What's in Your Cigarette and Staying Smoke Free

You can try Hypnosis, Chantix, Acupuncture, Buproprion (Zyban), Behavior Modification... The list goes on.

Staying a non-smoker is the hardest part. See you don't really know what you are up against until you actually quit. The average person may quit 17 times before they are actually quit for good. As few as 5% a year actually remain smoke free. The difference between the quitter and the new non-smoker is the mind set.

Having a plan and sticking to the plan is number one. Remember that as long as you don't light that cigarette, you are smoke free. As soon as you do have a cigarette, even one puff, the timer starts and within the hour you will want another cigarette. 

The question is, why? What starts the timer. The answer to that is in what you are actually smoking.

To the right, highlighted in blue, is the list of ingredients disclosed by Philip Morris Agency. People who quit smoking have an easier time quiting if they smoke non-menthol regular length cigarettes. It is easier still if they smoked non-filtered cigarettes, and yet easier, if they rolled their own.

Let this be our first clue on the mystery tour to staying a non-smoker. Looking to the right you will see some pretty addictive substances, namely Cocoa, and High Fructose Corn Syrup, but there is much more. Many of the inhalants that have killed our children in an attempt to get high are in there too. They are in the glue and in the paper, and in the filter.

If we go one step further and remember that if we go a few hours between cigarettes, that we get a high or dizzy feeling when we light up again, well that is just another clue.

More addictive than heroine, that's what they say.

Lets take a look at High Fructose Corn Syrup, what chemicals are there in that?

In studies on High Fructose Corn Syrup it has been determined to be a highly addictive sugar compound that does not trigger our "shut off" chemical that tells us we are satisfied. What this could mean to us, as smokers, is that since its inception, the consumption of this compound could have something to do with our nations weight problem. The problem being, when you consume this compound, it makes you want more of it. If you are a smoker, then you are getting your dose every twenty minutes or so, but if you quit smoking, you cut off your supply. And people wonder why we gain weight when we quit smoking!

What follows is from High Fructose Corn Syrup by Marcelle Pick

Now, back to HFCS. Originally developed in Japan in the 1970’s, HFCS consumption has been increasing ever since. In fact, as the use of sugar has decreased, the consumption of HFCS has increased in nearly direct proportions — most dramatically in the US foods market. One particular study in 2004 reported in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition cites the increase in consumption of HFCS to be 1000% between 1970 and 1990. They calculated this to exceed any equivalent increase in consumption of any other food or food group. Talk about a “sugar rush”!

Furthermore, in studying this increase — and the nearly identically corresponding increase in obesity in the US — these researchers took into account the differences in the way the body responds to different sorts of sugars. Specifically, that “unlike glucose, fructose does not stimulate insulin secretion or enhance leptin production.” They postulate that dietary fructose may be contributing to American obesity issues because “insulin and leptin act as key afferent signals in the regulation of food intake and body weight.” In other words, this study proposes that because fructose doesn’t trip our sense of satiety as sugar would, we are, perhaps, eating more sugars to compensate, and upping overall caloric intake in the process. Further, they extrapolate that because HFCS is usually higher in fructose than table sugar, HFCS can be correlated with parallel increases in obesity.

So lets look at some more likely candidates for our cravings when we quit smoking. Notice that Soy Lecithin is an ingredient as well. This compound has calming properties. Cocoa, we already know that is one of the primary ingredients in Chocolate. Then there is the Licorice Extract. Candy anyone? Yes, these ingredients are also in your candy bars. And people wonder why it is so easy to get children to start smoking.

Now notice some of the other items listed. Iron, Potassium, Sodium, and Aluminum.

In my other hub I suggested vitamin supplements. This is why. Even though you were not eating these chemicals, you were absorbing them through your mucous membranes. Why do you think smoking marijuana, or snorting drugs into your nose gets you high? It is more than just ingesting the chemical. The reaction that happens when the chemicals are absorbed through the mucous membranes is more instant. The only way to get it into your bloodstream any faster is with a needle, or an enema.

Celery sticks are very high in sodium, and good for your bones. Nuts are high in Lecithin and good for your brain. Go ahead and keep some dark chocolate, or even hot cocoa in the house. Drink Yoohoo. Think before you quit. Buy some incense, some vitamins, and lots of fruit and vegetables. Even getting the dried fruits or trail mix is good. These have the ingredients that will not be in your nicotine patch, or your pills. Whatever your method of quitting is, add these things.

Lastly, and most importantly, a minimum of 80 ounces of water per day. More if you exercise or are overweight already. Your body needs water to cleanse the toxins from your cells. As long as those toxins remain, you are still going to crave their replacement. The quicker they're gone, the sooner you are free.

Never forget that you have been a slave to an insidious drug, that has become more and more addictive, as man has learned to make it taste "better, smoother, new and improved, mellow" and remember the ads that they sold our parents on the idea with. We never had a chance, we were born addicted.

While I love to make my hubs nice and tidy, and try to keep them all lined up, it appears there are many more ingredients than anyone might have expected.

Below are some aids to help you quit smoking, break any bad habit, and also diet information to help you keep out of the dreaded weight gain loop that is the most common complaint when people quit smoking! Even with all of this added information, the list to the right is still longer than the article.

Knowing this, you should also know that these chemicals were added to cigarettes over the last forty years. While your foods, beverages and medications are required to list all ingredients right on the package, cigarettes are not. You would think that it would be mandatory, especially for cigarettes!

Scroll down, I have some vintage commercials and a great song from YouTube!

Okay it is July 22nd and I haven't smoked since April 11 of this year.

I had made a comment somewhere and while I don't remember word for word what I wrote, the gist of the message was this. (Told to me by a woman far into her 80s).

Why are you afraid of failing? No one is really a non-smoker. It's like drugs or alcohol, you're only sober until your next drink or drug. It's the same with smoking.

There is no such thing as a non-smoker, or ex-smoker. The division is this: There are people who haven't had a cigarette yet, but as long as they are alive, there is still the chance that they will. There are people who have decided not to have their next cigarette right now, which does not mean that they never will, as long as they are alive there is always the chance that they will. Smoking a cigarette when you are quitting does not make you a failure, it just means that you had your next cigarette sooner than anticipated.

It is my fervent hope that this hub is helpful in your decision, desire, or ability to become and stay a non- smoker.

There is so much more to learn, but please remember, that these ingredients are just some, not all, that may be in your cigarette. If you smoked menthol, then you will want to add mints to your quit program. If your brand also contained vanilla and citrus extracts, as my brand did, then you will want to purchase incense or air fresheners that contain these scents.

Have your car detailed so that it does not smell of cigarettes. Also be sure to purchase fabric freshener for your carpet and furniture, if you did indeed smoke inside you home.

Change your air conditioner filter, and if at all possible replace your pillows with new ones, or at least wash them along with all of your bedding. Do a thorough spring cleaning in your first week. This will keep your hands and mind busy, as well as get rid of what is now known as third hand smoke.

Third hand smoke is the residual smell and the residual chemicals that years of smoking has put throughout your home. I have never been a believer in that sort of thing, but I have pets. My tom-cat, Binx, is having a serious problem with withdrawals. I know this because he took to sniffing everything in the house, and wandered around crying. He is fourteen and has never been in a smoke-free environment in his life. It took him two weeks to stop hunting for the ashtrays, stop sniffing my hair and hands.I have not "washed the furniture" and after three days he was "rubbing" all over everything.

The significance of this is, there was a real addiction there. That is the truth of second hand smoke. As I said earlier, if our parents smoked, we never had a chance. No wonder kids start smoking younger and younger. If they have been around it since before they were born, and then leave the smoke filled home to go to school, how long will it be before their behavior leads them to that initial addiction, the one they were born and raised with.

Please do not try to tell me it isn't true. I know it is. Children of smokers are likely to become smokers. More so than the children of non-smokers.

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