Comments on: Digest Number 146

By: Neva Marjory

Neva Marjory — Mon, 12 Jan 2004 19:11:36 +0000

She heard me - we got to chat on icq finally. Good to chat again
Indi. BTW thought that ABC you posted was great.
Pam

By: Neva Marjory

Neva Marjory — Mon, 12 Jan 2004 11:56:41 +0000

Hey Indi - good to see you back here - you’ve been making up for
lost time round here today - So how’s about replying to a couple of
the emails I’ve sent you? ;))
Pam

By: hassan_11

hassan_11 — Mon, 12 Jan 2004 03:52:03 +0000

In a message dated 02/02/02 06:18:07 GMT Standard Time,
jbrinklw@… writes:
totally agree Jean - definately worthwhile:)
Indi

By: hassan_11

hassan_11 — Sun, 11 Jan 2004 20:37:09 +0000

In a message dated 02/02/02 06:09:05 GMT Standard Time,
jbrinklw@… writes:
ok so why do we have this need - what feelings are we trying to deal with -
remember we are talking about feelings not emotions:)
thumb sucking would definately be a more appropriate response than smoking:)
and not as harmful as pretzels!!

By: hassan_11

hassan_11 — Sun, 11 Jan 2004 13:22:14 +0000

In a message dated 02/02/02 05:54:38 GMT Standard Time,
jbrinklw@… writes:
maybe its time to change your response - maybe try to identify the event
before it happens - not necessarily the actual event cos if it comes out of
nowhere its difficult - but you can plan something like this.
a) I am going to have the ‘urge’ to smoke
b) This means that I will be visualising the cig, smelling it and tasting it
in my mind.
c) When this happens I take a drag on a straw.
So what if you were to try and write down when these urges come on - look at
what has happened the couple of hours preceding the urge, try to identify any
physical sensations (not just all this mind stuff, cos our minds can create
images/thoughts which can last for a long time) which precede the urge.
then your abc could look something like this
a) Every day I get ……….. around about ……… time - this is the

urge thingy
This makes me feel that I can see, taste, smell a cigarette
b) I can choose to smoke a cigarette, take a long deep drag on it and inhale
all those noxious gases, chemicals, smoke and hot burning ash into my lungs -
this will remove the urge until next time!
I can simulate my dragging on a cig by dragging on a straw - this will try
and fool my brain into believing that I am still going through the same
motions without putting all the shit into my lungs and remove the discomfort
- until the next time.
I can do some controlled abdominal breathing as soon as the thought occurs
and not let it get too intense which will remove the discomfort until next
time.
Do a tarzan breath - this is real good and works really well - take a deep
breath in and as you breath out beat the top of your rib cage (below sternum)
with softly curled fists. While you are breathing out slowly and controlled
make a very loud AAAAHHHH sound.
c) Make your choice.
Now I’m not very good at writing these abc’s and often get them in the wrong
order so no doubt Steve or Cat will chip in and correct this if its wrong.
Namaste
Indi

By: hassan_11

hassan_11 — Sat, 10 Jan 2004 22:52:25 +0000

In a message dated 02/02/02 04:29:51 GMT Standard Time,
catmohan@… writes:
Hey Cat
I’m fine - just been sooooo busy but hopefully thats coming to an end - I’ve
got some catching up to do with you and Pam so soooooon:)
Just got to get through next couple of weeks then DH taking me somewhere HOT
for a break!!!!!! This is going to be a ‘first’ for me so guess I’m going to
be pinching your abc’s cos I know they will fit and I’m too lazy to write my
own when I can use yours:)
(((((((((Hugs)))))))))))))
Indi

By: Neva Marjory

Neva Marjory — Fri, 09 Jan 2004 11:27:35 +0000

There’s been some debating here tonight about changes in eating
behaviour i.e. substituting food for cigs, and dealing with weight
gain. I’m posting an extract here from the article ‘Of beasts and
boats’ from Steve’s site, which I think is very relevant here:-
Pam
There are several ways to minimize ‘rocking the boat’:
1 - A wildly fluctuating blood sugar level effects mood, the ability
to
think clearly, even the way we feel physically. Do yourself a favor
and
don’t over do sugar consumption, either sweets or pasta. Get your
sugar
from fruits and eat light balanced meals. (Remember the 10 o’clock
coffee
and donut and then struggling to stay awake an hr later? Or what

about that
huge meal that makes you feel like you need a several hour nap? You
don’t
have to subject yourself to this.) Improper nutrition and/or
excessive junk
food only sets you up for more stress which will be dealt with by
eating
more junk which will set you up for yet more stress and it just goes
on and
on. Not much different, actually, than the nicotine cycle you’re
trying to
get away from. And while I’m on the subject of eating…… of all
our
normal behaviors, eating seems to be the most closely connected to
smoking.
The actual hand to mouth motion of eating is close to that of
smoking. The
feeling of ‘fullness’ from chewing and swallowing is very similar to
what
we experienced when we’d light up and inhale deeply. If smoking is a
behavioral response to the everyday events of our lives, and we’ve
allowed
eating to replace a cigarette, then while we may not be smoking, we
*are*
perpetuating the very same behavioral responses that were our smoking
habit. It would seem that encouraging an action that so closely
mimics
smoking would virtually guarantee that your urges to smoke will hang
on
tenaciously. Yet the general advice in most quit smoking venues
is, “go
ahead and eat to your heart’s delight. Deal with the weight gain
later…… Anything as long as we don’t smoke”. Personally, I think
this
is dangerous and misguided advice. Weight gain may seem like a
secondary
issue, but it’s a problem that has been the undoing of many a quit.
It’s
not uncommon to hear, “I’ve put on sooo much weight! I hate the way
I look.
Nothing fits anymore. I hate myself for getting so fat. I didn’t
have this
problem when I smoked.” This is generally where the “Deal with the
weight
gain later” advice leads. Unfortunately, as quitters, for most of us
it’s a
few months and a few too many pounds later before it becomes clear
to us
that unbridled gluttony is NOT effective quit management. Another
interesting little bit of info… most of us are in the 40+ age
group. At
this point in our lives excess pounds rarely come off easily.
Alternatively
……. we might consider taking a first step toward taking control
of what
we eat by asking ourselves, each time we want to eat, are we ‘mouth
hungry
or stomach hungry’. Depending on your answer, determine an
appropriate
response. If that’s too confusing, then eat 3 balanced meals a day at
regular intervals and determine ahead of time what ’snacks’ are
allowable(fruit/veggies). This way, when you get ‘hungry’, you’ll
only have
to glance at the clock to know if it’s time to eat or if you’re just
experiencing some other ‘urge’. I’ve said these things before and,
as often
as not, the response that comes back is, “But I can’t quit smoking
AND
control my eating at the same time.” or, “I can’t give up ‘all’ my
vices.”
This is probably true if the quit is nothing more than a roll of the
dice… or if we exercise no control and can only hope the quit will
stick.
But if we’re actively taking back our lives, if we’re reclaiming our
bodies
and souls, if we’re adult enough to make the decision to quit
smoking, then
we can and should do whatever is necessary to succeed and that
certainly
includes taking responsibility for what we put in our mouths and why
we put
it there.”

By: hassan_11

hassan_11 — Fri, 09 Jan 2004 03:22:58 +0000

Well I don’t know about all this running naked through the streets - its
enough to scare the whole population of England the thoughts of me doing it.
But my eldest daughter is doing a moonwalk through the streets in her bra!!!
Its power walking a marathon at midnight and its to raise money for breast
cancer - hence the bra (course she is wearing hers all decorated up on top of
her clothes - bit of a coward like her mum:)
Anyway to get back to this weight thing when quitting. I’m a lot like Katie
Lou I have been a size 10 UK all my life again pregnancies excepted. and in 3
1/2 months I am now a size 12. This is very scary and was one of my real
fears about quitting.
Now apart from going mad at the beginning where I was eating a bar of
chococalate a day (my reward thing) I haven’t gone overboard. All I am
actually doing is eating 3 meals a day and maybe some light supper before
bed. But shit I’ve had Christmas to deal with and two really big social
events where food was very ‘pile the pounds on stuff’.

I read somewhere a long time ago that most smokers who quit will easily put
on anything up to two dress sizes and a stone or more in weight. The theory
behind this is that most of us who were concerned about out size didn’t
really eat. When we felt hunger we lit up until hunger went away and thats
how we controlled out weight. So for me I would expect go put weight on cos
they reckon that this will be the normal weight for me if I hadn’t smoked I
would always have been this size.
So providing I eat sensible 3 times a day (most of the time) I don’t expect
to gain anymore and in fact would expect to lose some soon cos spring and
summer are just around the corner. Maybe I’m gonna be one of those who needs
to go on a diet in the summer to compensate for what I eat in the winter.
But so far I’m not having any panic attacks - don’t worry you lot will be
first to hear me.
love
Indi

By: Neva Marjory

Neva Marjory — Thu, 08 Jan 2004 20:57:46 +0000

That is such a good question. Last year when I tried to quit, I
would eat so much at dinner that my stomach hurt. It definitely
wasn’t substitution because I still wanted a cigarette when I finally
finished. I always wanted a cigarette when I finished.
I may be making this up but I heard that I would have to gain 100 lbs
to make up for the good I was doing by stopping smoking. The quit
was the most important; deal with the weigh gain later. It gave me
carte blanche to eat anything I felt like anytime. I had spent my
adult years watching my weight and then someone said eat what you
want and lose it after your quit is secure. However, the weigh gain
became more important than the quit.
Is this what you meant by false beliefs?

By: Neva Marjory

Neva Marjory — Thu, 08 Jan 2004 13:42:52 +0000

That sounded a bit ‘cocky’ - wasn’t intended. Having had such an up
and down few weeks it was one of the things that had pleased me.
What I didn’t add was that I’ve put a couple of pounds on, so
hopefully the exercising is going to sort this out.
Katie
— In CognitiveQuitSmoking@y…, “katie2905uk”