Good Morning!
This month we will be keeping tabs on your New Years Resolutions, in
order to empower you, help you to stay on track and give you some
great tips for keeping your promise to yourself.
Empowering Resolutions: Stop Smoking and Nutritional Advise
Often, when people are trying to quit smoking, they use food as an alternative addiction. Unfortunately, it is the wrong foods that seem to fill that need or craving. This includes too much sweets, too much salt and an excess of empty calories.
The need to replace the oral and tactile fixation can result in you picking up (and eating) the wrong foods, which are calorie rich and nutritionally void of what you need.
I often recommend to my patients that they use either rou gui or gui zhi sticks. Rou gui and gui zhi are the bark and twig respectively from the Cinnamomum cassia tree. Cinnamon sticks sold in grocery stores are usually also Cinnamomum cassia bark which is either much younger than rou gui or has the rough exterior scraped off. They are often far more inferior in their medicinal grade than the Chinese version. These barks and twig work as a tactile substitute when you need something to fiddle with. Chewing on this herb works well for treating the oral fixation and helps regulate blood sugar.
Having a bag of carrot sticks or celery sticks at the ready can also help with the need to touch and chew on something. Carrots are slightly sweet and celery is water dense. The crisp of the vegetables also helps with the need to want to crunch on something.
I also recommed 1 - 2 glasses of fiber a day. Drinking your fiber is a good way to get your daily dose and the water helps to keep you full.
Water should be a very important part of any nutritional program. 6-8
8 ounces per day. Water allows for the cleansing and hydrating of the
system. It is also filling and a good substitute for soda or sugar-
laden drinks. Although it may seem counterintuitive, drinking water
helps you burn fat. Studies have shown that a decrease in water
intake, will cause fat deposits to increase. Without water, the
kidneys cannot effectively filter out the waste products and other
chemicals which build up in the bloodstream and interfere with the
liver's ability to metabolize fat. As a result, you become more
likely to store fat and less likely to burn it.
Smoking dries out your internal organs. When your body is low in
water, you retain pockets of salt and water under the skin, as a
defense mechanism. For your body does not know when it will get its
next drink. This stored water and salt under the skin will create a
puffiness and looks like fat. Drink plenty of distilled water or low
sodium water and avoid high- sodium foods.
The FDA recommends limiting your intake of fat to 65 grams per day.
By safely and carefully selecting your foods so that your fat
consumption is about 30 grams per day, you can see a significant
amount of weight loss, depending on your body mass index.
Your body expends a certain amount of calories upon digestion.
Proteins are burned at the highest rate-20-25%, Carbohydrates 8-10%,
and Fats only about 2%. This is known as the Thermic Effect of Food.
This fact cannot be stressed enough: EAT five or six small meals a
day will prevent hunger pangs, provide constant energy, increase your
metabolic efficiency, improving your fat losing abilities and
decrease your risk of heart attack.
Consume lean sources of protein such as skinless white meat poultry
or fish, with fibrous water rich vegetables such as string beans,
tomatoes, cucumbers. Protein shakes or meal replacement bars work
well as one of your small meals. Be aware of the carbohydrates in
most bars and shakes for they can be extremely high. Medium to low
amounts of carbs 2-14 grams a bar is sufficient.
Reducing fat in the diet is an important component for smoking
cessation. As we stop the nicotine, we desire something to replace
the oral cravings. Foods with a high proportion of calories from fat
should be eliminated or limited in the diet; these include red meat,
poultry skins, dark poultry meat, fried foods, butter, margarine,
cheese, milk (except skim milk), junk foods, and most processed
foods. Vegetable oils should also be restricted, as should nuts,
seeds, and avocados (although these foods are healthful for people
who have no weight problem). Instead, the diet should be based on
fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and non-fat dairy products (and low-
fat fish for non-vegetarians).
Hydrogenated oils are very bad, for two reasons. First reason is that
hydrogenated fats are saturated fats, and saturated fats raise total
cholesterol and LDL cholesterol. Second reason is that hydrogenation
also produces what are called "trans" fatty acids. Although these are
unsaturated, with one double bond, they act the same as saturated
fats. Some margarines are now available without trans fatty acids,
these are better. a lot of convenience foods are made with
hydrogenated fat, like cookies, crackers, etc.
Avoid artificial sweeteners and synthetic fat substitutes and the
foods made with them. They are unhealthy and not conducive to the
kind of good eating habits you need to form in order to slim down and
stay that way. Stevia is a natural sweetener that is 300 times
sweeter than sugar but contain NO calories. It is also safe for
people with diabetes and hypoglycemics.
Eating adequate amounts of fiber is believed to be important for
individuals wishing to stop smoking. Fiber contains bulk and tends to
produce a sense of fullness, which allows people to consume fewer
calories. Different types of dietary fiber are available from a
variety of sources, and the amount recommended depends on the kind
being used.
Juice Therapy is an excellent way to get your fruits and vegetable
fresh and in their natural form. Blending fruits and/or vegetables
into a great juice creation or smoothie can be an excellent snack or
meal replacement. Consider Andrew's great juice and smoothie recipes!
What You Should Avoid:
What you don't eat may be even more important than what you do eat.
Avoid alcohol, caffeine and sugar, because they tend to accumulate in
the system. If you can't avoid them, then at least cut down.
Reduce or Avoid Caffeine: Caffeine is something many people in
America and Europe are used to bringing in their daily lives. Though
many studies have shown that this addictive stimulant can help
produce symptoms of anxiety, insomnia and the like. Caffeine is found
in coffee, tea, chocolate, many sodas and even certain medications.
Always ask your doctor about a medication before using it. Also, ask
the doctor if there is an alternative medication if your medicine
contains caffeine.
Reduce Processed and Refined Foods:
Processed food can rob your food of nutrients and vitamins that your
body needs to fight off stress and promote good health. Try to buy
whole foods, unprocessed foods and try and stay away from "instant"
foods, preservatives, artificial flavors, saturated fat and MSG.
Reduce Sugar Intake:
Too much sugar can rob our body of essential nutrients. Yet don't be
so fast as to replace the sugar with Stevia the natural sweetener
from the Stevia plant. Artificial sweetener can also cause anxiety as
well as other health concerns.
Reduce Alcohol Intake:
In small amounts, alcohol can be good for your heart but too much
alcohol is not a good thing for your body and too large of an intake
increases your body's need for extra vitamins. The body has a harder
time using oxygen. As a result, you can become more sensitive to
stress - which in turn can cause anxiety reactions. It can also cause
depression.
The Effects of Alcohol on the Body:
How does alcohol contribute to toxicity? Research has shown that
alcohol ín high doses has numerous health hazards. As well as many
other things ít can: increase your need for extra vitamins due to
disturbed eating patterns interfere with the body's ability to use
oxygen, to process food & absorb vitamins. As a Result: High alcohol
consumption makes you more sensitive to stress.
Chronic abuse of alcohol ís often associated with depression-like
symptoms, which can reduce the ability to solve problems, which ín
turn can lead to anxiety. Excessive alcohol consumption can lead to
poor work performance, relationship difficulties & financial
difficulties. This can produce stressors that worsen the situation.
Andrew Pacholyk, MS, L.Ac
http://peacefulmind.com/stop_smoking.htm
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