Enjoy Meals After Quitting Smoking

What to Expect After Quitting Smoking

After quitting tobacco many smokers and ex-smokers have a strong urge to smoke a cigarette after eating a meal. There are even degrees of urges after quitting tobacco. Some smoking urges may be stronger for different meals (breakfast, lunch, or dinner) or the type of food you eat (snack food, greasy, etc) can affect the smoking urges you have after a meal.

After quitting tobacco, expect to have cravings and urges to smoke after meals. Plan on how you will handle the craving when it comes. Have a piece of gum ready or brush your teeth right after eating. If you are eating out at a restaurant, expect the urge to smoke when you smell cigarette smoke. Wait the urge to smoke out, it will pass.

In order to be successful after quitting tobacco you need to be able to manage your cigarette cravings after finishing a meal. Know what kind of foods increase your urge to smoke and stay away from them. List them in your cravings journal and write down ways you are going to handle the craving.

Here are a few possible suggestions of activities you can do upon finishing a meal. Go for a walk after eating to take your mind off smoking or brush your teeth or use mouthwash right after you finish a meal. Wash the dishes by hand after eating – you can’t smoke with wet hands.

Keep this in mind when you quit smoking, nicotine stops hunger pains in your stomach for about an hour, nicotine also increases your blood sugar level. When you quit smoking, this is reversed. When we eat or smoke we are meeting certain needs (relaxation, time out, stimulation, pampering, comfort, or socialization), so when you quit smoking you may increase the amount of food you eat in order to continue to meet these needs. And because nicotine enhances the taste of sweeter foods, after you quit smoking you may find that food tastes better, and you may have a bigger appetite. Eat healthy foods like fruits and vegetables and stay away from the foods that make you want to smoke.

Quitting Smoking Key Point

Once you pinpoint high-risk situations that trigger the urge to smoke, you can begin to handle such situations. Eating and drinking are often very important triggers. Nicotine cravings may be reduced by using nicotine replacement products, which deliver small, steady doses of nicotine into the body.

Nicotine cravings may be reduced by using nicotine replacement products, which deliver small, steady doses of nicotine into the body. Nicotine replacement products such as, nicotine patches, nicotine gum, and nicotine lozenges, appear to be equally effective.

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