For someone who is trying to stop smoking, a cigarette is the first thing you will think about when you’re bored and a popular reason to begin to smoke again. In the past, smoking cigarettes kept your hands and mouth very busy a lot of the time.  Therefore the outcomes of quitting smoking, often causes one to gain weight.

Your taste buds begin to improve which leads you to constantly need something in your mouth. Smoking also increases your metabolism, so when you stop smoking, your metabolic rate begins to fall and your weight increases because your body now burns fewer calories. Plus, the absence of nicotine causes your insulin level to rise, leaving you hungry.

Instead of grabbing for a bag of chips or a snickers bar, it may be helpful to keep your hands and mouth busy by turning to healthier options which will not only allow you to feel better, but look better as well. Below is a list of foods that are sure to keep you busy without sabotaging your diet:

High-fiber cereals: As you’re well aware, cereals contain a satisfying crunch factor for your teeth and mouth.

Carrots and celery: This will keep you healthy while giving you a satisfying crunch throughout the day — and you can eat tons of without worrying as much about calories.

Sugar-free gum: A calorie-free way to get through the day.  Chomping away on sugar-free gum allows one to go through the motions of eating without actually eating.

Sugar-free mints: Similar to chewing gum, these breath-fresheners give the mouth an activity without calories.

Pistachio Nuts: Opening up each shell will keep you busy and satisfied when craving a smoke

Apples: They’re filling, and they boost the body’s energy level significantly. Apples are a sweet, large and crunchy route to satisfaction.

String cheese: You pull on it in tiny pieces and it comes off like string. It can easily take up 20-25 minutes of your crave time if you want it to.

Low-fat popcorn: Popcorn is a healthy snack that contains a lot in a bag on few calories. Microwave a bag to keep your hands and mouth busy. 

Popsicles: Do to the fact that they are so cold, it will take you a long time to lick and get to the bottom.

Tanya Zuckerbrot, MS, RD is a nutritionist and founder of www.Skinnyandthecity.com.    She is also the creator of The F-Factor Diet™, an innovative nutritional program she has used for more than ten years to provide hundreds of her clients with all the tools they need to achieve easy weight loss and maintenance, improved health and well-being.  For more information log onto www.FFactorDiet.com.

New York smokers have been sent outside in all kinds of weather, coughed at in disdain, and now they are burdened with the most expensive cigarette taxes in the nation.

Now, to add cost to injury, the state is declaring its highest-in-the-nation cigarette tax a success.

The number of calls to the state’s Smoker’s Quitline quadrupled to nearly 10,000 calls during the week of June 2, when the full $2.75-a-pack tax kicked in, New York Health Commissioner Dr. Richard Daines said. Fewer than 2,300 people called for help during the same week in 2007.

The urge to smoke is contagious, but quitting apparently is, too. A team of researchers who showed that obesity can spread person-to-person has found a similar pattern with smoking cessation: A smoker is more likely to kick the habit if a spouse, friend, co-worker or sibling did.

What’s more, smokers tend to quit in groups and those who don’t stop puffing increasingly find themselves pushed to the edge of their social circles, the researchers found.

“Your smoking behavior depends upon not just the smoking behavior of the people you know, but also the people who they know” and so on, said Dr. Nicholas Christakis, a medical sociologist at Harvard Medical School and lead author of the new report.

The federal government’s new advice to doctors for helping smokers quit recommends the drug Chantix, which has recently been linked with depression and suicidal behavior.

The new guidelines mention the psychiatric risks but also say the popular Pfizer Inc. drug is the most effective at helping people get off cigarettes. The guidelines mention other options, too, and highly recommend combining counseling and medication. But doctors are encouraged to talk to all smokers who want to quit about trying medication.

Consumer advocates cautioned that the safety picture on Chantix is incomplete because it’s a relatively new drug, on the market since 2006.

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