Now that you have quit smoking, you are probably experiencing some roadblocks to staying off cigarettes. Perhaps you are using food as a way to cope with the temptation to go back to smoking. Many ex-smokers have strong urges to eat more or to snack on high-fat and high-calorie foods, especially within the first few weeks after quitting. Perhaps you got used to having something in your mouth and in your hands at certain times of the day and in certain situations.
Now that you’ve quit, you may feel that something’s missing, and this feeling may be linked to the times and situations in which you used to smoke. Some of the extra snacking you may be doing might also be linked to feeling sad, frustrated, or stressed. Many people, whether they have ever smoked or not, tend to eat more when they feel low, jittery, or nervous.
As tough as some of these roadblocks are, there are ways to get past them. How? By planning ahead! We will ask you to identify your roadblocks to healthy eating that are specifically related to having recently quit smoking. Later on, we’ll deal with some more general roadblocks to healthy eating. For now, let’s focus on keeping you off cigarettes and making sure you are keeping your eating in check.
Key to Overcoming Roadblocks, Anticipation and Cleverness
In other part, there has been discussion about the importance of anticipating roadblocks and temptations as the key to managing or avoiding them. From your experience over the last few days tracking your eating habits, try to think about what challenges may lay ahead for you. If you anticipate and think cleverly about ways you can cope with your challenges, you should be able to get past them.
Below are some of the most common roadblocks for ex-smokers trying to make healthy eating choices. Tips follow for how to get past each one. Even if some of these don’t apply to you, you can still use the tips as starting points for your own strategies.
- Roadblock: Increased feelings of hunger and overeating.
“After quitting, I started feeling hungry more often and tended to eat more, especially at those times when I used to smoke.”
How to Get Past It: Know if you are really hungry. Slow down. Eat balanced meals.
Knowing If You are Really Hungry. A point to ponder as you work on making healthy eating choices is the difference between hunger and appetite. Hunger is based on your body’s need for food to give it energy. Appetite, on the other hand, is when you eat based on your emotions or other factors like time of day. Sometimes our body gives us signs of physical hunger, such as a rumbling stomach or fatigue or irritability.
But other times, the sights and smells around us trigger us to eat, even though we really aren’t hungry. Do you notice any patterns in your food diary? Maybe you tended to eat when you were frustrated or stressed. Maybe you ate more when you were bored and irritable. People commonly lose control over their eating at these times and frequently overeat or eat when they aren’t really hungry. Your eating style is part of a system of habits just as your smoking habit was. Sometimes these habits have become so ingrained that we don’t even realize what we are doing.
Next time you open the refrigerator for foods, ask yourself the following questions:
- Am I really hungry ?
- When was the last time I ate ?
- Would a snack do, or do I need a full meal ?
Make a list of five tasks you’ll do before eating anything to see if you are really hungry, you may not want a snack when you are done. For example, try taking a quick (2- or I 5-minute) walk (or longer), wash your face, stretch for a couple of minutes, file or paint your nails, or call a friend.
Slowing Yourself Down. In addition to considering whether you are really hungry before you eat, you may also want to find ways to slow down while in the process of eating. Try to chew your food more slowly. Try drinking water throughout each meal. It will slow you down and fill you up. Even after dinner, don’t linger at the table, get up and clean the kitchen or get indulged in some physical activity. Small steps like this will help you a lot.
