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.

Scientists have found that smokers generally weigh less than nonsmokers. Smoking may affect the amount and the types of food that people eat and how their body processes food, causing smokers to have a lower body weight. One of the physical reasons some people gain weight when they quit is because of changes in metabolism. Your metabolic rate is related to how your body burns calories. It regulates the processes by which your body gets its energy from food, which is vital to its overall function.

Smoking speeds up your metabolism. Here’s how it works: Nicotine, just one of the more than 4,000 chemicals in cigarettes, stimulates the central nervous system and other organs. In doing so, it increases the amount of energy you use up. Smoking increases your metabolic rate, so that you burn more calories. When you quit, your metabolic rate slows down to what it was before you started to smoke.

For the typical smoker trying to quit, changes in metabolism may result in a weight gain of 2 or 3 pounds. However, it is the increase in eating, particularly foods high in fat or sugar, that results in most of the weight gain that people experience. The good news is that we can help you with your physical activity and food choices to avoid or minimize this kind of weight gain.

One of the most effective ways to manage your weight after quitting is to increase your level of physical activity. Exercise increases metabolism, and even moderate levels of activity can help you burn fat and improve your overall health. Exercise also improves mood, so increases in physical activity such as walking, swimming, doing yard work or even taking the stairs instead of the- elevator in your workplace can help you stay positive and assist you in the quitting smoking process.

Often raising your level of activity can make a real difference. For example, one study we conducted showed that participating in a regular physical activity program reduced weight gain after quitting and actually increased the chances of quitting successfully. Another study showed that women who report little recreational physical activity have a greater chance of gaining weight after quitting than more active women do.

This is something you can work on before, during, and after you start to quit. Making small adjustments in your lifestyle will accelerate your progress toward your goal of better health, a longer life, and more energy to enjoy it. This way, physical activity can more easily become a part of your daily life and help keep you healthy and smoke-free.

Changes in Eating Style

Healthy eating habits play a key role in maintaining your weight or minimizing weight gain when you quit smoking. Sometimes people gain weight after quitting because of poor eating choices. That is, they simply eat more food, or eat foods that have a lot of fat or sugar. Without the foul taste of cigarettes in your mouth, food may taste and smell better, which could lead to extra helpings at the dinner table. You may also be prone to eating more between meals.

Snacking can easily become a substitute for smoking or a way of coping with cravings or stress. Current research indicates that while quitting, many smokers develop cravings for sweet foods, which may be high in calories, fat, and sugar. In fact, some scientists dunk that nicotine affects the level of blood sugar in the body so that nicotine withdrawal triggers an increased craving for sweet foods.

This includes learning how to eat in moderation and how to eat a variety of healthy foods that will give your body the fuel it needs. You may find that within two to three weeks after you stop smoking, the sharpest nicotine cravings will fade and you will have already started to develop healthy eating habits that can benefit you for the rest of your life.

You can replace a cigarette with healthy snacks and beverages to battle the urge to smoke. Just like smoking, eating is a habit too; no doubt you’ve become accustomed to eating certain foods. Some foods (chocolate, for example) are high in fat, sugar, and calories. So make sure that you’re well aware of the foods you eat and the beverages you drink so that your calories don’t creep up during the day.

There are no forbidden foods in a healthy eating plan, but some foods you will want to eat often, while others should be saved for special occasions. With this plan, there are no fads, crash diets, or fancy gourmet meals that take hours to prepare. Just sound, nutritional diet to help you quit smoking and manage your weight in the process.

Or maybe you’ve tried to start being more physically active, but simply couldn’t find the time. We can show you how to get past these kinds of barriers by planning ahead and finding ways to fit a brisk walk into your day, maybe even after dinner when you feel the temptation to smoke.

Planning ahead includes a close look at your reasons for wanting to make certain changes in your life. You may be concerned about your health and the dangers of smoking but are worried that you will gain weight if you quit. You may want to eat more balanced meals, but think they will take too much time to prepare. The process of identifying your reasons for wanting to change can help you see the difference between the things you can control and those you cannot.

Sometimes, the biggest obstacle to any kind of change is self-doubt, worrying about how hard it may be or making excuses for why it can’t happen now. Realizing your reasons for wanting to make changes in your life may be what convinces you to stop smoking and make other healthy decisions. And if you’re not sure how to begin to change your routine, we will take you through some exercises that can help get you on the right track.

Planning ahead also means looking at parts of your everyday life that might make it difficult to stop smoking. Habits become part of our daily routines and many times we don’t even realize we’ve developed them, which makes them difficult to break. The solution is to first recognize them. Understanding your eating habits, for example, knowing when you tend to overeat and how you feel when you do, can highlight opportunities for change. Being aware of the obstacles in your daily life will help you find ways around them or replace them with healthier choices.

For example, you can cope with cigarette cravings by eating healthy snack foods, such as fruit popsicles, graham crackers, or low-fat yogurts. The next time you are tempted to devour a bag of potato chips, you can decide ahead of time that you will stop and take a brisk walk before eating even one chip. In all likelihood you won’t go back to the chips because the craving will have passed. Managing your cravings is an important element of quitting smoking, and you can do it, as long as you plan ahead.

Barriers can also be overcome by simply removing temptations from your physical environment. Getting rid of the cigarettes and ashtrays in your home or office is an absolute must for avoiding the temptation to smoke. If you want to start increasing your level of physical activity, clear a corner of the living room where you can stretch, do breathing exercises or put that exercise equipment that has been gathering dust in the basement. Friends, family and co-workers can also help get you through the tough times, even those who are not very supportive at first. Start by informing everyone you know that you want to quit. People who don’t smoke will be happy to hear it and the smokers in your life will likely respect your choice. They may even want to try it themselves.

Planning healthy meals with friends, taking a yoga or dance class, playing soccer with the kids are all ways that you can fill the time you may have spent smoking with fun activities that are also good for your health. A nurturing and supportive environment to help kick start your health journey is a valuable asset when trying to make tough changes. We’ll give you some advice on how to gain the support of your friends and family if you aren’t sure where to begin.

We will go further into the process of identifying your obstacles to success and providing simple, practical tips for how to get past them. Rewards are a big part of the plan and give you something to look forward to. Each time you get past a hurdle or reach a milestone, celebrate your success by buying that new pair of shoes you always wanted, going out to the movies, or letting yourself sleep in for a change.