eG Foodblog Tag Team IV: Marlene, Dave, snowangel - Cold Turkey, Three Ways

[Anna N]

Best wishes to all of you. I am selfishly hoping you will inspire me to quit too.

[snowangel]

Good morning! Two down, one to go (kids off to school). It is an absolutely beautiful white morning. We had a nice snowfall last night, and the treees are draped with a white carpet.

I am currently worshiping my morning goddess:

I get the pot ready to go at night, and my husband, Paul, gets up grinds the coffee and gets things rolling. A happy mother/wife is one who emerges from the shower to coffee, which in turn, makes everyone else's life happier!

I have smoked since I was a teenager. My kids hate it. Quite frankly, now that I think about it, not only is it stinky and bad for me, it is expensive and takes time (no smoking in our house or cars). I'm sick and tired of planning my errands around stopping at the cash machine to get cigarettes. I'm getting nowhere in a hurry on a home remodeling project, partly because of all of the damned cigarette breaks.

In Soba's tease photo, there was a picture of an empty jar. It is my jar. I will put a chit in the jar for every pack I don't smoke. When the amount is right, I'm treating myself to Charcuterie. I really, really want that book, so that's my carrot.

Off to pull something out of the freezer for dinner.

[johnnyd]

As a commercial diver, lung capacity translates directly to the amount of work accomplished. One year, I decided to quit smoking one month before our diving season, in August. My time underwater increased from an average of one hour to one and a half hours per scuba tank, allowing more time to earn money (collection of sea urchins). I earned an extra $200 on average per day.

To do it, I took the advice of a now-forgotten friend who said to drink a big glass of water whenever the craving for a cigarette hit. Worked pretty well. After the season ended I gradually picked up the habit again during the summer only to quit again August 1st in preparation for another winter of fishing.

[CaliPoutine]

Congrats to you all!!

My spouse Robin quit( cold turkey) on April 4th of last year. She is still smoke free. One trick she used was to install a quit meter on your computer. It show's how much money she's saved during that time. The amount is staggering ( especially with the price of Canadian cigarettes as I'm sure Marlene knows) She gave her self full license to eat in the first 30 days without worrying about the weight gain. She did workout during this time too. She put on some weight, but took it off within the next few months. The most important part is that she's still smoke free.

Good luck to you all.

[gini]

Congratulation to all three of you!

As an ex-smoker, I thought I'd give you a few of the things that helped me get through the first month or so of quitting.....

1) Brush your teeth after every meal or snack (I always felt weird smoking after I had JUST been mint-i-fied)

2) Take lots of showers when the urges hit (who can smoke in the shower?)

3) Run! Your lungs will hurt and you will be mad at me, but trust me, it works in the long run (no pun intended).

4) Buy a carton of cigs and dump them into a big old plastic container with a screw top. Fill the container with water and close tightly. Everytime you have an urge, open up the container. DISGUSTING. I only ended up opening it twice (I'm slow, what can I say? )

And I have to emphasize SB's quote:

I've concluded that will power, self-help groups, hypnotism, patches, gums and other gimmicks notwithstanding, it's either your day to quit smoking, or it ain't.

Good luck!

Edited February 1, 2006 by gini (log)

[judiu]

Best wishes to all of you.  I am selfishly hoping you will inspire me to quit too. 

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Yeah, me too!

[Megan Blocker]

Oh, wow, you guys. Good luck - this is fantastic. Group therapy to the nth degree. You can do it!

[BarbaraY]

Good luck to all of you. I know it's tough but it can be done.

Nov. 1, 1975 was my freedom day. I didn't say I was going to try, I said I was going to quit and I have never had a cigarette since. I had a 2 1/2 pack a day habit.

My dearest friend died of lung cancer, the man I loved died of lung cancer and emphysema, my Mom, at 89 is still smoking when she can get out to do it but has emphysema and congestive heart failure, my Dad had congetive heart failure and macular degeneration, my sister and her daughter both died of cancer.

My eldest daughter quit almost 2 years ago using the patch. I had nothing but lots of Vitamin B and Valerian root for help plus the determination to show the guys I worked with that I could do it.

So I gained 10 lbs almost instantly. I'd rather be fat then dead.

So lets see the goodies you're going to make for us. You can't smoke while cooking (I hope).

[srhcb]

2) Take lots of showers when the urges hit (who can smoke in the shower?)

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An old GF worked at a resort on the Canadian border one summer. The owner's wife was a notoriously heavy smoker, and my GF claimed to have witnessed her keeping one arm outside the curtain with a lit cigarette while she showered.

SB (never was that bad)

[Megan Blocker]

2) Take lots of showers when the urges hit (who can smoke in the shower?)

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An old GF worked at a resort on the Canadian border one summer. The owner's wife was a notoriously heavy smoker, and my GF claimed to have witnessed her keeping one arm outside the curtain with a lit cigarette while she showered.

SB (never was that bad)

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Now, that's a character-defining moment for someone's next movie or novel.

[christine007]

godspeed to all of you, I'm in awe.

I also wanted to say keep asprin on hand, some people get headaches from the withdrawal. Best of luck to you!

[lesfen]

Fantastic idea. My husband and I quit, together, last month and it's been a lot easier than either of us expected. I will tell you that we've both packed on a few pounds but I'm confident that it's a temporary situation. We were both pack-a-day smokers and I shamefully admit that the $$ was the biggest issue for us. We figured that by quitting, we'd save about $220-$250 a month. That's huge.

The other thing that really kicked the message home was seeing our daughter (age 2) pick up a cigarette butt off the ground and putting it in her mouth. BAD MOMMY!! BAD DADDY!!

I didn't really notice food tasting better, which is odd because the one thing that I DID notice was that my sense of smell ramped up. That's really the best deterrent because you realize how bad cigarettes smell! We have a handfull of smokers here at my office and I can smell them coming a mile away. I have noticed that ice cream has made a comeback at our house.

Hardest part? Drinking. Drinking without smoking has been... strange. Tempting.

[Marlene]

I'm back from my meeting. Interestingly, my vice chair is a smoker and I normally don't notice it. but I guess because I hadn't had a cigarette this morning, I could instantly tell that she had had one before coming in. I don't seem to be at the point yet where it smells disgusting, but neither did it make me want one. The urge is coming in waves and so far so good.

I haven't even had time for breakfast yet, so that's next. Tonight's dinner is going to be braised short ribs and rice so I need to get working on that as well.

Pictures soon. Really.

[Tess]

Congrats to you all!!

My spouse Robin quit( cold turkey) on April 4th of last year.  She is still smoke free.  One trick she used was to install a quit meter on your computer.  It show's how much money she's saved during that time.  The amount is staggering            ( especially with the price of Canadian cigarettes as I'm sure Marlene knows)  She gave her self full license to eat in the first 30 days without worrying about the weight gain.  She did workout during this time too.  She put on some weight, but took it off within the next few months. 

Just adding my congratulations and good luck! Similar experience here: I gained weight for a few months even while watching my diet, but then after a while it started coming off again. Nicotine was a very effective weight-loss drug for me and it was never again easy to diet after I quit; on the other hand working out became a lot easier.

As I recall, the first two weeks were really difficult and then it got markedly easier.

[Marlene]

Alright, so I promised green veggies. I currently have in the house aspargus, brocoli and green beans. I think I want to save the brocoli for a gratin on Saturday (recipes encouraged) so my question is, do I have green beans or aspargus with the short ribs tonight?

[Jason Perlow]

I would go green beans with the short ribs. Blanch them quickly in a pan with water, then saute with (a lot of) garlic and olive oil. Use an ample amount of salt and pepper and perhaps a squeeze of lemon. If you have any bacon, chop up a small amount and throw it in with the olive oil, get them crisped, and throw in the green beans.

[Anna N]

Alright, so I promised green veggies.  I currently have in the house aspargus, brocoli and green beans.  I think I want to save the brocoli for a gratin on Saturday (recipes encouraged) so my question is, do I have green beans or aspargus with the short ribs tonight?

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Both. Roasted. They roast in about the same time and are yummy. Did this last week. Toss them with some good olive oil, salt and pepper and roast at 450. Toss after about 3 mins and roast for about 4 more mins.

[Jason Perlow]

I find that roasting green beans tends to really dry them out, for some reason.

[CaliPoutine]

Alright, so I promised green veggies.  I currently have in the house aspargus, brocoli and green beans.  I think I want to save the brocoli for a gratin on Saturday (recipes encouraged) so my question is, do I have green beans or aspargus with the short ribs tonight?

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Both. Roasted. They roast in about the same time and are yummy. Did this last week. Toss them with some good olive oil, salt and pepper and roast at 450. Toss after about 3 mins and roast for about 4 more mins.

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I was going to say both too. The more green veggies, the better.

[Mayhaw Man]

Alright, so, well, why not. Count me in. Last time lasted 10 years. Who knows? Maybe I'll get twenty this time. I'm going downstairs to knock out the last one now. Yikes.

I am spending the week at home, I might as well give it a shot-though smoking seems to be the least harmful thing to do down here right now.

[Swisskaese]

Good luck to all three of you. I know it is difficult. I quit 18 years ago.

I starting smoking when I was 13 years old and quit when I was 23, cold turkey!

At my height of smoking, I smoked 1 pack a day.

If I can do it, you can do it.

Both of my grandfathers were heavy smokers. One grandfather made a bet with an alcoholic. My grandfather smoked three packs a day and started smoking when he was eleven. He stopped smoking in 1960 and died a few years ago at the age of 88.

My other grandfather quit smoking in 1988 on New Year's eve. He smoked 2 packs a day. He died almost two years ago at the age of 87.

Edited February 1, 2006 by Swisskaese (log)

[Marlene]

Alright, so I promised green veggies.  I currently have in the house aspargus, brocoli and green beans.  I think I want to save the brocoli for a gratin on Saturday (recipes encouraged) so my question is, do I have green beans or aspargus with the short ribs tonight?

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Both. Roasted. They roast in about the same time and are yummy. Did this last week. Toss them with some good olive oil, salt and pepper and roast at 450. Toss after about 3 mins and roast for about 4 more mins.

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Um remember what happened the last time I roasted green beans?

Alright, so, well, why not. Count me in. Last time lasted 10 years. Who knows? Maybe I'll get twenty this time. I'm going downstairs to knock out the last one now. Yikes.

I am spending the week at home, I might as well give it a shot-though smoking seems to be the least harmful thing to do down here right now.

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Go Brooks!

[daniellewiley]

Alright, so I promised green veggies.  I currently have in the house aspargus, brocoli and green beans.  I think I want to save the brocoli for a gratin on Saturday (recipes encouraged) so my question is, do I have green beans or aspargus with the short ribs tonight?

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Well, my favorite way to have asparagus is roasted, which is pretty rich. So, with the rich short ribs, I think I'd opt for the green beans. Maybe lightly sauteed with almonds and garlic?

ETA: I love this blog's concept. Thinking of you all and sending successful quitting vibes.

Edited February 1, 2006 by daniellewiley (log)

[snowangel]

Marlene, you could do what I do with green beans. Barely blanch them. Toss a big hunk o butter into a skillet, add the green beans (which could be blanched and chilled long before hand) and saute them in the butter until they are done.

[Darcie B]

I think this is a great team foodblog, and hopefully will be an inspiration to other smokers to quit, too. Good luck to all of you! My grandfather has had two different cancers, one came back and had to be treated again, and all have been linked to smoking. He smoked 3-4 packs of Pall Malls a day but quit with the first cancer diagnosis and is still smoke free (and, more importantly, still alive!).

Now if I could only get my parents to quit.

Looking forward to this blog (and to being able to relax a little this week).