Lose Weight | Tips To Quit Smoking And Not Get Fat | Health Tips

Nobody should doubt at this point that smoking is the first cause of avoidable death in the world. It is a highly pernicious habit that we must abandon as soon as possible. The reason is that the alterations that nicotine and other products included in cigarettes cause in our metabolism, affect both our cardiovascular health and the efficiency of our digestion, our psychological balance and the functioning of our respiratory system, among others. many ways.

But precisely because of the state of continuous metabolic alteration caused by nicotine, smoking cessation is not only difficult at the psychological level, but also has short and medium term consequences on various aspects of our physiology. These changes, which occur while our body returns to the normality of living without cigarettes, often translate into an increase in anxiety and hunger.

This implies, according to scientific evidence, an increase in weight between 3 and 5 kilos on average, although for some people this increase can reach 10 kilograms and in 20% of the cases studied, however, there is no weight gain and they even lose weight. Anyway, this increase occurs during the first months and reaches a maximum of one year, where it stops and can be reversed with a healthy diet and exercise.

To understand why this weight gain occurs, it is convenient to see what the influence of nicotine is on our physiological system.

# At the level of the central nervous system acts as a stimulant that keeps us alert. This effect causes our basal metabolism to increase compared to non-smokers and so does our temperature. It is estimated that our thermogenesis increases by 6% and we burn, to maintain the temperature at these levels, 200 kilocalories more than a person who does not smoke.

# In parallel, at the level of the limbic system, in the brain, nicotine increases the sensation of satiety and pleasure, promoting the release of various hormones responsible for well-being.

#However, when the levels of nicotine in blood are too high, this release is partially inhibited, which causes the nicotinic level to be increased more to maintain pleasure, which leads to addiction.

# In this sense, nicotine acts on the brain in a similar way to sugar. Logically, in the absence of nicotine there is a withdrawal syndrome with anxiety, discomfort, etc.

# At digestive level also causes significant alterations, generating an increase in gastric juices and a decrease in muscle movements throughout the digestive system. Both phenomena are the cause of worse digestive efficiency and less use of food.

# In addition, nicotine reduces secretions of the gallbladder to emulsify fats and other compounds, which further decreases the efficiency in the assimilation of food.

# To this we must add the decrease of the olfactory and gustatory capacity by blocking the receptors of the nose and palate, which makes food less attractive to us and we eat with less hunger.

Finally, it is believed that nicotine also influences the microbiota, producing a lower quality intestinal flora, which affects the creation of some important metabolites for our physiology.
What happens when we leave tobacco.

Consequently, by quitting tobacco and drastically reducing nicotine levels in the blood, various effects occur:

We reduce our alert level, our temperature drops and our basal metabolism slows down, so we stop burning those extra 200 kcal, which were like doing a few extra kilometers a day at a jog pace. That is to say that it is as if we stopped doing sports at once.

We increase the anxiety for the abstinence and we need to calm it with some equivalent, such as sugars and fats. Our brain, which is suddenly denied the reward of nicotine, needs some substitute element and asks us continuously: we are hungrier, although it is only psychological.

• Our digestive system returns to work effectively and optimizes the caloric use of everything we eat.
• Our gallbladder also gets more energy from fats.
• Our senses of taste and smell wake up again and find food even more attractive.
• Our intestinal flora, on the other hand, does not improve suddenly and still does not produce some vital products that would surely help us regulate our blood sugar and cholesterol levels.

Quit smoking without getting fat
Now, this increase in weight can be avoided if we follow a series of guidelines; There are even menus designed at the time. Since the lower weight of smokers is actually an effect of their poor metabolic functioning, and it is believed that there is a relationship between smoking and poor diet, it is normal that when quitting tobacco is fattened. This is true as long as a series of strategies to counteract the increase in weight is not planned:

1. Increase the exercise: When leaving tobacco, the body will oxygenate better, since the smoke is a reagent for the lungs, with which we will probably feel more desire to exercise. It's not just about going for a run or joining a gym, although both are a good idea. It may be enough to spend an hour or two a day walking, maybe going back and forth from work, if it is plausible, or changing the car by bicycle, etc .; Each person must find his most sustainable exercise with the conditions of his life.

2. Bread and rice, with fiber: It is very possible that the body asks us for sugars to replace nicotine. We should never give in to sweets or sugary drinks, but we can choose to eat more bread or rice, even pasta. That yes: always integral or at least with a high percentage of vegetal fiber, that will reduce the entrance of glucose in blood and will hijack great part of the starch, avoiding its hydrolysis.

3. Accumulate fruit at home: Another way to satisfy the brain's need for sugars is to eat fruit, but always whole, with its pulp and not in juices. The reason, as in the previous section, is vegetable fiber, which will reduce the entry of sugar into the blood. Whenever we feel hungry or anxious we can calm her down with a piece of fruit.

4. Drink a lot of liquid: Water or herbal infusions will be good to maintain a feeling of fullness that prevents us from going direct to empty the refrigerator, but also to moisturize the mucous membranes. To this we must add its diuretic effects, which will benefit the kidney.

5. Take skim milk products: Fat is not bad, but at the beginning it is better to improve the relationship between proteins and lipids because we will make better use of calories. On the other hand, the use of dairy products -especially authentic yogurts, without extra heat treatments or added sugars- at least once a day can make us improve our intestinal flora.

6. Let's bet on quality protein in our dinners and meals: Vegetarians have a vegetable protein of excellent quality and high satiating power in legumes. Carnivores can opt for blue fish - without going overboard -, turkey, chicken, ham, etc., trying to prioritize protein over fat.

7. Zero soft drinks, zero cupcakes, zero fried potatoes: The reasons are obvious, because it is sugars, salt, hydrogenated fats, etc., which in addition to making us fat can endanger our health. If we feel desire for sweet, let's look for the fruit.

8. Lower the proportion of coffee or tea: The reason is that these drinks are stimulants of the creation of cortisol, the molecule of stress, and therefore can cause us greater anxiety and need for tobacco, which we will replace with food to calm it down.

9. No to chocolate: Chocolate adds to its stimulating effect, similar to coffee and therefore generating anxiety, its caloric power. If we eat it, we will achieve a double negative effect: we will not calm the anxiety and we will get even fatter.

10. Chewing gum with nicotine, yes, but with moderation: Nicotine gum can be effective in people who smoke a lot, since they will have more anxiety and a feeling of hunger. But they should not be a substitute for smoked nicotine, but a palliative and progressively descending treatment that calms the feeling of psychological hunger and helps us to get rid of nicotine.