Ways to Quit Smoking

Write all your reasons for quitting on an index card

Here are some to get you started: “My daughter, my granddaughter, my husband, my wife…” You get the idea. Keep it near you at all times.

As you’re getting ready to quit smoking, stop buying cartons of cigarettes

Instead, only buy a pack at a time, and only carry two or three cigarettes with you at a time (try putting them in an Altoids tin). Eventually, you’ll find that when you want a smoke, you won’t have any immediately available. That will slowly wean you down to fewer cigarettes. Worried about gaining weight? Here’s how to avoid weight gain when you stop smoking.

Keep a list of when you smoke for a week before quitting

Also note what you’re doing at the time and how bad the craving is to see if specific times of the day or activities increase your cravings, suggests Gaylene Mooney, chair of the American Association for Respiratory Care’s Subcommittee on Smoking and Tobacco-Related Issues.

Prepare a list of things to do when a craving hits

Suggestions include: take a walk, drink a glass of water, kiss your partner or child, throw the ball for the dog, play a game, wash the car, clean out a cupboard or closet, have sex, chew a piece of gum, wash your face, brush your teeth, take a nap, get a cup of coffee or tea, practice your deep breathing, light a candle. Make copies of the list and keep one with you at all times so when the craving hits, you can whip out the list and quickly do something from it.

Quit when you’re in a good mood

Studies find that you’re less likely to be a successful quitter if you quit when you’re depressed or under a great deal of stress.

When your quit smoking date arrives, throw out anything that reminds you of smoking

That includes all smoking paraphernalia—leftover cigarettes, matches, lighters, ashtrays, cigarette holders, even the lighter in your car.

Put all the money you’re saving on cigarettes in a large glass jar

You want to physically see how much you’ve been spending. Earmark that money for something you’ve always dreamed of doing, but never thought you could afford, be it a cruise to Alaska or a first-class ticket to visit an old college friend. Here are some incredible ways your body will heal itself after you quit.

Switch to decaf until you’ve been cigarette-free for two months

Too much caffeine while quitting can cause the jitters.

Think of difficult things you have done in the past

Ask people who know you well to remind you of challenges you have successfully overcome, says Dr. Lieberman. This will give you the necessary self-confidence to stick with your pledge not to smoke.

Find a healthy snack food you can carry with you

In place of smoking cigarettes, try sunflower seeds, sugar-free lollipops, or gum, or carrot or celery sticks if you’re concerned about weight gain. You can also switch your cigarette habit for a nut habit, and eat four nuts in their shell for every cigarette you want to smoke. This way, you’re using your hands and your mouth, getting the same physical and oral sensations you get from smoking.

Switch to a cup of herbal tea whenever you usually have a cigarette

The act of brewing the tea and slowing sipping it as it cools will provide the same stress relief as a hit of nicotine. Or carry cinnamon-flavored toothpicks and suck on one whenever a cig craving hits.

Instead of a cigarette break at work, play a game of solitaire on your computer

It takes about the same time and is much more fun (although, like cigarettes, it can get addictive). If your company prohibits games like that, find another five-minute diversion: a phone call, a stroll, or eating a piece of fruit outdoors (but not where smokers congregate). Don’t miss what ex-smokers reveal actually helped them stop smoking for good.

Picture yourself playing tennis

Or go play tennis. British researchers found volunteers trying to quit smoking were better able to ignore their urges to smoke when they were told to visualize a tennis match.

Create a smoke-free zone

Don’t allow anyone to use tobacco in your home, car, or even while sitting next to you in a restaurant. Make actual “No Smoking” signs and hang them around your house and in your car.

Post this list in a visible location in your house

Whenever you’re tempted to light up, take a look at all the ways smoking can damage your health:

• Increases risk of lung, bladder, pancreatic, mouth, esophageal, and other cancers, including leukemia

• Increases risk of heart disease, stroke, high blood pressure

• Increases risk of diabetes

• Reduces levels of folate, low levels of which can increase the risk of heart disease, depression, and Alzheimer’s disease

• Affects mental capacity and memory

• Contributes to thin bones

• Increases likelihood of impotence

• Reduces fertility

• Affects ability to smell and taste

• Results in low-birth-weight, premature babies

• Increases risk of depression in adolescents

• Increases your child’s risk of obesity and diabetes later in life if you smoked while pregnant

To minimize cravings, change your routine

Sit in a different chair at breakfast or take a different route to work. If you usually have a drink and cigarette after work, change that to a walk. If you’re used to a smoke with your morning coffee, switch to tea, or stop at Starbucks for a cup of java—the chain is smoke-free. Here are 7 ways to take back your health after you stop smoking.

Swing by the health food store for some Avena sativa (oat) extract

One study found that, taken at 1 milliliters four times daily, it helped habitual tobacco smokers significantly decrease the number of cigarettes they smoked.

Tell your friends, coworkers, boss, partner, and kids how you feel

Don’t bottle up your emotions. If something makes you angry, express it instead of smothering it with cigarette smoke. If you’re bored, admit to yourself that you’re bored and find something energetic to do instead of lighting up. Plus, remember these 12 ways smoking affects your appearance.

Make an appointment with an acupuncturist

There’s some evidence that auricular acupuncture (i.e., needles in the ears) curbs cigarette cravings quite successfully, says Ather Ali, N.D., a naturopathic physician completing a National Institutes of Health-sponsored postdoctoral research fellowship at the Yale-Griffin Prevention Research Center in Derby, Connecticut. You can even do it yourself by taping “seeds” (small beads) onto the acupuncture points and squeezing them whenever cravings arise.

If you relapse, just start again

You haven’t failed. Some people have to quit as many as eight times before they are successful. Next, find out the 51 brilliant health tricks you’ll want to make a habit.