Weight Management

Smoke-free Facts and Healthy Solutions

Smoke-free fact:
When people quit smoking, they tend to eat more, have more cravings for sugary/junk foods, and drink more alcohol than before they quit.

Healthy solution:
Practice healthy eating. Healthy eating is easier than you think! You don’t need to buy special foods or go on a strict diet.  Small changes like these can make a big difference:

• At mealtimes, fix your plate with bigger servings of fruits/vegetables and smaller servings of starches (potatoes, pasta, rice) and meat.
• Instead of "heaping" food onto your plate, start out with less. If it turns out to be too little, you can always go back for more.
• If snacking helps to curb the cravings, snack on fruits and veggies instead of candy and chips. Try some frozen grapes or crunchy carrot and celery sticks.
• Stick to non-alcoholic drinks. Alcohol can cause weight gain. Also, when you drink alcohol, you may do things that you wouldn’t have done while sober. For example, you may decide to "pig out" or have "just one cigarette."

Smoke-free fact:
When you were smoking, the nicotine in each cigarette gave your body a little burst of energy. Your body used this energy to help burn off the food you ate. While your body adjusts to being nicotine-free, there may not be as much energy available to burn off the food that you eat.

Healthy solution:
Exercise! A 10-minute exercise session is a much healthier way to get the same burst of energy that you used to get from a cigarette! Fitting exercise into your daily routine is possible! In fact, it doesn’t have to take up much time or be very tough to improve your health.  Here are some tips to help you get going:

• Plan to exercise 3 times a day, for about 10 minutes at a time.
• Don’t overdo it! During exercise, you should feel warm and slightly out of breath. Anything more and you are working too hard.
• Get friends, family members, and pets to join you. Play a game of chase with the kids/grandkids or take the dog out for a brisk walk.
• Make "exercise appointments" for the times when you crave cigarettes the most. Schedule 10 minutes of housework first thing in the morning, or a 10-minute walk after a meal.
• Exercise is a great way to manage unexpected cravings too! The next time you feel the urge for a cigarette, do something active until the craving passes.

Learning these new habits may take some practice. But the more you practice, the healthier you will become. And remember, even if you gain a little weight as a result of becoming smoke-free, you are still much healthier than when you were smoking!