If you’re reading this health blog and you smoke, chances are you’ve thought more than once about how to quit! Smoking cigarettes is highly addictive; although everyone experiences addiction differently (and some may have certain genetic immunity or susceptibility to it), almost everyone is prone to develop an addiction to nicotine—it begins rewiring your brain with the first stick.
There are numerous health risks to smoking—although death is most often cited, if you’ve ever met someone who’s survived the more intense side-effects of nicotine (mouth, tongue, throat cancers), you know it’s not pretty either way.
If you’re looking for how to quit smoking, then consider these two new options:
Eat more fruits and vegetables! Eating a healthy diet, and fruits and vegetables in particular, may be the key to how to quit smoking. One study found that those trying to quit who increased their consumption of produce were more likely to be successful. Dairy products and produce make the cigarette taste worse, whereas fattier foods and alcohol make them taste better. Easy changes to make until you feel comfortable without a cigarette!
If you’ve already tried everything when it comes to how to quit smoking, then you may want a more extreme measure. An upcoming vaccine promises to teach the liver to create antibodies against nicotine which will stop it reaching the brain, which can help to create a disassociation between smoking and the physical effects some people like about it. (Note—the researchers hope to someday use the vaccine as preventative, which seems highly unnecessary, and perhaps unethical in the context of requiring children to have it).
What are your best tips for how to quit smoking? Share below!
