The Giving Up Smoking Thread - Part 3

determined_new_ms

Kiwisaver wrote: »

Quit rage busters

Things you can do or add to your diet to combat stress.

Lettuce - contains a natural sedative
Red Onions - contain an antioxidant called quercetin which is calming
Milk and dairy products - contain natural opiates
Eat some Starchy carbohydrates with your lunch - brown rice, pasta, jacket potatoes (with skins on) all create seratonin
Suck half a teaspoon of honey - stimulates seratonin in the brain within five minutes
Warm your hands - when we are stress apparently our hands go cold, so sit on them for a wee while
Stimulate the acupressure point between your first and second toe - press ten times

The perfect calming meal is apparently chicken fajitas (yum my favourite) with rice (preferably Brown). Make then with wholewheat tortillas, red onion, red and yellow peppers, lettuce, some grated cheese and sour cream - to get the full benefit.

Will add some more later.

Thanks kiwi that's fantastic and very thoughful of you :A

when I was an undergrad (and under a lot of stress what with studying & the kids) my mil gave me this article about eating for health with foods for the brain, for stress etc and it was really helpful - I wished I'd kept it!

slugger09

Hi guys, things haven't worked out the way I have planned. I have ended up being a part time smoker and am finding it impossible to get over the final hurdle, I have been trying to quit completely since January and am no further forward. The problem is I don't smoke during the week, infact I find it easy not to smoke during the week, its at the stage now where I don't even think about smoking during the week, the old triggers are gone. But come a Friday night I start again, I can't blame alcohol as I don't drink on a Friday night, I think its because its the start of the weekend, work finished for another week, time to relax, I think one of my biggest triggers might be happiness if that makes sense, I am just so happy to be finished work I say sod it and start smoking, I don't even want a fag but its habit , this continues on until Sunday night when I go of them again

CompBunny

slugger09 wrote: »

Hi guys, things haven't worked out the way I have planned. I have ended up being a part time smoker and am finding it impossible to get over the final hurdle, I have been trying to quit completely since January and am no further forward. The problem is I don't smoke during the week, infact I find it easy not to smoke during the week, its at the stage now where I don't even think about smoking during the week, the old triggers are gone. But come a Friday night I start again, I can't blame alcohol as I don't drink on a Friday night, I think its because its the start of the weekend, work finished for another week, time to relax, I think one of my biggest triggers might be happiness if that makes sense, I am just so happy to be finished work I say sod it and start smoking, I don't even want a fag but its habit , this continues on until Sunday night when I go of them again

I'm new to quitting smoking, this is only our third full day, but until someone more experienced gets here don't beat yourself up! You have done really well to give it up during the week:T This is a final hurdle which you are obviously finding difficult but you can do it! Have you thought of replacing relaxing with a cigarette with something else? I had a lovely candlelit bath this morning to take the edge off things and it really helped, as does going for lots of walks, but thats just me.

I'm sure someone will be along with some good advice soon!

cleggie

Hi all, i hope you dont mind me posting here? I have just found this thread and wanted to say a huge well done for quitting smoking for those of you who have.
I quit in August last yr, so have just hit the 6 and a half month mark...i can, hand on heart, tell youall that it was the BEST thing i have ever done for myself.
I feel so much healthier now, especially in the last 2 months, there is a REALLY noticeable difference! I have saved a small (or not so small) fortune which i paid off one of my smaller debts with too!!

Well done everyone, and keep going!

cleggie

slugger09 wrote: »

Hi guys, things haven't worked out the way I have planned. I have ended up being a part time smoker and am finding it impossible to get over the final hurdle, I have been trying to quit completely since January and am no further forward. The problem is I don't smoke during the week, infact I find it easy not to smoke during the week, its at the stage now where I don't even think about smoking during the week, the old triggers are gone. But come a Friday night I start again, I can't blame alcohol as I don't drink on a Friday night, I think its because its the start of the weekend, work finished for another week, time to relax, I think one of my biggest triggers might be happiness if that makes sense, I am just so happy to be finished work I say sod it and start smoking, I don't even want a fag but its habit , this continues on until Sunday night when I go of them again

Hi Slugger,
do you have any hobbies? Do you go to the gym? Maybe its better for you just to change your Friday night routine a bit, so you get out of that "its friday night i'll have a ciggie" mindset? I know i found Friday nights really hard when i quit. As soon as i sat on the sofa i instantly wanted a ciggie, so i didnt sit on the sofa on a Friday night for a few weeks and hey presto that craving disappeared.

Sue-UU

Your stats read a whole lot better now Kiwi - very well done indeed too!! :T:j:T


Those tips are wonderful, Kiwi, keep on coming up with them if you can, please as not only will they help us here, but all onlookers too. I'm taking great notice myself - especially with the Fajitas - we LOVE em! Re the coldness of the hands, it also applies to the feet - the areas furthest from our hearts - if you can warm all the arms/hands/legs/feet then we're warm everywhere. :heartsmil


Marvellous news for you and your husband, hardworkingmum40!!! :j:jYou'll soon get to feel much better with the grouchiness, some of it could be a little due to Champix, but a lot may just be because your body (especially your head) is readjusting. All best wishes to your husband and certainly to you both on getting your lives back!!!


Hi again slugger, it's great to see you back! You've done brilliantly and achieved so very much, I mean it!!:T:T Now, try hard to change things round from the moment work ends on Friday; a different way home, walking/cycling home instead of by car or doing something else in town/park. Going to the swimming pool/gym, a club anything before actually going back home. Even going to a cafe for a cuppa/restaurant for a meal cheap or what you can afford. You are SO close :eek: it's almost ridiculous, but it's not as, believe it or not, I can identify so well with the feeling happiness you're having problems with. DH & I were both born and bred in The New Forest and whenever we used to go back up for the day or a camping holiday I always smoked far more up ...from the moment we hit the boundaries there :j....to the time we left again !!! To my mind that's you too!

Yes, after I quit I got over it, after umpteen bags of mints later! As soon as we hit the same place I use to pop a mint in (everton mints), no it was nothing like a fag, but at least it was 'that something' I'd been looking for. The mints I had were always at the places where I used to light up! Then we also used to go a different way there and that too made it far easier - as you say it is habit!!! Find your 'something' slugger and you too could soon be seeing your weekends free of fags! I made it and that was over 12 year ago. I'm now free of fags and MINTS!!! Work differently around your weekends totally, slugger, different drinks/foods and whole different routines as the further away from routine you get, the better it'll be. Clear of out for a really long walk as soon as you get home - or as soon as you leave work. Stay in the garden doing little jobs instead of going indoors - think your way round it all. You've managed your weeks terrifically, but in order to be free inside form all that fags do to us, you need to give it up. Drag up a hobby you loved doing or find a new one so that in a sense you're 'working'. For now though...be so terribly proud of the distance you've come, it's still a great accomplishment, truly!!!

You're more than welcome to post, cleggie, apart from it doing you good, it's a great moral booster for everyone here so we love to hear from folk like yourself. Very many congratulations on having come half way through half a year with quitting!!! :T:T:T:TYou've done so very, very well, and I can almost hear that great pride at how well you feel an how proud you are at achieving the ultimate!!! :DThanks so very much indeed or coming on, cleggie, it's so much appreciated and I'll close my post quoting the words below, they're brilliant, thank you! I see we have the same train of though re slugger too, well done!

I'm ending with cleggie's words as they say so very much. Take note folks as this will be you soon enough.

>>>"I can, hand on heart, tell you all that it was the BEST thing I have ever done for myself. I feel so much healthier now, especially in the last 2 months, there is a REALLY noticeable difference! I have saved a small (or not so small) fortune which I paid off one of my smaller debts with too!!"<<<

Bon Voyage folks....you CAN do this too!

Sue x

slugger09

Thanks all for your help, so this Friday I need to change my routeen a bit, I've got all week to work out how I'm gonna do it and figure out what exactly it is thats triggering me of every Friday

jammy_dodger

hope evryone is having a fine weekend , i have thankfully been off this weekend and have put my time to good use so though i have fleeted in here havent posted , great stats from folk ,my how the time is flying in and am looking forward to march approaching and the lighter nights
have been out in the fine fresh air the whole day dismantling a shed of all things in this very strong wind , my DD says i should move the house furniture about like normal folk not decide the shed needs re positioning ..but it does , and i am looking forard to it being put back together in its rightful place but am not off for a while so it can stay wher it is for now

anyway glad to see so many doing well , slugger you will have to let us know what your plans are to stay fag free over the weekend , i used to smoke so much more hwen i was away camping as i was happy i took a hobby which i enjoyed at home with me and that offered welcome distraction it is a case of losing those associations with a temporary change of routine
theres load am sure you can do we wish you well YOU CAN DO THIS

jd xx

CompBunny

Just checking in...

My partner has found today particularly difficult I think. He feels queasy and has had to take his patch off because he thinks it could be the cause which sounds right.

We have both been having a lot of cravings today. Its like we haven't been able to catch a "proper breath" for days, which defies all logic because the truth is our lungs are breathing air for the first time in years instead of poison! We have tried some deep breathing this evening (which made us crave more bizarrely) and haven't known what to do with ourselves really. Trying to keep busy, but feeling a little sorry for ourselves!

But on the positive side, we haven't given in to temptation and I haven't been throwing anything around!!

determined_new_ms

hey compbunny just wanted to say yo & ur oh are doing terrifically you'll find there are good & bad days and that's just the way it goes sometimes - I found the first 3 days the hardest and then after that it comes & it goes the longer it is since I have smoked the less I think about it. Have you guys been walking? It really does help and gives you and ur oh some time to chat about everything and nothing & laugh away! x