Quitting Smoking

[Angus Cattle Shower]

Well, I've been smoking for three years now, and being young I figured I better quit while I'm ahead as it will probabally just get harder as I get older. Over the last two weeks I have greatly cut back, going from 2/3 a 25 pack a day to a 20 pack lasting three days. Today is day one of quitting cold turkey. Anyone have any advice? How did the people that have already quit do it? I find Fisherman's Friend lozenges help when you're hurtin.

Anyone have the guts to quit with me?

 

[Sir Loin]

Angus Cattle Shower

I want to strongly suggest you quit!
As for joining with you in quitting, at 66 yrs old and smoked a pack a day since I was 15, I can't do it, I'm hooked.

I quit for 2 years in the 70s but caved to the temptation.
I am now spending over $200 per month for smokes.

If you are a workaholic like me it will be hard but maybe you can do it cold turkey.

Angus Cattle Shower, take it from one who has been there and done that and failed, QUIT NOW!


SL

 

[Angus Cattle Shower]

I'm a workaholic, but it seems to me that it's helping more the harder I work. I can't sit idle. When I did before, when I was bored, I had a smoke, when I was waiting, I had a smoke. Now when I'm bored, I go work on something in the shop. When I'm waiting, I find something to do with my hands. I learned how to knit when I was younger, might have to take that up again just to keep my hands from doing the twitch and keep my mind going.

Or I'll just have to go chase women all weekend, yeah, that should keep me entertained

Thanks Sir Loin, my grandfather died of lung cancer a few years ago and I should have learned, but I didn't and I truly regret it. I want to set a good example for my 13 year old sister.

 

[Sir Loin]

Re:

I'm a workaholic,

I thought so!
Here is what I have found.
Workaholics smoke for two reasons.
1. Physical. They are tired and need an excuse to stop working, so the smoke break is the excuse.
2. Mental boredom from doing what seems just a repetitive task. ( i.e. mowing, raking hay and bush hogging etc )
The mind is not being challenged, therefore it is relaxed and relaxation of the brain sends the same message as is needed with physical relaxation.

It's not your hands you need to find something for them to do, it's your mind.
Learn to recognize mental boredom and challenge your mind and the urge should go away.
Hint: Say all the multiplication tables or the alphabet backwards.
Or Try and remember your first kiss, and from there go back in time to the first thing you can remember.
If that doesn't work, try your first (something else ) and going forward and count your encounters, and name names. First and last. & Phone numbers would also be helpful.
SL

 

[VB RANCH]

every day when you wake, make up your mind that you ain't gunna smoke that day, i have not smoked for 20 yr's, the other day i sure would have liked a cigar, it don't ever go away, just gets easier to say no

 

[Sir Loin]

Angus Cattle Shower
Here is an article I am working on. It has some serious flaws in it, and I'm not talking about grammar or spelling. This should challenge your brain.
Make a copy of this and carry it with you, when you feel the urge coming on, pull it out and try to find the major flaw.
SL




Cargill recalls U.S. dog food due to aflatoxin

By Christine Stebbins
CHICAGO | Wed Dec 7, 2011 6:45pm EST
CHICAGO (Reuters) - U.S. agribusiness giant Cargill Inc said it was voluntarily recalling a year's output of dog food made for its brands River Run and Marksman due to high levels of aflatoxin.
It was the second recall of pet food this week due to aflatoxin.
At Cargill, the dog food was manufactured at its Lecompte, Louisiana, plant from December 1, 2010, to December 1, 2011 and distributed in 13 states and two territories: Kansas, Missouri, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Tennessee, Kentucky, Indiana, Illinois, Hawaii, Florida, California, Guam, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Cargill said in a statement.
"No illnesses have been reported in association with these products to date, and no other Cargill Animal Nutrition pet food products are involved in this recall," Cargill said.
Procter & Gamble Co earlier this week recalled a lot of its Iams puppy food high due to high levels of aflatoxin produced at its Henderson, North Carolina, plant.
Aflatoxin, a toxin that can cause liver failure and even death in dogs, is often found as a by-product of a corn fungus. The fungus tends to develop on crops during years of severe heat and drought, similar to what occurred this summer.
"The basic issue is that the weather in the southern part of the United States just trashed the corn. Aflatoxin was pretty prevalent," said Charles Hurburgh, a grain quality specialist for Iowa State University.
Whole corn or by-products of corn or ethanol processing, such as corn gluten feed or distiller's dried grain, are used to make pet food. Generally, the concentration of aflatoxin in corn by-products is three times that of whole corn kernels, Hurburgh said.
At least 76 dogs were believed to have died in the United States in 2006 after eating aflatoxin-infected food produced by Diamond Pet Foods.

Source: http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/12/07/us-cargill-recall-dogfood-idUSTRE7B62QB20111207

 

[Soapweed]

I am not a workaholic, but sometimes wonder if I might be a "shirkaholic." :roll:

Back in basic training at Fort Ord in 1972, every once in a while the powers that be would give us a "smoke break." For non-smokers there really wasn't much to do different. A few guys that had never smoked before took up the habit just for something to do. When issued my Army field jacket, it came with a drawstring around the bottom. I took the string out and carried it in a pocket. During our smoke breaks, this string came in handy to just tie a variety of knots, thus at least keeping my hands and part of my mind busy.

My uncle joined the Army when he was 18 years old, back in 1944. After basic training and AIT, he was put on a troop carrier and sent off to Japan. He didn't smoke at that time. At meal time, the troops were issued C-Rations which had canned meals and a canned pound cake for dessert, along with a small pack of cigarettes. On the ship on the way to Japan, he was trading his cigarettes for pound cake. On the way home three years later, he was trading his pound cake for cigarettes. He did quit smoking shortly thereafter. Someone told him to quit by cutting down gradually. He said he thought it best to quit "cold turkey," giving as an example if you were going to wean a calf, you didn't just let it suck a little less each day. Instead, he said the way to wean a calf was to keep it entirely away from its mother's milk. :wink:

 

[jigs]

I am slightly confused Soap.....are you saying that in order to quit smoking, he needs to stop breast feeding? :???: :wink:

 

[VB RANCH]

ya thats what he said. ha ha

 

[Soapweed]

I am slightly confused Soap.....are you saying that in order to quit smoking, he needs to stop breast feeding? :???: :wink:

A tit for a tat; don't suck that cigarat. :wink:

 

[Haytrucker]

I'll just say if you're going to quit the younger the better.
I quit tobacco for nearly 3 months, without too much trouble, when I was 23. Now that I'm scaring 50, three minutes is sometimes a problem.
At your age you've better things to spend that much money on.
I sure can't help you, other than as a bad example, but if you'll listen to a little hard-earned and bought, advice it's this: nary a gal has told me " I sure wish you chewed."

 

[Larrry]

150 bucks a month x 12 = 1800.00 dollars a year

1800 bucks a year x 60 years = 96,000 dollars lifetime spent on cigs

Now if you would compund that 96,000 then you would have some serious dollars.

Add on a few drinks of alcohol and it is even more wild.
[/b]

 

[Sir Loin]

So? Angus Cattle Shower, how's things going?? :lol:
SL

 

[Silver]

Whatever you do, don't take up Copenhagen as a replacement. I quit cigarettes without too much trouble. A few years later I took up the chew and am now thoroughly hooked. I've quit for up to a year a couple of times, but just can't seem to stay away from it.
One thing about quitting cold turkey; when the craving comes on it might seem like the world is going to end if you don't give in to it. But if you really sit and analyze the craving and wait for it to pass, you'll realize it's actually not life threatening. Take them one at a time, and as time goes on they get easier to deal with.
Biggest problem is really wanting to quit, which is where I fail.

 

[Angus Cattle Shower]

SL, it has turned into a New Years resolution :roll:

Silver, I used to chew almost a tin a day, I quit that cold turkey no problem. I can't even stand the smell of a dip, the only one I can tolerate is Skoal long cut Green Apple. My biggest problem is actually wanting to quit. I'm alright for a few days then say hey I'm doing pretty good, one won't hurt, then two won't hurt and am back at square one. I'm still under five smokes a day (minus drinking) but all I will smoke now is cigars, I haven't bought a cigarette since I started the thread. I have however had one.

I hate those intense cravings, it wasn't so bad in my truck because I enjoyed being in it, going for a back road cruise. But now that's totalled off and I have to drive my little compact (2003 Toyota Echo) which I hate with a passion. Too bad I couldn't get out and do some field work when the cravings come!