Controlling Your Snacking When Quitting Smoking

Controlling Your Snacking When Quitting Smoking Addiction Nicotine Use After You Quit Print Controlling Your Snacking When Quitting Smoking By Terry Martin facebook twitter Terry Martin quit smoking after 26 years and is now an advocate for those seeking freedom from nicotine addiction. Learn about our editorial policy Terry Martin Medically reviewed by Medically reviewed by Armeen Poor, MD on January 30, 2020 Armeen Poor, MD, is a board-certified pulmonologist and intensivist. He specializes in pulmonary health, critical care, and sleep medicine. Learn about our Medical Review Board Armeen Poor, MD on January 30, 2020 Tetra Images/Getty Images More in Addiction Nicotine Use After You Quit How to Quit Smoking Nicotine Withdrawal Smoking-Related Diseases The Inside of Cigarettes Alcohol Use Addictive Behaviors Drug Use Coping and Recovery Its completely normal to feel an increased interest in food when you quit smoking,?? and the reasons come from two different sources, physical and psychological. Understanding what is going on in both of these areas will help you curb your snacking so that you dont end up with unwanted weight gain due to quitting smoking.?? Studies have shown that nicotine affects blood chemistry in a couple of ways that influence appetite.?? The Link Between Nicotine and Adrenaline When a person inhales cigarette smoke, the nicotine in the smoke is rapidly absorbed into the blood and starts affecting the brain within seven seconds.?? The result is the release of the hormone adrenaline, the fight or flight hormone. Physically, adrenaline will increase a persons heart rate, blood pressure and restrict flow to the heart muscle. The smoker will experience rapid, shallow breathing. Adrenaline also instructs the body to dump any excess glucose into the bloodstream. The Effect of Nicotine on Insulin It is thought that nicotine also inhibits the release of the hormone insulin, which is responsible for removing excess sugar from a persons blood. Between excess glucose from adrenaline and the inhibition of insulin, smokers are slightly hyperglycemic, meaning they have more sugar in their blood than usual. And because blood sugar acts as an appetite suppressant, smokers dont usually feel hunger as often as nonsmokers. You may have heard that smoking cessation causes low blood sugar, but there is no scientific evidence to support this claim. Snacking as a Replacement for Smoking There are several reasons why ex-smokers turn to food when they quit smoking: Emotional Habit: Years of smoking taught us to react to literally everything by lighting a cigarette. When we were happy, wed celebrate by lighting up. When we were mad, smoking helped us relax, or so we thought. A completed task would always trigger the urge to smoke and so would fatigue, hunger, or anything else. Our cigarettes were always on the frontline with us and were the first thing we reached for no matter what the reason.Food Tastes Better: Without the mask of cigarette smoke covering our taste buds, food is a lot more appealing.Comfort:  Nicotine withdrawal is uncomfortable, and food, for most people brings an almost immediate feeling of comfort and well-being. Thats because, in our brains, food triggers the release of dopamine, the feel-good hormone. Nicotine does the same thing.Meal Skipping: Smokers tend to be meal-skippers, especially at breakfast. Coffee and cigarettes dont make a good meal, and once we quit, eating regular meals again may add extra calories that were nt a part of the diet before quitting.Hand-to-Mouth Habit: How many times a day did you lift your hand to your mouth when you smoked? Youd be surprised how ingrained that action can be, and how fidgety you might feel when youre no longer doing it. Putting food in the hand as it goes to your mouth is a common substitute. Withdrawal from nicotine?? is uncomfortable. You need to expect that youre going to want to replace the action of smoking with a substitute, and food is often the choice we make. The trick is not to let snacking get out of hand. Finding a balance is important because eating too much and gaining an excessive amount of weight could lead you right back to smoking.?? What to Expect After You Quit Smoking Tips for Avoiding Excessive Weight Gain After You Quit Smoking Exercise. Start slow if you havent been active and work up from there. Exercise is good for weight loss  and has the added benefit of releasing endorphins, the feel-good hormone.Memorize H.A.L.T. Start work on deciphering the urges you get to smoke. They may all feel like hunger pangs at first, but if you pay attention, youll begin to notice that they are indicators of something else â€" anger, fatigue, boredom, or some other emotion. Learn to treat the symptom more appropriately and itll be easier to beat the hand-to-mouth reaction.Drink water. Its a great craving buster and helps to flush toxins out more quickly once you stop smoking. By keeping yourself well-hydrated, youll feel better in general too.Keep healthy snacks within reach.  Put some good-for-you snacks together ahead of time so that when the munchies hit, you can grab something healthy instead of that chocolate.Limit alcohol. Not only is it likely to trigger the urge to smoke, but its also loaded with calories. Avoiding alcohol altogether early in your quit is a good idea.Distract yourself. Most urges to eat early in your quit come from the urge to smoke. Distract yourself and wait for the urge to pass.Avoid empty calories. Junk food, such as chips, ice cream, cake, and cookies are loaded with empty calories that have no nutritional value. They are digested quickly due to being highly refined and the spike in your blood sugar from sweets will leave you craving more when blood sugar levels plummet. Eat more fruits, vegetables, and whole grains which will keep you full longer and your blood sugar stable. Have a plan in place to help you manage the urge to snack when you quit smoking. Keep your diet under control and youll find it much easier to stay in control of your quit program. Quitting Smoking and Weight Gain