Author: Shruti Agrawal

Weight Gain from Quitting Smoking

Temporary Weight Gain Happens after Quitting Smoking and Can be Controlled

There is common misconception among the smokers that quitting smoking causes weight gain. This is also one of the many reasons why many smokers fear to quit this deadly habit. In this blog today, I’ll try to clear the misunderstanding and talk about what actually happens when you quit smoking.

It is not known to many individuals that tobacco consumption either in smoke or smokeless form, curbs the hunger without the person even realizing it. Researchers from Yale University have found that nicotine in tobacco excites certain brain cells that causes them to either fight back or give away a flight response. They do not produce pleasurable feeling and fight by curbing hunger in the person. This is why a person who consumes tobacco feels less hungry as compared to a non tobacco consumer and is thinner as compared to the non tobacco users.

As soon as one quits smoking or chewing, the nicotine from the body is flushed out and these cells do not get activated to fight back for anything. This results in restoring of hunger and the appetite starts getting back to normal shape. Since one had been eating lesser because of tobacco, they tend to feel comparatively hungrier and more number of times, than before quitting.

This results in people eating more frequently and munching on their favorite cuisines and dishes. This frequent intake of food is the root cause of sudden weight gain. If not controlled and managed properly, results in substantial weight gain and becomes a habit leading to the person getting back to smoking to again control their weight or eating uncontrollably causing obesity.

If proper diet and exercise is introduced and followed during the quit cycle, then there will not be any substantial weight gain and the person will also be able to maintain their fitness. There might be a temporary gain. But with exercise and ayurvedic foods, weight can be managed and maintained properly.

Weight Can be Managed with Diet and Exercise Plan During the Quit Cycle

We at ICanCaRe follow a very systematic approach in helping the people manage their weight while they are quitting smoking with us. Appropriate diet and exercise plan is introduced to help the patients. Care is taken to introduce tasty food items so that the person does not feel bored out and follows the plan properly without any considerable weight gain.

I hope this blog was helpful. Do comment and let me know your experiences and thoughts. Share ahead to also help others bust the misconception about weight gain from quitting smoking.

Call 011-430-77695 for assistance in quitting tobacco or visit Quit Tobacco page to know more details about our online tobacco cessation and wellness program and register for the same.

How to Clean Your Lungs after Quitting Smoking?

Cleanse Your Lungs in a Healthy and Natural Way!

There’s often this common question from most of the quitters of smoking and even the smokers themselves that how can they clean their lungs after smoking. How to remove the tar, how to detoxify the body, how much time will it take to clean the body, will the damage from smoking be undone, can the lungs become fully healthy, etc. are also some of the questions asked commonly by many smokers.

In this blog today, I shall elaborate on the natural ways to clean and detoxify your lungs to ensure that the lungs get back to healthy shape as fast as possible. Lungs are capable of healing themselves. However, adding activities that can aid the cleaning process speeds up the process and prevents further damage. The following practices can be adopted:

  1. Steam Inhalation: Perform steam inhalation for 15-20 mins twice a week (for severe smokers) and once a week for all others. This helps to break the tar in the lungs and remove them from the air bags.
  2. Use Acapella: This is a device to improve oxygenation in the lungs. It expands the constricted air bags in the lungs and helps to absorb more oxygen thereby also improving the lung conditions. It is available on www.icancare.org
  3. Pranayam: Performing 15-20 minutes of pranayam daily also improves the breathing process and helps to improve the lungs’ functioning and strength.
  4. Herbal Tea and Green Tea: Introducing a cup of herbal tea and green tea on alternate days helps in detoxification of the body.
  5. Introduce Anti-inflammatory Diet and Anti-oxidants: Food products like turmeric, green leafy vegetables, cherries, blueberries, pineapple, citrus fruits, sprouts, lentils and beans have anti-inflammatory properties. It will help in preventing inflammation of the lungs and also prevent congestion that causes difficulties in breathing and heaviness in the chest.
  6. Use Respiratory Mask in polluted places and to protect self from passive smoking and other forms of smoke. The polluted air also causes huge damage to the lungs and other vital organs.
  7. Put Some Indoor Plants that helps to improve the quality of air at home and workplace. Some of them includes Aloevera, Areca Palm, Lad Palm and Bamboo.
  8. Avoid too much of caffeine intake in coffee and tea and other products. 2 Cups of tea/coffee should be drank in the entire day as it has medicinal properties.
  9. Introduce a regular sport or favorite form of exercise in your daily routine and make it a habit to do 1 hour of vigorous exercise once every week.
  10. Drink a glass of vegetable juice every morning that should at least have bottle gourd, pudina, ginger, carrot and lemon in it.

These measure when adopted and practiced regularly will help in cleaning your lungs as a faster rate and will also make you healthy at the same time. When the oxygenation in the lungs improves, one feels much more active, fresh and livelier than before. Going out for vacations 3-4 times a year into the wild where there’s serenity and peace all around is also advised. You will notice that you feel very fresh with nature and are rejuvenated to a great extent.

8 Ayurvedic Foods to Reduce Cravings for Tobacco

Ayurveda for Controlling Tobacco Cravings

Since time immemorial, much has been said about the harmful effects of tobacco. Every person who consumes tobacco in any form is aware of the fact that this habit could eventually kill them and yet they continue to use this harmful substance. Tobacco and its additives has carcinogenic properties which lead to a variety of cancers and other ailments. Despite knowing all this, people are unwilling to stop the use of tobacco.

Once the tobacco consumers start experiencing the advanced signs of harms of tobacco use, they start thinking about quitting. The most challenging part is to manage the cravings and urges occurring from not consuming tobacco.

This blog elucidates 8 Ayurvedic foods that can help to manage the urge during the quit process.

1. Herbal Tea

A herbal tea made with equal amounts of jatasmi, brahmi and chamomile reduces the urge to use tobacco.

Mix 1 teaspoon of this blend in a cup of hot water, and drink it sip by sip, to relieve the desire to smoke.

2. Ginger

Ginger has Sulphur compounds which help in reducing tobacco addiction. Soak pieces of ginger in lemon juice, sprinkle black pepper and store it in a container. Whenever you get the urge to use tobacco or smoke, just suck into the pieces of ginger and you will notice the difference. You can also use pieces of dried pineapple and honey to do the trick.

3. Ginseng

This magical root not only reduces cravings but also helps the body to deal withdrawal symptoms like mood swings, irritability and stress.

4. Ajwain

Regularly chewing the seeds of ajwain when you crave for tobacco, will help you do away with tobacco addiction.

5. Cinnamon

Whenever you feel the urge to use tobacco, consume a piece of cinnamon. It will definitely help you deal with the craving.

6. Triphala

Consuming one tablespoon of triphala every night helps in clearing the toxic elements from your body which in turn reduces the craving for tobacco use.

7. Tulsi leaves

Chewing on 2-3 leaves of Holy basil every morning and evening helps reduce the craving for tobacco usage. It also helps cure problems caused by the earlier usage of tobacco.

8. Ashwagandha

Ashwagandha helps the body rid toxins and alleviate anxiety levels. Taking 450 mg to 2 g of ashwagandha powder can relieve you of tobacco addiction.

These foods will help you delay the urge to smoke or chew. When you keep delaying the urges, you are in turn reducing the intake of your tobacco and also detoxifying your body of the toxins thereby making your body healthier and helping you to quit tobacco by reducing your cravings to consume tobacco.