Freedom food

With the ban on public smoking in the air, what you eat can help you quit.

The fact that certain kinds of food can assist positively in killing your cigarette habit is something to hold on to at a time when the ban on smoking in public comes into effect in India. Will health minister Anbumani Ramadoss’s four-year-old effort actually make a statistical and psychological difference to the Indian smoking pattern? While experts debate the likelihood of that, if you are one to welcome this ban because you’re a smoker trying to quit, don’t forget to put good old food to work to help you wean yourself off cigarettes.

The kick that a cup of coffee or a plate of well-cooked meat can provide to the urge for a smoke cannot be underestimated. So, identifying food items and beverages that enhance the smoking experience is where the key to quitting lies. A study conducted by Duke University psychologist

F Joseph McClernon at the Duke Center for Nicotine and Smoking Research proved insightful. It found that 70 per cent of the long-term smokers studied reported that meat, alcohol and caffeinated beverages seemed to make cigarettes taste much better.

On the other hand, 45 per cent of them said healthy food like vegetables, fruits and dairy products seemed to made cigarettes seem distasteful. Water, fresh juice and other non-caffeinated drinks have the same effect.

Smokers, consequently, declared that giving up coffee and beer on a regular basis did, in fact, help in cutting down the habit. Those who had been smoking for years and were worried about putting on weight once they kicked the butt, admitted that they tended to snack on calorie-dense sweets, chocolates and chips.

That’s where one must heed the advice of doctors: a healthy, well-balanced diet of milk products, vegetables, fruits and grains is not just important to avoid piling on the kilos after you quit, but to replenish your body, which has lost a considerable amount of essential vitamins and minerals due to smoking.

One needn’t give up meat altogether, but lean meats and fish work well. Drinking more water at regular intervals is also said to be helpful. The trick, quite simply, is to push away snacks and the kind of food that gets you thinking how good a smoke would feel afterwards.