120 smokers who were enrolled in a program to help them quit smoking. All participants were regular smokers of at least 20 cigarettes a day for at least 10 years.

All participants were also treated with a nicotine patch, bupropion (sold in the U.S. as Zyban), and counseling.

They were divided into two groups, with one set of participants receiving the plastic inhalers, and the others following the usual program.

Questionnaires were used to determine the participants’ physical and behavioral dependence on cigarettes. After 24 weeks they were asked if they had been successful in attempts to abstain from smoking.

Quit-Smoking Success Rates

There was no significant difference in the quit rates of the two groups. But people who were found to be more behaviorally dependent on cigarettes had a threefold higher success rate when using the inhaler.

People who were identified as being most heavily dependent on the behavioral pattern of smoking had a quit rate of 66.7% in the group using the plastic inhalers, compared with 19.2% in the other group.

Researchers say that the results indicate that for smokers who rely on the handling of a cigarette as a behavioral pattern, nicotine-free inhalers could increase their chance of success when trying to quit.

"By showing a clear predictive association between the measure of behavioral dependence and relapse, our study is the first to reveal that the concept of behavioral addiction can be exploited as a useful clinical tool for many smokers to quit," Riccardo Polosa, MD, PhD, a professor at the 

University of Catania, says in a news release.

Polosa, who is also director of the University Institute of Internal Medicine and Clinical Immunology at Catania, says the research results "will open up a potentially novel area of research in smoking cessation."

Cigarette Alternative?

The inhalers used in the study, unlike e-cigarettes, consist of a fiber sponge filter plug soaked in naturally extracted herbal aroma oil and encased in a plastic cartridge container similar to a cigarette.

The FDA decided in April 2011 to oversee electronic cigarettes the same way it does tobacco products. E-cigarettes are powered by a battery and a liquid nicotine mixture derived from tobacco is converted into a vapor that can be inhaled.

But the device used in the study contains no nicotine. The device is called "Paipo," and its manufacturer claims it is safe for anyone using it.

"Smokers trying to quit have to cope not only with the pharmacologic aspect of nicotine addiction but also with the psychological components associated with tobacco dependence," the researchers. "Smoking is much more than the addicting effect of nicotine; the smoking habit is also the rituals that each smoker associates with his/her habit."

The plastic cigarettes are intended to substitute for the psychological part of addiction.

An online advertisement for Paipo bills the product as a "cigarette alternative" and says that even though people don’t light it, "it feels like the real thing."

The researchers say they received free supplies of the Paipo inhalers for the study, but do not report any other disclosures.

Now I know that there are two smoking alternatives, e-cigarettes and the inhaler types of smoking alternative. The question is, will it really make you quit smoking quick and safe? 

Quit Smoking - Nicotine Addiction

 "Quitting smoking is easy. I've done it a thousand times" this famous quote of Mark Twain sums up the problems a lot of people have when trying to quit...they just can't stick to it.

The problem is that smoking is an addiction like any other, as nicotine is in fact a drug. The addiction to nicotine is not the only danger, as it is in fact a poison.

 
Nicotine is the natural drug found in tobacco and is as addictive as cocaine or heroin. The dependency will be both physical and emotional; both needing to be dealt with when quitting smoking.

As smoke is inhaled, nicotine enters deep into the lungs, from where it is carried throughout the body via the bloodstream. 

Nicotine will affect many parts of the body; blood vessels, heart, brain, metabolism and hormones. It is particularly harmful during pregnancy, as it can be present in breast milk and in cervical fluids as well as placenta, amniotic fluids and the blood in the umbilical cord which in turn feeds into the newborn child.

Inhaling cigarette smoke will send nicotine to the brain quicker than any drugs taken intravenously. Like any other drug, the body eventually develops tolerance, thereby needing larger doses to calm the craving. Quitting smoking will cause the same kind of withdrawal symptoms from the addiction to nicotine that drug addicts experience when quitting their chosen poison.

Whatever your age or the length of time you've been smoking, don't think it's too late in life for you to quit: smokers who quit around age 50 can still cut the risk of dying in the following 15 years by 50%, compared with those who continue to smoke.

Addiction to nicotine should be treated like any other drug addiction, so when quitting smoking be prepared for similar problems. Nicotine patches or chewing gum will only really delay the inevitable; you'll be avoiding many of the other chemicals found in cigarette smoke, but you are still feeding your body nicotine, so are not really making any inroads into your addiction to nicotine. Quitting smoking cold turkey is the only sure answer and will bring with it some problems, particularly in those long-term smokers.

The body will take its time to eject nicotine and other chemicals; sometimes only a couple of days but at other times several weeks. Addiction to nicotine is caused by the pleasant feelings (known as dopamine high) experienced by the smoker, which then lead to them wanting to smoke more. The nervous system begins to adapt to the nicotine intake and increases the amount of nicotine in the blood. As the body begins to get used to the amount of nicotine, it will start to demand more, hence we get into the cycle of addiction.

The poison in nicotine is enough to kill a human with just a few drops in its purest form, although to take in that much in one go by smoking you would have to smoke about 100 cigarettes all at once (together, not one after the other) Even so, that is some nasty poison to take into your system!

Quitting smoking and addiction to nicotine does not need to be terribly difficult; there are quit smoking plans and systems to help you on your way, some of which make it incredibly easy. Find the right method for you and stick with it; you are on your way to a much healthier, more enjoyable life.

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Quit Smoking - Graphic Australian Anti-Smoking Ad (Video)

As promised, here is an Australian Anti-smoking Ad that will definitely make you say "I'll quit smoking today!" The Australian government are very serious about their campaign to urge people to stop smoking.

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Quit Smoking - Australia Proposes Tough Cigarette Packaging Rules

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SYDNEY (AP) — Tobacco companies in Australia will be forced to strip all logos from their cigarette packages and replace them with graphic images such as cancer-riddled mouths and sickly children under legislation unveiled Thursday — a move the government says will make Australia the world's toughest country on tobacco advertising.

The law would remove one of the tobacco companies' last methods of advertising by banning them from printing their logos, promotional text or colorful images on cigarette packs. Instead, brand names will be printed in a small, uniform font, and the packets will be a dull olive green — a color the government believes consumers will hate.

"This plain packaging legislation is a world first and sends a clear message that the glamour is gone — cigarette packs will now only show the death and disease that can come from smoking," Health Minister Nicola Roxon said in a statement. "The new packs have been designed to have the lowest appeal to smokers and to make clear the terrible effects that smoking can have on your health."

Tobacco companies have been fighting the legislation and threatening legal action since the government first announced its plan last year. The law would be phased in over six months, starting in January 2012.

The legality of the measure and whether it violates trademark laws is a matter of debate among experts.British American Tobacco, which produces several cigarette brands including Winfield, Dunhill and Benson, will probably launch legal action against the government over the legislation, spokesman Scott McIntyre said.

"What company would stand for having its brands, which are worth billions, taken away from them?" McIntyre said. "A large brewing company or fast food chain certainly wouldn't and we're no different."

Smoking rates have been declining in Australia for years, but the government says cigarettes still kill 15,000 Australians a year and cost the country about $31.5 billion annually.

Tobacco advertising on billboards and in magazines has long been banned and restrictions on smoking in public places, including restaurants and bars, are common.

Public health advocates said the move to strip packages of their enticing images goes one critical step further, and will have a particularly big impact on children.

"Our research shows that the look of the pack is an important consideration for young people at risk of being drawn to smoking," Ian Olver, CEO of Cancer Council Australia, said in a statement. "So this move by the Australian government has the potential to be one of the most significant public health measures in recent history."

Other countries, such as Britain and Canada, have considered packaging restrictions in the past, but none of the measures has passed, in part because of legal questions.

The government is required under the constitution to pay compensation to anyone from whom it takes or devalues property, including intellectual property such as trademarks. But opinions are split on what the implications of those rules, and international trade laws, are in the case of cigarette packages.

Matthew Rimmer, a legal expert at The Australian National University, said the government is fully within its power to regulate the packaging of tobacco products.

"Trademarks are a government grant and governments always retain the capacity to regulate that grant," said Rimmer, who wrote a paper urging plain packaging of cigarettes in 2008. "So historically they've always had the provisions, for instance, to ban trademarks on certain things that are contrary to law."

Tim Wilson, an intellectual property and free trade expert at the Institute of Public Affairs in Australia, disagrees, saying the measure would violate international trademark and intellectual property regulations. Stripping the tobacco companies' logos from packaging diminishes the value of their trademarks, which is against the law, he said.

Threats of legal action from the tobacco industry will do nothing to dissuade the government from moving forward with the plan, said Roxon, the health minister.

"We believe we are on very strong legal grounds," she told journalists in Sydney. "We're not going to have 'big tobacco' scaring us with legal action. We want to make sure that the glamour that might have been attached to smoking in the past is dead and gone."

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Do you think this will push through? Well, in a future post we will include a sample of an Autralian campaign against smoking. So if I were you, I'd quit smoking today!

Quit Smoking - Today!

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Once you have decided to quit smoking today, you have over come the biggest hurdle, as trying to quit without really wanting to, is not going to be easy. The decision to quit gives way to new questions: How to start, what can you eat/drink to help, how to lessen cravings... it's not really as difficult as you think; once you've made your mind up to quit smoking today, it's just like going on a diet. A little more difficult of course, as smoking is an addiction and like any other addiction, is very tough to break.

Try to set yourself a routine of diet and exercise and other aids, and stick to it. During the first 72 hours or so you will need to drink plenty of acidic fruit juice to help remove the alkaloid nicotine buildup in your body and to help stabilize blood sugar levels.

The best of these is cranberry juice, which will do the job whilst supplying your body with an abundance of vitamins and nutrients.

Fresh fruit and vegetables are a must, along with whole grains, seeds and nuts. You should be able to avoid gaining too much weight if you eat sensibly; weight gain is often associated with quitting smoking, this is because not only are you inclined to eat more to help stave off cravings, but smoking increases the metabolic rate and you will burn calories quicker, so obviously when you first quit you should try to adjust your calorie intake, at least until the metabolism returns to normal.

The best way to quit smoking is to take it one day at a time; follow an exercise routine, even if it's only walking, and find something to keep you occupied in idle moments. Many smokers agree that it's not only the craving for nicotine, but what to do with their hands when not working or otherwise occupied. Depending on your skills, try sketching (or just doodle drawing) knitting, writing; anything which keeps hands busy. Keeping a diary or journal is a good idea, as not only does it give your hands something to do, but you can keep an account of your progress; how you felt, how difficult/easy the day had been, things you had to eat or drink and how they helped, and so on. Open with "I decided to quit smoking today" and on each day re-affirm your commitment to quit.

You will definitely need something to snack or nibble on throughout the day, so arm yourself with plenty of healthy low-cal snacks: grapes and cherries are good, or cherry tomatoes (anything small which you can pick at individually) or sticks of celery are ideal, as not only will celery help calm cravings, but the body actually burns calories while digesting it! So there's a double bonus in eating celery.

The decision to quit smoking today was a difficult one to take, but having done so proves that you have strength of character and willpower, so you should be able to stick to your plan without too much difficulty. Trial and error will find the best way to quit smoking for you, but if you decide you need help, then that's okay too. There is always a solution, an easy way to quit smoking today.

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Quit Smoking - E-Cigarettes the Better Alternative, now in the Philippines!

Great news for all cigarette and non-cigarette smokers. At long last, the answer to a clean, healthy and safe smoke-free environment has finally arrived in the country, in full-support of the Department of Health’s (DOH) anti-lung cancer and healthy heart campaign. Electronic-Cigarette –dubbed the “healthier alternative to smoking” was recently launched in the Philippines by an all-Filipino owned firm – Denkat Trading, whose mission is provide Filipinos who ‘love the habit of smoking’ break its deadly side effects to healthy long life via what is considered a ‘healthier-option’ to smoking tobacco products –cigarettes, cigars or pipes. This world-famous electronic cigarette is a battery-powered device that provides inhaled doses of non-nicotine vaporized solution commonly called the ‘E-Juice’ or ‘E-Liquid’ which in turn, eliminates cancer substances that has led many a smoker to develop deadly cancer cells that attacks people regardless of age factor.

It also protects non-smokers from inhaling 2nd hand smoke that is bad for both the lungs and the heart, plus prevents the formation of yellow teeth (often called ‘smokers teeth’), the proliferation of air-pollution that hampers free-flow of oxygen, and is non-fire hazard. Aside from its health-factors, E-cigarette users get to save almost P14,000 per year, based on a two-pack per day consumption for one-year.

Free demonstration and digital display of E-Cigarettes may be seen at the following venues: 3rd Floor, Robinson’s Place Manila, M. Adriatico Street, Malate, Manila; 2nd Floor, Centermall (2 Bldg.) Tutuban Mall, CM Recto street, Manila; 1st Floor, 1S01 Phase 5 Bldg. 168 Shopping Mall, Soler street, Sta. Cruz, Manila and at SM Sta. Mesa 1st Floor, Ramon Magsaysay Street, Quezon City. Interested health enthusiasts may receive free info/data on the BFAD-Approved Denkat Electronic Cigaretes, via its Secretariat Office @ 257-0459/577-1962 or visit www.pcrus.ph.

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Quit Smoking - Health Risks of Smoking

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Most people are fully aware that smoking can lead to lung cancer, but in fact the health risks in smoking are much further reaching.

Cancer of the lungs is only one of the risks run by smokers. Smoking is a high risk factor for several kinds of cancer including mouth, larynx, pharynx, esophagus, kidney, pancreas, bladder, cervix and stomach as well as some types of leukemia.

As well as cancer, smoking can cause other lung diseases as in pneumonia, emphysema and chronic bronchitis. These diseases which come under the term of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease or COPD can cause chronic illness and disabilities and can also be fatal. Long-term smokers carry the highest risk of COPDs

Vascular disease: narrowing or clogging of blood vessels can lead to all kinds of problems. Peripheral vascular disease affects blood vessels feeding the leg and arm muscles.

Problems in the blood vessels feeding the heart can lead to heart disease and heart attacks, and blocked vessels to the brain can cause a stroke. Men who smoke can find blood vessel disease will cause erectile dysfunction.

Eyesight can be affected by smoking: health risks in smoking include increased risk of macular degeneration, sometimes leading to blindness. Also premature ageing and wrinkling of the skin, halitosis or bad breath, tooth and gum disease, yellowing and brittle fingernails, not to mention revolting smelling hair and clothes.

Expectant or nursing mothers have some unique health risks in smoking, to themselves as well as the new life they are carrying. Women (particularly over 35) who smoke and also take oral contraceptives have a very high risk of heart attack, stroke and thrombosis. Smoking carries a high risk of miscarriage or babies born underweight; which are more likely to have physical problems, learning difficulties or even risk of death. Nicotine can be passed into breast milk as well as cervical fluids, amniotic fluids and umbilical cord.

One of the main health risks in smoking is a shortening of life expectancy: the CDC estimates an adult male will lose an average of 13.2 years of life and females 14.5 years, due to smoking. Add to that the risk of diseases during their lifetime which can impair the quality of life long before that. Even without contracting a disease, smoker’s activities are limited by difficulties in breathing and moving around, both at work and play.

The health benefits in quitting are more than just decreasing the health risks in smoking:

Just 20 minutes after quitting your blood pressure will drop and your heart rate decrease

2 hours afterwards the carbon monoxide level in the blood returns to normal

Between two weeks and three months after quitting, blood circulation will improve and lung function increase.

Anywhere between one and nine months after quitting you will notice a marked decrease in coughing and shortness of breath. Lungs will start to regain their normal cilia function (these are hair-fine elements in the lungs that dispel mucus) and increase their ability to handle mucus and reduce risk of infection. The lungs will begin to be cleansed from the inside.

After the first year of not smoking, you have reduced the risk of ordinary heart disease by half, compared to a smoker.

Five years on, your risk of stroke is reduced dramatically, and between 5-15 years the risk will be the same as that of a non-smoker.

After 10 years the death rate from lung cancer is reduced by half, compared to a continuing smoker.

Apart from the health risks in smoking, what about the money you spend? Look at the price you spend a day on cigarettes and multiply that by 365. Wow! How much do you spend in a year! Multiply it by 10, and think what you could have done with all that money instead of burning it over 10 years!

All this cost, along with the health risks in smoking must surely give you reason to quit. Find yourself a quit smoking plan and start it right away!

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