1. Instead of trying slowly to cut back on smoking, quit all at once. This is the easiest and most effective.

2.Do not carry cigarettes.

3. Quit smoking one day at a time. Do not think about the next year, next month, next week or even tomorrow. Concentrate on not smoking from the time you wake up in the morning until you go to sleep at night.

4. Work on developing the attitude that you are doing yourself a big favor by not smoking. You are quitting because you care about yourself a big favor by not smoking. You are quitting because you care about yourself.

5. Be proud that you are not smoking.

6. Realize that many routine situations can trigger the urge for a cigarette

– drinking coffee

-drinking alcohol

-social events with smoking friends

-card games

-the end of a meal

7. Try to maintain your normal routine. If a situation or event seems too tough, leave it and go back to it later. Do not feel you must give up any activity forever. Everything you did as a smoker you will learn to do at least as well, and maybe better, as a non-smoker.

8. Make a list of all the reasons you want to quit smoking. Keep this list where you used to carry your cigarettes. When you find yourself reaching for a cigarette, take your list out and read it.

9. Drink plenty of fruit juice the first 3 days. It will help flush nicotine and poisons out of your body.

10. To help avoid gaining weight, eat vegetables and fruits instead of candies. Celery and carrots can be used as substitutes for cigarettes.

11. If you are concerned about gaining weight , do some regular exercise.

12. If you have problems in your life while you are quitting, smoking is no solution. Giving in to your addiction to nicotine, the powerful drugs in cigarettes, will make things worse.

13. No matter how long you have been off smoking, you cannot safely take another puff.

14. Do not think about how much you want one cigarette. Instead , ask yourself how you would feel about going back to smoking as much as you used to.

15. Save the money you usually spend on cigarettes. After a week or a month buy yourself something you really want.

16. Practice deep breathing exercises when you have a craving for a cigarette.

17. Tell people around you that you have quit smoking.

18. There are only two good reasons to take a puff once you quit smoking.

You want to go back to your old level of smoking until it cripples and then kills you.

You enjoy quitting and want it to last forever.

If you do not like these options, never take another puff.

CULLED FROM CHINA-USA HEALTH PROJECT