Foods that reduce the desire for cigarettes

If you are trying to quit smoking, certain foods can help reduce the craving for nicotine.

Try Oats

Yes, oats, as found in oatmeal or oat bran, can help suppress the craving for nicotine and help you quit the smoking habit. Cooked oats have long been used in India as an Ayurvedic remedy for opium addiction. It was then observed that those who were cured of opium addiction also lost interest in cigarettes. This led scientist C. L. Anand from Ruchill Hospital in Glasgow, Scotland, to conduct a double-blind, placebo-controlled study, published in the scientific journal Nature.

Hardened smokers were selected. One group was given an extract of fresh oats, while the other received a placebo. A month later, those who consumed oats had less craving for cigarettes. They smoked one-third fewer cigarettes compared to their pre-study consumption and the group that did not receive oats. Specifically, out of thirteen smokers who consumed oats, five completely quit smoking, seven reduced smoking by 50%, and only one continued smoking as before. Additionally, the reduced craving lasted for another two months after the smokers stopped eating oats! Later, other studies in mice identified a substance thought to actively work against smoking.

IF YOU’RE TRYING TO QUIT SMOKING Foods that can help by increasing the body’s alkalinity: spinach, beet greens, raisins, figs, dried lima beans, endive, almonds. Foods that can hinder by increasing the body’s acidity: alcohol, red meat, liver, organ meats, wheat germ, dried lentils, chicken, eggs, cheese, peanuts, English walnuts, plums, prunes, cranberries, coffee.

Eat Spinach, Not Meat

Highly alkaline foods such as spinach and Swiss chard can cause “recirculation” of nicotine, maintaining high levels of this addictive substance in the body. For this reason, such foods reduce the need for nicotine, says Dr. David Daughton, a nicotine expert from the University of Nebraska Medical Center. Other foods that increase urine acidity, such as meat, can “flush out” nicotine, increasing the craving for cigarettes. Therefore, a diet rich in alkaline foods, with lower acidic food intake, can help gradually reduce cigarette consumption. If you give up cold turkey, probably nothing will change, he says.

A study by Dr. Daughton showed that smokers given sodium bicarbonate to increase their body’s alkalinity found quitting easier, and almost all quit smoking after five weeks. Those not given the alkaline substance continued to smoke. Similarly, Dr. Stanley Schachter, a psychology professor at Columbia University, showed that people with high body acidity smoke more than those with more alkaline body chemistry. “Under acidic conditions, the need for smoking increases by about 17% (about seven more cigarettes per day) in smokers who smoke two packs daily,” he says.

Don’t Mix Cola with Nicotine Gum

If you use nicotine gum to curb cigarette cravings, acidic foods can interfere with its effectiveness, leading you to smoke more cigarettes than usual to get your usual nicotine dose. Avoid highly acidic foods and drinks for at least fifteen minutes before chewing the gum. This especially includes colas, coffee, fruit juices, and beer, advises the National Institute on Drug Abuse experts. They found that men who rinsed their mouths with coffee or cola before chewing gum absorbed almost no nicotine from the gum. The primary purpose of the gum, quitting nicotine with small doses of nicotine, is thereby ruined; smokers are forced to smoke more to get their usual nicotine dose.

The text is taken from Jean Carper’s book, Food: Your Miracle Medicine

Additionally, I recommend bioenergy treatments. Bioenergy helps calm tension, nervousness, and stress, which often increase the craving for nicotine.

Franjo Lenac