Today is the world tobacco day. As per WHO (World Health Organization), every year 8 million people are killed due to tobacco.
Nutritionist Avni Kaul tells quitting smoking is a difficult thing to do, but it is a vital step in taking charge of your health and lowering your risk of lung cancer and cardiovascular disease.
Cleaning up an unhealthy diet may look like an impossible task to take on while you’re also giving up cigarettes, but since smoking, food cravings, and concurrent habits are fairly common, taking a little bit of time to focus on the foods you eat may be a good idea.
Making some changes in the foods you eat will help make the process a lot easier.
In this article, Delhi’s top nutritionist and dietitian Avni Kaul talks about food and diet that will help you quit smoking.
Fruits And Vegetables
Cigarettes obstruct the absorption of essential nutrients, such as calcium, vitamins C and D. For instance, smoking just 1cigarette drains the body of 25 mg of vitamin C. Including more fruits and vegetables into your diet will refill these nutrients and, and will help with reducing cravings to smoke.
Advantage: Once you start to stop smoking, food starts to taste better and flavors are more noticeable, so you will also enjoy these foods more. Some of the vegetables that will help quit smoking are raw broccoli, sliced peppers, and raw carrots. While oranges, kiwis, pears, and apples are some of the fruits which one can try.
Ginseng Tea
Ginseng is therapeutic for nicotine bad habits because it weakens the effect of dopamine, the neurotransmitter in the brain that is linked with pleasure and is released when smoking tobacco. Drinking ginseng tea could lower the appeal of smoking and make it less enjoyable.
Milk And Dairy
It has been seen that drinking milk made cigarettes taste worse. Most smokers say that it gives their cigarettes a bitter aftertaste. When facing a problem of craving, consuming milk and other dairy products that makes cigarette taste bad will help deter smokers from cigarettes.
Avni Kaul is Founder of Nutriactivania with Masters Degree in Food and Nutrition from University of Delhi and is also a Certified Diabetes Educator from Project Hope and International Diabetes Federation. She is a Leicester Mammas Ambassador trained in Lactation Counselling with NHS United Kingdom. Mammas support pregnant and new mothers and their families. Specializations of Avni Kaul Include Infant and Young Child Feeding Practises, Pre and Post natal diets, Fat loss, Muscle Gain and Holistic Health and Nutrition