Stop Smoking Plan: Stop Smoking Food
All foods have the ability to create within us an acid or an alkaline state, and this acid/alkaline balance is the key to this diet. When doctors at Columbia University, USA, measured the acidity or alkalinity of smokers' bodies, they found that those with the highest acid balance also smoked the most. The reason for this is that acidity actually increases the speed at which nicotine leaves the body, making you crave another cigarette faster.
An alkaline diet, however, slows the rate at which nicotine leaves the system, reducing cravings and making stopping easier. When researchers at the University of Nebraska Medical Centre in the USA tried the diet on smokers cutting down over five weeks, only one was smoking at the end of the trial - and they were only on two cigarettes a day. The others had all stopped.
What are alkaline foods?
All vegetables, particularly watercress, asparagus, alfalfa, courgettes, endive, carrots, potatoes (with the skins on), celery, spinach and swiss chard. All fruits (except blueberries and cranberries), but especially melon, dates, mango, papaya, kiwi fruit, pineapple, raisins, apricots, avocado and apples. A selection of other foods, namely tofu, soya milk and cheese, garlic, eggs, almonds, coconuts, natural yogurt, quinoa grain, herb teas and most herbs and spices.
All other foods are acid-forming. Therefore, while you're on the diet, you should aim to eat substantially more alkaline foods in each meal: ideally 70 per cent of your plate should be alkaline foods and 30 per cent acidic. There is an exception: oats (technically an acidic food) have proven to be a powerful weapon against nicotine withdrawal. In research carried out in Ruchill Hospital in Glasgow, UK, smokers given extracts of oats for one month had fewer cravings when they gave up smoking than people on a placebo. It's believed ingredients called alkaloids help calm the body and slow nicotine withdrawal. Plenty of oats are included in the diet, but you can also take a daily supplement or a tincture If you're eating oats at a meal, aim for 50 per cent oats and 50 per cent alkaline food.