11/02/2015 / By David Rice
There are 45,000,000 million American smokers who will light up at least one cigarette per hour (every hour!) today. Each of those 45 billion cigarettes– an average at least 10 smokes a day per person–contains chemical insecticide meant to kill worms and beetles in the tobacco fields. Each one of those 45 billion cigarettes burning at 1700 degrees during the inhale contains tiny shards of glass known as glass wool that escape the filter and enter the smokers mouth, throat, windpipe and lungs, creating tiny tears in their epithelial soft tissue and helping cancer develop over time. Every single commercial and domestic Big Tobacco cancer stick contains cellulose acetate, a form of flammable and toxic plastic that helps the cigarette burn evenly and not go out in heavy wind. Ever noticed? And lastly, each domestic “cig” contains ammonia, that’s used to turn the nicotine into a volatile dose of over 100 milligrams that enters the body as a VAPOR instead of just floating in on tobacco particles, and in this sense relieves the smoker of his/her hangover from the last cigarette that contained 7,000 chemicals, mainly pesticides. The nicotine is the smoker’s ONLY RESCUE from the nightmare of going all day without smoking, or so they would have you believe.
Walk up to a smoker, tell them you’re doing a survey on cancer prevention, and ask them if they will tell you why they haven’t quit smoking yet, and this is what you will find:
#1. I simply don’t know how to quit (I’ve tried to quit, but nothing works).
#2. My job is too stressful!
#3. Because I enjoy it.
#4. Quitting is too hard, especially the first two weeks.
#5. Every time I try to quit smoking I put on weight.
#6. It’s too depressing to quit.
#7. I get too anxious without them.
#8. It makes me cough too much when I don’t have my menthols.
#9. The medication made my anxiety worse.
#10. It takes too many nicotine patches to have the same effect as a cigarette.
#11. How would I get a break at work without smoking?
#12. If everyone around me smokes, like family, how will I get away from it?
#13. I always have to be doing something – It’s a hand-to-mouth habit.
#14. I’m a social smoker, does that even count as being a smoker statistically?
#15. Nothing’s really scared me into stopping yet.
Let’s take a quick look at #1, summarize the issues–why so many methods fail, and then consider ONE METHOD that has a 95% success rate for getting smokers to quit cigarettes and live smoke free for good. Most people who smoke at least a pack of cigarettes per day have tried to quit at some point in their smoking “career,” but unfortunately returned to smoking, mainly because quitting involves combining several strategies and behavioral modifications, it’s not just about the nicotine. In fact, smokers create several habits, rituals, and behaviors that they take for granted and fail to replace when trying to quit. That is why quitting cold turkey without help sends 95% of ex-smokers back to cigarettes within 6 months. Most quitting methods, like the pills, the patch, and nicotine gum address only nicotine, but behavior modification is the only way to ensure permanent cessation.
(1) Breathing pattern: Smokers take between 9 and 14 drags off one cigarette. If you smoke a pack a day (about 20 cigarettes), that means you are inhaling, holding, and exhaling over 200 times a day in a particular way (two packs a day = 400). Although the smoke contains over 700 toxins, the breathing pattern is relaxing and meditative. When smokers quit, they fail to replace this ritual, which leads to stress and builds anxiety, especially when they feel the urge to smoke. Try pretending you have a cigarette and breathe the same way as often as you smoke. This also aids in digestion.
(2) Change of environment: At least 90% of smokers change their environment every time they have a cigarette. That means leaving an office, restaurant, factory, home or party to step outside. This change of scenery is an escape from the hustle and bustle, or the stress of work. Add to the fresh air a glance at the sun or stars, and you’ve built in some stress relief. Take “fake smoke breaks” after quitting.
(3) Replace nicotine with natural stress relievers and motivators: Hundreds of chemicals in cigarettes disrupt the central nervous system, creating and heightening anxiety, nervousness, doubt and frustration. Nicotine provides just enough kick to make smokers feel normal for 20 to 30 minutes. Ex-smokers must replace and replenish the body’s capacity to produce normal hormones that defeat anxiety and motivate them into action (http://addictions.about.com/od/overcomingaddiction/f/vitamin_B.htm). Specific natural foods, vitamins and supplements boost dopamine and serotonin production, and balance the central nervous system. Vitamin B complex, mucuna, and cabbage are great examples(http://www.serotune.com).
(4) Hand to mouth habit: Multiply a dozen drags of a cigarette by a pack a day, and that’s about 250 hand- to-mouth motions a day, a ritualized behavior that must be replaced by something productive and mood enhancing. Eating raw mixed nuts, sipping a healthy drink, nibbling on dark organic chocolate or chewing licorice replaces cravings and converts a bad habit into a productive one.
(5) Shift your acid heavy system to alkaline: Most smokers have given up on nutrition and exercise. Common food for smokers includes meat, dairy, processed foods, alcohol, sugar, salt, and possibly artificial sweeteners. In order to defeat stress, the body must be more alkaline than acid, which means consuming mostly fresh vegetables, fruit, and spring water. This balances the system and detoxifies it, driving away the urge to smoke(http://www.findaspring.com/). After breaking the nicotine addiction in 3 to 4 days, a new non-smoker must face the facts that there are at least 5 major ritualistic behaviors they’ve created and fostered that must be replaced somehow with productive ones. Without addressing behavior modification, attempting any smoking cessation program is like running a marathon with a broken foot. 14AndOut is a comprehensive, 60 minute video andnutritional guide that fully addresses behavior modification so smokers can adapt and adopt, without substituting one bad habit with another. Rather than taking prescription chemicals or more nicotine, 14AndOut uses natural methodology that gives smokers the best chance of quitting cigarettes for life (http://premium.naturalnews.tv/14AndOut__WS.htm).
Sources for this article include:
(1) http://addictions.about.com/od/overcomingaddiction/f/vitamin_B.htm
(3) http://www.findaspring.com/
(5) http://quitsmoking.about.com/od/preparetoquit/a/mythsvsfacts.htm
Learn more: http://www.naturalnews.com/035167_quit_smoking_strategies_habits.html#ixzz3q4Itk8Mt
Tagged Under: culture, quit smoking survey, reasons people can't quit smoking, smokers, smokers survey, society, why smokers can't quit, why smokers have not quit