Quitting Smoking with Diabetes

Seems I am bearing my soul to this forum - well here goes. In addition to all my past sins, I have to admit that I am a heavy smoker (two packs a day). I have made a commitment to give up the weeds and am just about ready. One of the big things that is holding me back is the weight issue. I seem to be making real good progress and dont want to backslide. My question is - has anyone here been able to give up smoking without putting on weight? Is weight gain a result of body changes or just because people tend to eat more when they are giving up smoking?

(Fixed the subject for you. ~Jeannie)

Post Edited By Moderator (Jeannie143) : 2/15/2007 12:51:35 PM (GMT-7)

Joules,
Bless your heart for making this decision. I quit smoking 15 years ago and it was the singularly most difficult as well as most rewarding thing I have ever done for myself and my family. about the weight issue... First of all, you can change food intake to lose weight.. You can't unsmoke lung and throat tissue. Stopping smoking now, even if there is a slight weight gain, will be far better for your entire body than the few pounds that may pop up for a while.

Here's the deal with cigarette smoke. Nicotine is a vasoconstrictor so it raises blood pressure and decreases the oxygen supply to the muscle tissue, organs and heart. When it makes the tiny blood vessels constrict, the intestinal mucosa where nutrients cross the membrane and enter the blood supply works very inefficiently. Smokers actually need to eat more food than necessary for their bodies to absorb what they need. Also, because smoking decreases the uptake of many vitamins and minerals necessary for "good" appetite, especially the B vitamins, smokers often feel hunger and will browse in the cupboards or fridge for something that tastes 'right'. The body knows it needs something but the smoking has dulled the fine tuner so a smoker will eat many things trying to find the right food.

When you quit smoking there is an initial weight gain because your body is working much better at absorbing nutrients from your intestines. As your body becomes more efficient you need to change your eating patterns a bit. First of all you need to add a good multivitamin. (If you are approaching 50 it should be something 'silver' with low iron content. Excess iron in the body has been targeted in heart problems.) Also, as your taste buds heal you will find food tasting unbelievably awesome. Smells and aromas will have you salivating like Pavlov's dogs! Your appetite will increase by leaps and bounds because everything will smell and taste so good. The secret here is to use this new tasting ability to try foods you never really cared about. If someone would have told me 15 years ago that I could get excited about broccoli drizzled with olive oil and grilled with some salmon over a fire I would have laughed. Now I've become an olive oil connoisseur and have a favorite brand! And I can actually find some left over broccoli in the fridge and be like, "Ohhh, broccoli!"

If you use your newly acquired taste to find new healthy foods that are low carb you will be way ahead of the game. Just don't flood those happy taste buds with things like cheese cake and pasta Alfredo! They will taste doubly awesome, too, and the Road to Perdition is paved with foods like that! I like to save my 'cheats' for special occasions and even then, if I order a piece of cheesecake I order it with a small styrofoam container so I can cut it in 1/3's right from the get go and put 2/3 of it away for later. Then I savor every crumb of what is left on my plate. Other than alcohol, I forbid myself nothing. I just don't have much more than a taste every time I have it.

Good luck with the quitting. Please stop by and post whenever you want a cigarette... Someone is bound to see your note and give you a pep talk to keep from lighting up. You can do this!

I quit smoking 17 years ago, and I agree with Jeannie that it was the most difficult and the best thing I ever did. One thing that did help was drinking a lot of water. It helps to eliminate the nicotine from your system and also gives you a different "oral fixation." I also had to change my lifestyle, gave up coffee for a while, since that was an "occasion of smoking" for me. So was driving; I held pretzel rods the way I would a cigarette and nibbled them in the car. I had always smoked while paying bills, couldn't give up paying them, but I did change desks just to modify the environment. Walking, feeding birds, and photographing wild life all helped to give me a new focus. Yes, I did gain some weight, but not as much as I expected to, and it came off more easily after I was established as a non-smoker. Oh, and last but far from least, I joined a group. The mutual support, information, and even rituals like turning in our lighters and ashtrays, were invaluable. I wish you all the luck in the world. I am so happy I was finally able to make a positive change and it was absolutely worth it. Be very good to yourself while you're in transition. Take time out to read or take a long bath, get a massage, or do whatever relaxes and comforts you. It's the best time in the world to pamper yourself and reward yourself for hard and important work.

Well here's the scoop!!!!!!! Thank you all so much for your words of encouragement. While I realise this is a diabetic site - smoking and diabetes are definitely having an impact on my circulation. I have those shooting pains in my feet and my cardiovascular workouts are very tough on me. So I have had an idea. Tell me what you think. I am gonna designate Valentine's Day as My Day to give a gift to my Heart!!!!!!! That is one week from today. So I thought I would throw out a challange to any other diabetic who is thinking about giving up smoking. Join me!!!!!!! and let's see how we do...... I am going to do this anyway but thought it might become fun if I had others for support. I am going to take a lot of the tips you have given me. A lady I was talking to today told me to do the following. She told me to get a jar with a lid and fill it half full with water. She then said I should put in all my cigarette ends for the next week - isnt that gross. She said that the sight and smell of that will put me off cigarettes for life!!!!!!! She said to label that jar - This is my current heart. Then get another jar with just pure water and put it beside it and label it - This is my new heart....... From what you have all told me I will most probably reverse my weight loss a bit but Jeannie really struck home when she said "You can change food intake to lose weight - you can't unsmoke lung and throat tissue!!" Thanks again.... I do hope I get at least one person to join me!!!!!!!!!!

Joules,
Even if you go this alone because no one joins you, we will support you 110%!!! And yes, this is directly related to diabetes so post away to your heart's content. I love the jars of water trick. Here are some that helped me:

Whenever I wanted a cigg I would eat 10 radishes. The aftertaste in your mouth after radishes is much like the burning flavor of tobacco. I ended up with a pound-a-day radish habit, but they are only about $1.00 a bag vs. $!!!! (I have no idea how much weeds are today.) Nice thing about radishes is that they are a totally free food. 10 radishes contain 1.6 calories, 0.01 gm fat, 0.07 gm protein, 3.9 mg sodium, 0.34 gm carbohydrate, 0.16 gm fiber and 2.5 mg calcium.

As a socially acceptable alternative to radishes when in meetings or at work you could try sugar-free cinnamon gum. After the sweetness of the gum is gone the 'burny-cinnamnon' flavor is also much like the aftertaste of cigarettes. This helped me a lot, too.

And finally, if you smoke menthol cigarettes then you are also addicted to menthol. The alternative that I used for this was sugar-free mentholyptus cough drops after the radishes... Sounds very weird, I know, but it worked for me! Worth a try, can't hurt, might help.

I also spent some money on premium scented fancy-schmancy shampoo, (since my sense of smell would be returning, I wanted to smell my clean hair!) as well as some very nice nail polish, and manicure stuff. I would devote some time every day to filing, polishing, buffing, soaking and generally 'spoiling' my nails and cuticles. I got kind of obsessed with it for a while, but my nails never looked better or stronger. The attention I paid to my nails gave my hands something to do. I was forever perfecting the shape with a file or removing polish to put on a new color. Drove my family a little bonkers because half the time I couldn't touch things because my nails were wet (LOL!) but I always say, "Any port in a storm!" If it works, great! If it doesn't you've only spent a few bucks on polish. Good luck with this! You can do it!

I'm wishing you all the best. If you think that it has to be all-or-nothing then go for it.

That's how I have to be with certain favorites that make my sugar rise. Unlike Jeannie143 (at least I think it's Jeannie-correct me if I'm wrong)- who is able to eat 1/2 cup of real icecream on a cone every week- I cannot. ONe taste and I would be on an icecream binge. I had a teeny tiny mini spoonful of some gelato at Whole Foods when my daughter was here at Christmas and I have been dreaming about it ever since- my husband has to get my almonds and walnuts so I don't  have to walk past the counter!

Peace- and keep us posted-sandy

I wonder if it is possible to change the title of this post to something like Smoking and Diabetes?

well I have some good news. I havent had a cigarette since 10.00 pm on February 13th - so I am now into my fourth day. I do have a little worry though and am hoping you guys can help. My morning blood sugar reading was 8.8. This was surprising as I have had normal morning readings now for over a month! I can only put this down to stress as I am carefully monitoring food input. Have any of you had similar experience. I dont want to over-react to this as three months ago my readings were in the 18-19 range - however, am extremely disappointed!!!! It almost makes me want to go back and have a ciggy - but I wont!!!!!!

Stress is a biggie when you are quitting smoking. Can you maybe take a 10 minute walk after each meal? That's five minutes away from home, the office or whatever and five minutes back... That would be a 30 minute exercise time per day and it would make your sugar go down as well as your stress... Wish I could be more helpful. Just hang in there! You can do this!