9 Healthy Tips to Help You Quit Smoking

Are you planning to quit smoking as your New Year's resolution?  Get a head start with today's article. Quitting smoking can be a complicated and often frustrating endeavor, but with some good advice and helpful tips it can be made much easier. Remember that when you become aware of and in touch with your body, it will be much easier to drop unhealthy habits - your body will really start telling you when you're doing something that is bad for it. Here are some tips on how to stop smoking naturally - without resorting to drugs which may have all kinds of unwanted side effects, and even introduce extra toxins into your body.

Image via Wikipedia1. Know why you want to quit. It's very important to identify what you want to accomplish with quitting - is it because someone else thinks you should? Is it for financial reasons? Maybe you are concerned for your physical health or the health of your family. Whatever your reason is, identify it and own it. Remembering why you are quitting can help you when you come to difficult points in the process.

2. Go cold-turkey. Nicotine clears from your system within a couple of days, so if you continue smoking off and on, you are still keeping your body from cleaning all the gunk and toxins out, and you are sustaining the addiction. If you absolutely can't see going totally without right away, see the next tip.

3. If you must, use nicotine substitutes like patches or gum. (Don't use these at the same time as smoking, however.) Some people find the gum especially helpful as it gives their mouths something to do, also helping with the psychological aspect of the habit, and is particularly helpful after meals.

4. Consider electronic cigarettes as part of your quitting regimen. Many people find these provide the oral satisfaction of smoking and the visual effect of the smoke itself. But it's harmless water vapor that is produced.

5. Get support from family and friends. There is nothing quite like a friend or family member "cheerleading" you on and helping you over the humps. Make sure you have at least one person who will hold you accountable - someone you can call when you have a craving who will come over and take you for a walk, for example.

6. Get support from your doctor, too. Let them know you are quitting, and he or she can encourage your efforts with regular check-ups that will show improved lung and heart function, providing ongoing motivation.

7. Exercise to ward off cravings. Remember the friend or family member who is going to take you for a walk when you get a craving? This is a good idea. Get a bike, join a gym, learn a martial art, get a treadmill - whatever it takes so that when you have a craving you can jump into the exercise. This will also help offset any weight gain you think you might experience as you try to quit.

Image by Jimmy Jack Kane via Flickr8. Avoid environments where there are other smokers, and where you used to smoke. If you used to hang out and smoke at your neighborhood bar, don't go there anymore. This doesn't mean you can't go out - just find a new place that your brain does not associate with smoking.

9. Eat lots of fruits and vegetables. This is not only good for you, but it is said that the fruits and veggies will actually make the cigarettes taste worse. They will also help your body flush out the toxins from smoking.

10. BONUS TIP: Get a good quit-smoking book or program with a proven track record. Often these can help you learn to deal with the psychological cravings, and handle the other effects you may experience when quitting. A couple of excellent resources are Alan Carr's "The Easy Way to Stop Smoking" (this book gets great reviews and has an excellent success rate - I personally know of several people who have quit using this book), and "The Secret to Stop Smoking," by Dr. Scott Rosiere.