Sazerac

Breathing is better and the anxiety associated with nicotine addiction is evaporating. Yay you. Protect this beautiful quit of yours.

Congratulations, Raj ! Really great to hear from you. I am so happy you are having a beautiful free life. Please keep in touch, we love you. S

Bump for our fabulous newbies who are stronger and more powerful than any damn crave or smoky thought.

Distract yourself anyway you can and as soon as you can. Breathe really deep and find some beauty to view or imagine. Replace any smoky thought with something marvelous. Soon, this will be automatic. We can train our brain to return to working for us and not nicotine. You won't be having smoky thoughts forever, Believe us ! It is just the early days ... it drove me crazy. I would holler, FREE YOUR HEAD !!! You know smoking was always in our thoughts. Every 10-20 minutes or so we were crashing from the high and needed more Nicotine. We never really comprehended this because we always fed the addiction. Now, we need to replace that junkie signal with something nice, something sweet, something beautiful. Hang in there....you have a great quit going. Nurture yourself. Reward yourself. S

Hey blur, Thanks for keeping in touch. I really appreciate your honesty. Quitting an addictive substance can be seriously challenging, we all know that. The reason we are successful quitters is because we educated ourselves about addiction and kept a commitment to ourselves to never have another puff ever. You can quit, blur, this isn't rocket science. There is no reason to beat yourself up about relapsing or having trouble quitting. It is time to pick yourself up and start respecting your decisions, start being kind and generous to yourself. Start using your power. You will make yourself really happy, baby. No kidding. I would suggest reading or listening to Alan Carr on youtube here and watching a TON of Joel's videos here. These men help a lot of people have successful quits by teaching them about addiction and leading them to a clearer mind space. Try this one, especially if you are thinking of torturing yourself by cutting back to three smokes a day Quitting by Gradual Withdrawal I have every confidence in you, blur, to quit smoking. You will quit when you want to quit more than you want to smoke and I hope you come to that decision as soon as you can. Freedom is delicious. S p.s. Cold turkey DOES WORK. NRT's work also. There is no wrong way to quit. Cold Turkey was the simplest, quickest and the best FOR ME but, if I didn't WANT to quit , nothing would have worked.

bump

Congratulations Linda ! You quit smoking ! The next 20 will get easier, I promise. Stay close to the board and let us know how you are doing ! Please reward yourself ! This is an important part of re-training your brain.

Congratulations Grund on your Year of FREEDOM ! Celebrate wildly ! The following years will be a sweet breeze !

Bump

This thread is also here in Exercising and Healthy Living. Rozuki found it (thank you). Bat suggested Ice Cream, obviously nurturing the inner human, as one must. BAT Location: My Bat Mobile Quit Date: 16 JAN 2014 Posted December 4, 2014 You forgot Ice Cream

For our fabulous newbies.

10 Foods To Keep Your Lungs Strong And Healthy • Pistachios provide a type of vitamin E, Gama-tocopherol, a defense against various types of lung cancer. • Cayenne Pepper, effective at fighting and diminishing cough and sore throat. Provides support against cold and flu. Try a concoction of hot water, honey, lemon juice, cayenne. Effective for people suffering from bronchial congestion and respiratory ailments, breaking down congested mucus. • Broccoli, high in antioxidants, containing NRF-2 dependent characteristics and is among the best green foods for lungs. It is beneficial for people suffering from COPD. • Carrots, a source of vitamins A and C. Vitamin A influences the health of your lungs. Carrots also contain lycopene, zeaxanthin, and lutein which are powerful cancer-fighting agents. * Vitamin C helps get rid of many lung disorders. • Onions contain quercetin, a natural anti-oxidant. Research has shown that this anti-oxidant helps prevent lung cancer and many other lung diseases. Vitamins B6 and C that provide self-healing power to the body. • Oranges contain vitamins B6 and C and iron which help the lungs transfer oxygen to cells more effectively, contains anti-oxidant, beta-cryptoxanthin, good for lung health. • Fish are a rich source of vitamin D. Insufficient levels of Vitamin D may lead to loss of lung function. Fish also contains high levels of Omega-3 fatty acids which provide a boost to the entire body. These fatty acids also act as a shield against lung cancer. • Red wine, a source of resveratrol, an anti-oxidant and helps get rid of free radicals which are the main cause of cancer. Eating a food rich in anti-oxidants provides your lungs with extra protection against diseases and disorders. Red wine contains pteristilbene which catalyzes the job of resveratrol, providing benefits more efficiently. • Walnuts, a vegetarian sources of fatty Omega-3 acids. Walnuts help fight against asthma and other ailments related to respiration. One serving of a handful of walnuts daily is recommended. * Here is a link to 'Tomatoes May Restore Lung Damage'

Congratulations on EIGHT days nicotine free, Christa. You are rockin' this quit. Stay focused and vigilant and alert to any red flags that may pop up.

Congratulations on your first Two Months of Freedom, Tammy. We are all so proud of you and so happy you have shared your quit with everyone. Thank you. S

bump

Here is a thread about how we got through the first weeks please add your own tricks Your First Days Nicotine Free

You have made myself and a whole lot of people very happy with your decision to quit smoking because we know how great it is to be free of nicotine ! You will be amazed at your inner strength and your power ! and this will affect all portions of your life in a beautiful way. Take each moment at a time....each crave is just another opportunity for you to acknowledge and expose your power. Commit to NOPE and you will succeed. I know the first days/weeks/months will have their challenges but, it will all be worth it, I promise you. Post all of your feelings and thoughts...others will get great inspiration from you. Thank you so much for joining us, now, breathe the nice clean air and treat yourself to something special. You have just made one of the best decisions in your life. Love, S

Hello Blur, You communicate very well ! To have a successful quit you must educate yourself about nicotine addiction. Read all you can here and everywhere and watch all the gory movies. Commit to NOPE Not One Puff Ever You may find this thread helpful 10 Ways to Effectively Use This Forum I look forward to your presence here and will help you in anyway I can. We all will.

YAY ! I am so relieved to see your post, Linda. Go reward yourself for the incredible work you are doing for yourself. Make it something really, really special. Special enough so you remember it. 'This is my reward for beating an unruly and gruesome crave'

You don't have one good reason to smoke. Not ONE. You can power through any crave because you are not a smoker anymore. Read, Scream, Dance Do anything but smoke. You don't have one good reason to blow your quit. Celebrate your 18/19 days...reward yourself ! You quit smoking ! That is awesome, Linda!

There is debate on whether caffeine is addictive but, it changes your brain in much the same way as nicotine and the way I over indulged would signal an addiction. Quitting caffeine was gruesome physically/emotionally for two weeks and now I don't really care about it. Quitting nicotine was not physically gruesome but, it took more than a year to re-claim my thoughts and that was often a serious wrangle in which I was determined to triumph. Other drugs, psychotropics-amphetamines-soporifics, I did socially but, they never grabbed me. Oh wait....I did two weeks of Xanax when on a visit to my Mother and Evil Sisters. (ignorant of X's addictive properties) Quit cold turkey when I got home. That was fcuked up...awful, anxiety ridden crash. I found out later that you aren't supposed to cold turkey with X, you're supposed to Valium through. (and then de-tox from V ? ) The Blessed Herb is still my friend, but, I can put it down no problem and I'm not partaking in Demon Rum because of BP issues. but, hey don't mess with me ! I will have to kill myself if I can no longer sniff underwear.

Hello Niecie ! Congratulations on your quit ! There are many QSMB'ers here and they are awesome. Please jump right in and post to your hearts content, let us know if you need assistance of any kind.

Hi Tammy, I am so glad you have quit smoking and are beginning to really appreciate your freedom, your 'feel good' endorphins are starting to work for YOU and not being stolen by nicotine. Please remember to reward yourself ! Read this, if you will, The Significance of Rewards Please celebrate every crave you beat ! Soon, all this will be a memory and a memory that you will be able to harvest many lessons that will help you in all areas of your life. p.s. I hope you and yours stay safe during the monsoons ! The news and weather reports from your part of the world have been worrisome.

This morning, a Caterpillar leaning backwards on a Gardenia stem and will hang from its tail to become a chrysalis. Not sure yet of the butterfly it will become, right now it is eating itself into a coma.