Question:
I have recently given up smoking but have gained six kilos in eight weeks. It's making me feel miserable. Can you help?
- Denise, Queensland
Answer:
Congratulations! - now you're only a couple of months away from feeling better than you would have believed possible: Especially if you follow this detox and quit smoking combo plan.
Many people substitute the oral addiction of smoking with the oral addiction of eating but you can turn the situation to your advantage and make the oral addiction of eating benefit your health and lose weight.
For every 20 cigarettes smoked in a day, you have 20 foods or drinks to substitute each cigarette with. You can't allow yourself to eat anything other than a food/drink from the list at the time you crave a cigarette and you must eat/drink all 20 from the list each day.
The list below is your checklist to carry around at all times to tick off the list as you eat through the day.
When you are eating/drinking you must also consider how long it took you to smoke a cigarette and make a conscious effort to take a similar length of time with each food/drink.
Food/drink
- Hot water with juice or ½ lemon
- Orange or apple
- Glass water x 8
- 2 sticks celery
- Red capsicum, 6 raw sliced
- Small plain low-fat yogurt and berries
- 2 dried apricots or 2 prunes
- 30g raw nuts
- Kiwi fruit or ½ cup berries
- Green tea
- Tomato
- Green salad / tabouleh / steamed vegies
Health benefits
At the end of each day you'll have consumed eight glasses of water (to help flush the systems of toxins). Five serves of vegetables, full of antioxidants to help kill the cell-damaging free radicals produced by pollution from cigarettes, two or more serves of fruit, for vitamin C, antioxidants and fibre and some calcium and nuts and low-fat yogurt for some good fat, protein and fibre.
Occupies your time and fills your stomach
The foods are all low in kilojoules and provided you take your time to eat them will have occupied the same time you used to dedicate to smoking.
Detox
Another advantage to eating the complete list each day is the feeling of body cleansing you're likely to experience. When you start to feel your body flushing out toxins you'll be less likely to want to eat high-fat or sugar-filled rubbish.
Additional foods
Of course you will need to eat other foods during the day and you can incorporate some of the foods with each meal (for example, yogurt and berries for dessert after dinner).
Foods that compliment the 20 quit food list include:
Wholegrain cereals crackers and bread, brown pasta, low-fat milk, yogurt and cottage cheese, lean meat, chicken breast, fresh and canned fish and eggs.
Exercise
Finally, one of the best ways to give up smoking and stay off the cigarettes is to get fit. When you smoke, the impact on your lung capacity and ability to exercise is radically reduced. Each day take yourself out to exercise. You may only start with 20 minutes moderate paced walking but, add to the intensity and time each day and build up strength and lung capacity. The extra energy you'll have is a reward much greater than the effort it took to do the exercise. You'll love the feeling and you'll love yourself for doing it.
