Chocolate! Not Cigarettes!
It was good to get a detailed update from my friend, Debra, on her tobacco-free status. I think she may have found the magic bullet that can “cure” all tobacco fiends of the nasty nicotine habit–chocolate! I think there’s a fortune to be made substituting small nibbles of healthful dark chocolate for nicotine!
Of course, Debra balances the rich, chocolaty calories with exercise and looks fabulous. If she’s gained any weight after quitting, it sure doesn’t show.
Coincidentally, just this morning I asked myself whether I’d rather be as thin as I was at 40 and smoking–or as I am now. I haven’t decided how to answer that yet.
Hi Sue,
I love the idea of laughing gas parties, oh well I should have married a dentist, but then I wouldn’t be happily incompatibly married to Mike.
I replaced the nicotine urge with one really good chocolate and that really seems to work for my after dinner craving. Otherwise I pretty much resort to a piece of nicorette gum or get on the treadmill – which also works for increasing dopamine levels. I’m running more every day and that endorphin rush seems to stay with me a long time and I know if I start smoking again I’ll be coughing and straining my lungs to get through my workout.
So that was my crutch, chocolate and running. I am now 110 days and counting and my urges are seriously gone and I have zero interest in ever picking up a cigarette again. But, I also tried quitting approximately 4 times in the last 3 years and I was pretty successful, but I always cracked at around 6 weeks. So in this case, practice makes perfect, and I really do feel better and I’m also glad that the smoking ban is in place throughout the entire Madison area, the less temptation the better.
I love reading your blog and if you really just simply “quit”, we wouldn’t get to read about your struggles. I always looked at it as a work in progress and it’s really hard to break a habit that makes you feel good and is also your friend. So, don’t be so hard on yourself about the 1 or ½ cig a day. Keep doing what you are doing and try quitting completely at some point in the future, maybe on your anniversary date of quitting in July?
