Journey

Smokers have a deficiency in these vitamins/minerals according to the book “how to Quit without feeling Shit”. (The following are recommendations to support people coming off caffeine, sugar, nicotine, cocaine, met-amphetamine, Ritalin, and prescribed stimulant drugs or those who are still suffering from abstinence symptoms after quitting)

Source: how to QUIT without feeling S**T – Patrick Holford, David Miller PhD & Dr James Braly

Make sure you get a copy of the book if you are planning on doing this – there are certain recommended dosages, blood tests you need to take, a certain diet you need to be on, and so on, etc. This page just lists a tiny fraction of notes from the book. The book is a hard read, it really does your head in, as it’s written like a university thesis. So I put pen to paper to try and figure out exactly what is recommended for me and this is what I came up with.

The book goes into detail about supplements that you need to take, and while I am not a supplement fan, I will list the recommendations here, but will also research what foods & juices are the supplement equivalent and start eating foods containing these to help while quitting.

More notes from the same book:

Before you quit…

Start the basic supplements

• Multivitamin
• Multi-mineral
• Vitamin C
• Berry Extracts (bioflavonoids)
• Essential Omega-3 & Omega-6 fats
• Phospholipid complex
• Amino Acids: Tyrosine, Tryptophan

Start the Stimulant Prescription

• Tyrosine 1,000mg x 2
• Ginseng 500mg x 2
• B Vitamins
• B5 100mgx2
• B6 20mg x2
• Folic Acid 200mcg x2
• B12 10mcg x2
• Chromium 200mcg x2
• NADH 5mg x2

Follow the How to Quit diet for 1 month:
30 days to “get off” stimulants (sugar, caffeine, tea, chocolate)

Breakfast

• Porridge
• Boiled egg on rye
• low GI Muesli
• Fruit Yogurt

Lunch

• Tuna Salad & Rice
• Green bean, olive, and roasted pepper salad
• Low GI Sandwich
• Low GI Baked Potato

Dinner

• Chilli
• Thai Green Currry
• Sweet Potato Tortilla
• Fajitas
• Turkey Meatballs
• Pasta with Pumpkin seed pesto

Snacks

• Apple + Handful nuts (about 8) Brazil, Almond, Walnuts, Cashew, Macadamia
• 2 x Plums or 1 x Nectarine + Handful Seeds (Sunflower, Pumpkin, Sesame, Linseed, Flaxseed)
• Carrot + Celery + 1/2 x 200g Hommus
• 150g Yogurt + 1/2 x 300g berries
• 1/2 125g Tuna + Wholewheat tortilla

Break mental connections with nicotine

Start a diary for a week and record every situation where you smoke (upon waking, phone, stress, etc)

• Record how you feel – before & after
• After the week, tally-up the results:
• with a hot drink 16
• after a meal 6
• after argument 3

Set Weekly Goals

• 1st week Smoke whenever you like, but not when you drink a hot drink
• 2nd week Smoke as you like, but not when u drink hot drinks or within 30 mins of a meal, etc.
• Continue until all associated habits have been removed
• Max 6 Weeks

Reduce Nicotine

• Switch to brands with lower nicotine until you are down to 2mg per cig
• Reduce week by week the # of cigs until you are down to 5 / day
• Replace with nicotine gum

1st week of quitting

• Take extra 8g vitamin c (via magnesium powder in bottle of 1/2 water, 1/2 juice), sip throughout day
• Take chromium (200mcg) with breakfast & lunch
• Take 50g Niacin Twice/day
• Eat Alkaline-forming diet
• High in fruit, vegetables & seeds

Cravings
If you feel like a smoke, eat an apple and drink a glass of water, or sugar-free licorice

Improve your breathing
Brisk walk, yoga, swim

Nicotine withdrawal lowers serotonin levels
Supplement 5-HTP 200mcg one hour before bed

My personal plan

(I’ve figured out exactly which vitamins/supplements that I particularly need to get the above dosage, but this will not work for you unless you have access to the same brands of supplements that I have researched and on the exact same diet that I am, which is highly unlikely.)

Note: I just did this to ‘start’ me thinking right, i.e. thinking about nutrients, vitamins, and things that might be missing from my diet. What I found after a couple of weeks is that this is really a pill-popping type of recommendation – and even if it’s only temporary, it doesn’t feel right. I have personally decided to just source out natural ways of increasing the nutrients & vitamins to my diet. I still think this is a great first step for anyone that is not yet in the mindset of healthy living, as it does force you to think about all the things you are missing from your everyday diet, and that to not have to take ‘supplements’ all the time, you are better off figuring out a way to add nutritious food to your diet.