Today while i was walking i saw a young kid in the prime of his life. The young man began smoking a cigarette in front of me. I don’t get mad when people smoke in front of me i get sad for them. I was them once a chronic smoker who thought i was indestructible. I am paying the price for it now as i don’t have the lung capacity i used to have. It took me twenty years to finally win the battle against smoking cigarettes. For me it was an off and on battle though i’m proud to say i will never go back to smoking as now i have been smoke free for over 3 years. I’t wasn’t easy though it is quite doable if you take a stand to stop smoking.
I will share with you the do’s and don’ts and put you on a path to a smoke free lifestyle. Here is a to do list…
- Quit cold turkey if you have any cigarettes right now rip them up and say you don’t control me anymore only i control me!
- Schedule a tooth cleaning this will further encourage you to not smoke and yellow up your teeth again.
- Start putting healthy foods back in your body trust me after you start eating good and treating your body right you will start feeling better and this will encourage you to keep up your will power.
- Start exercising Like healthy food this will keep you from wanting to go back to smoking as you start to increase your wind and your body takes on a better shape this will build your motivation to stop.
- Drink lots of purified clean water and teas will flush out the nicotine with the other 200 other chemicals that are in cigerates. Staying hydrated is great for losing weight and a sharper mind.
- Buy packs of gum addiction to smoking is also psychological and the habit of putting something in your mouth is connected with cigarates. It also helps that cigerates taste like crap when mixed with gum.
- Instead of gum you could get cigars with the wooden tips and cut out the cigar part and throw away keep the wooden tip that you put in mouth you will get the satisfaction of holding it to your mouth and smelling it.
- Keep track of your progress every day that goes by is a day that you won! The more days you can keep winning the more likely you have beat the addiction. After the first couple days your taste sensation starts to come back as your taste buds are starting to come alive again. Treat yourself to something delicious and appreciate your new found taste-buds!
- Congratulations you are now well on your way to quitting cigarettes and are now saving hundreds of dollars per year! Now you can invest into other things that will start increasing your lifespan again like a multipure water filtration system.
My next list is some of the things to avoid that will take you off course watch out for these pitfalls!
- Other people that smoke even friends keep them as far away as possible especially in the first few days when you are most vulnerable. Who knows maybe after you quit you will start a trend with your friends and they will learn from your example. I’m sure if they are really your friends they will understand not to bring cigerates around you. “After the 4th day my will power was strong enough to be around smokers though everyone is different.”
- Drinking liquor the first few days will bring on the sensation of wanting to smoke. Try to avoid the alcohol because usually they both tend to be mixed together and your more susceptible to say “oh well” if you are buzzing.
- Avoid stress if you can this may be impossible though keep it to a minimum if things get rough you can read some book on breathing techniques to relax.
- Avoid eating junk food and sodas eating crap will bring on the urges to smoke as you are not giving your body enough reason to stop.
- Do not try to justify that you will buy one more pack and quit later! This is the nicotine withdraw and you can’t let it get the best of you. Start thinking of all the reasons you should stop like getting cancer, breathing better, feeling better, food taste better, don’t smell like smoke, fresher mouth, more energy.
I didn’t say it was going to be easy all good things worth fighting for are never easy! Though i can tell you this maybe the most important thing you can do to fix your life is to “quit smoking for good!” When my grandmother found out i was smoking it broke her heart i remember that day and will never forget the 1st and last time i saw my grandmother cry. She was a really strong women and a health advocate for all things organic and pure so naturally this did not sit well with her.
My father was big into the pipe tobacco i remember those sundays he would have some friends over and i would be walking through a cloud of smoke. I lost my dad to cancer in 2003 what i would give for him to be here right now! Life is so fragile we are not immortal so be careful what you put into your body! Your body is sacred it is a temple.
You know every single ciggerate i ever smoked i always thought during that smoke break. Why am i doing this to myself?” “I am slowly killing myself!” I literally would feel bad every single time i smoked and you know? I’m glad i thought that way because knowing i had a problem was the first step towards beating the habit.