I can smell again

It has now been quite sometime since I quit smoking using candy. I still need to lose a few pounds, but I don't even let the thought of a cigarette enter my head. 

I am now able to taste food more than before as smoking burns your taste buds.I can now smell more too as it is not doing the same in my nose. I have never appreciated a good perfume as much as I do these days. 

Good luck on your journey to quitting smoking and heightening your senses of small and taste to how God intended.

Is Cranberry Juice really a miracle quit smoking tool?

It is now day 4 in the morning and I am wondering why everyone says quitting smoking is so hard. I have an urge to smoke (possibly because there is no sugar in me yet) so I have just pored a glass of cranberry juice and started chewing gum. I jut let the cravings sit there and then pass away, I don't start fretting about it.

I'm not sure whether it is the cranberry juice or not but I really haven't struggled quitting smoking so far. Day 3 is supposed to be the worst, but it wasn't an issue. I even managed to have a couple of beers last night which I thought could be hard. It wasn't so bad.

Besides the cranberry juice so far I have kept busy (cycled 8 miles yesterday), avoided too much work (bought and played on a video game a lot yesterday), snacked (a lot) and just keep in mind the one reason to quit smoking (avoiding a long, drawn out premature death filled with suffering e.g. lung cancer).

I've not done massive amounts or reading online but I think the general consensus is that day 3/4 is when the nicotine leaves the body and cravings peak. Then after 2 weeks things should really improve. Along the way I should notice things like easier breathing which will help keep motivated.

One more thing - before quitting I bought some cheap knock-off cigarettes. They were horrific and I feel like I have a very minor sore throat from them. So perhaps trying to replicate this with very strong cigs or even cigars could be a helping factor too? I can feel a little something in my throat which just helps me reinforce the fact that I shouldn't be smoking when I get the urge to.

Introduction to the Healthy Smoker

Like many people who smoke I would love to be healthier but just don't have the inclination to quit right now. I have for years said I'll quit one day but that day never comes. I have quit once but then started again on holiday. I know I am doing major harm to my body but have decided to see if there is anything I can do to help combat the effects of smoking on the body.

There will certainly be nothing to cancel out the terrible effects of smoke on the body. One day I hope to quit but in the meantime this blog will record my progress with research into whether there is anything which can help in the meantime. So far a quick scan online brought up a few vitamin supplements which may help. I will be looking deeply into these and posting links to any medical studies which offer any proof.

This site will not contain any remedies to help quit or advice like "cutting down is best". This is for people like me who are addicted to smoking cigarettes and wish to try and reduce harmful effects in any way. If you do wish to quit there are tonnes of sites to help out there. I have heard that hypnosis for smoking is a cheap method if you really want to quit. One friend has used a CD from Self Hypnosis UK for this which can be found at www.selfhypnosisuk.com if you are interested