Can food help reduce your cigarette cravings?

As it’s Stoptober, we thought we’d take a look at how making a few changes to your eating habits can help you kick the habit! Smoking isn’t just about the nicotine addiction, it’s also about the taste you get from it and the other ways it affects your senses. So, anything that affects your smoking experience can make it easier for you to quit! Different foods affect the flavour of cigarettes in different ways. Common foods that worsen the taste of cigarettes include:

• Dairy products
• Non-caffeinated drinks
• Fruit and vegetables

Common foods that make cigarettes taste better include:

• Alcohol
• Caffeinated drinks
• Meat

So, try drinking milk, or eating some fruits or vegetables before you smoke. It’ll make the whole experience less pleasurable and make you less likely to want to keep it up! Did you know that smoking also depletes your vitamin C levels? Low vitamin C levels means more cravings, so introduce some foods high in vitamin Ci into your diet to curb those cravings! Good examples include:

• Broccoli
• Blackcurrants
• Strawberries
• Cauliflower
• Parsley

Not only will these stop you feeling like you need to smoke so often, but as we mentioned above, they’ll likely make the cigarettes taste worse too! Find your triggers When do you tend to smoke? Everyone has different patterns of behaviour that trigger the cravings. It could be your morning coffee, drinking alcohol or even just socialising with other smokers. Acknowledging those triggers and creating new habits will help make it easier to stop smoking. A few examples are:

• If you’re partial to smoking after a few (alcoholic) beverages then swap them for your favourite non-alcoholic alternatives. Mocktails made with fruit juice can help curb the cravings!
• If socialising with your friends while they smoke is proving too much of a temptation then why not mix things up a bit? Get them to join you at a fitness class or go for a run together. Exercise can massively reduce your desire to smoke, and help you feel motivated to keep on battling those cigarette cravings.

These tips may make smoking less pleasurable, but there is no replacement for the health benefits of giving up smoking tobacco completely, smoking is the leading cause of preventable death - making a change could save your life. If you’re looking for help this Stoptober, the Cheshire Change Hub offer free support and guidance for those who want to stop smoking. Give their website a look and see how they can help you!