by Suzannah Olivier

You know you can do it...but you might need a little help. Here's how to stock up so you can quit for good

Smoking is responsible for raising blood pressure, damaging arteries, skin cells and other tissues, and oxidising cholesterol. Yet the good news is that the moment you quit you are already undoing some of this damage and your body is beginning to bounce back. The suggestions below will give your body the nutritional tools it needs to get back to normal as soon as possible. Quitting in your 30s reverses most of the damage eventually, and quitting in your 50s still halves risks

Most smoking cessation therapies (patches, gums and inhalers) deal with the immediate addiction to nicotine, but there is more that can be done to ease the way. Nicotine is a very addictive substance, so using whatever dietary measures you can to reduce this dependency is a boost to your resolve. Cigarette smoke also contains thousands of chemicals, such as arsenic, cadmium, carbon monoxide, hydrogen cyanide and formaldehyde, which are toxic and damaging, so helping to eliminate these as early as possible is also going to make you feel a lot better.

Break the pattern with associated habits
The first important thing is to identify triggers that lead to the desire to smoke. From a dietary point of view, some of these will be, for example, 'just one' after a meal, with a drink, or with a coffee. Ways of breaking this habit is to eat breakfast cereal in the evening, swap coffee for mint tea, or drink juice and sparkling water instead of alcohol (which weakens your resolve anyway). Anything that breaks the pattern.

Grab good snacks that boost blood sugar
The most important thing to tackle with any addiction is the effect of low blood sugar. At times when you feel low, tired, hungry, or even dizzy, it is easiest to grab something instant such as a coffee, a chocolate, some biscuits, crisps or even...a ciggie. Instead of carbohydrate and stimulating foods and drinks that result in an overly-quick release of energy, followed by a subsequent energy slump (this is the danger point), make wise choices instead. This means snacking and basing meals on proteins - such as lean meat, fish, hummus, nuts, beans, seeds, yoghurt, or a little cheese - and wholegrains such as wholemeal bread, brown pasta, brown rice, porridge, oatcakes and rye crackers. These are more satisfying and release energy slowly over time meaning you can control those blood sugar lows and cravings. To aid blood sugar control, eat small, frequent, healthy meals, five or six times daily, rather than large meals.

Regulate blood sugar with supplements
Minerals that are most important for helping to regulate blood sugar are chromium (around 100-200 micrograms daily) and magnesium (around 200-350 miligrams daily).

Making up for deficiencies to improve skin and immunity
Smoking robs the body of important nutrients leaving insufficient reserves. Most notable is vitamin C, which is needed for immunity (it is needed for making white blood cells) and skin and gum health (it is essential for building collagen). So it is no surprise that smokers tend to suffer from colds and flu, have poor gum health, and skin that ages faster. To combat this, make sure you eat at least double the amount of vitamin C that other people need - 120 miligrams versus 60 miligrams daily for other people. Vitamin C rich foods are citrus, kiwis, strawberries, blackcurrants, peppers, cabbage, Brussels sprouts and broccoli.

Other important nutrients are zinc (from protein foods) and essential fatty acids (from nuts, seeds and oily fish). If you are taking a supplement make sure it has around 15-20 milligrams of zinc daily, and take around one gram of omega-3s daily.

Use calcium to get rid of heavy metals
Smokers will feel better if they are able to eliminate the toxic by-products of smoking as soon as possible. Calcium is an important 'chelator' which helps to get rid of heavy metals such as cadmium. Best sources of calcium are non-dairy enriched foods such as soya yoghurt or rice milk, canned fish such as sardines and salmon, kale, dark sesame tahini, eggs and dried fruit. A supplement giving 500 milligrams daily can also help. The antioxidant mineral selenium is an important aid to detoxification and eating five Brazil nuts daily should be sufficient to give the necessary 200 micrograms daily.

Promote lung health with the right foods
A smoker's lungs take quite a battering, so giving them what they need to repair can help. If the lungs have a lot of mucus it can help to avoid dairy and use substitutes such as rice and oat milk instead (sometimes soya is a problem as well). Antioxidants are vital for the mucus membranes of the lungs to function. Apples and onions contain quercitin which helps lungs particularly. Dark berries such as elderberries (an extract is sold as Sambucol), cherries and blackberries are powerfully lung protective because of the anthocyanins they contain. All fruits and vegetables are going to be helpful. Members of the cabbage family, including broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cress, swede, and radish have important cancer-fighting chemicals which support lung health.

However, antioxidant supplements should be treated with caution after a trial that showed that while an antioxidant-rich diet consistently ensured that smokers benefited, supplements containing beta-carotene had the reverse effect. While this trial has been criticised somewhat (don't panic if you're a smoker who has been taking antioxidant supplements), erring on the side of caution may be advised.

Boost heart health with supplements Cardiovascular health is of particular importance to smokers. Increasing antioxidant and vitamin C intakes from diet, as outlined above, will be of great benefit. In fact, smokers in Mediterranean countries do not have as many problems with heart health as do those in Northern Europe, probably due to their high intake of fruits and vegetables - up to ten portions daily (that's over three portions with each meal).

The other major difference is their intake of omega-3s from fish oils. At least two to three portions weekly will be of benefit. Oily fish include salmon, herrings, mackerel, tuna (fresh, not canned), sardines and pilchards. Again a supplement is likely to be of benefit.

Calm and distress
Smoking is very stressful for the body to cope with. The nutrients most needed to support adrenal health - the adrenal glands are involved in the stress reaction - are vitamin C (again), zinc (again!), magnesium (again - are we building up a picture here?) and B-vitamins. B-vitamins are found in wholegrains (again). You can also take a supplement containing around 25 milligrams of each of the main B-vitamins. Calcium has a soothing effect on the nervous system and so do oats - this is probably why hot milky oat drinks have been used as a nightcap for ages. However as smokers experiencing mucus may need to avoid milk for a while, it could be better to use a calcium enriched milk alternative such as oat milk.

Herbal helpers
A reformed smoker who needs help from herbs is likely to benefit from a visit to a medical herbalist. While some herbs can be purchased over-the-counter, others are more potent and only available on a licensed basis, and in any event it is helpful to have someone knowledgeable to help you through the process. A herbalist may consider suggesting Lobelia (also called Indian tobacco) which makes the transition to being a non-smoker easier, Acorus culamus which was used by miners to keep their lungs clear, and St John's wort to help support levels of serotonin, a brain chemical affected by withdrawing from smoking.

Suzannah Olivier is a nutritionist and the author of many books. Her latest in Food Medicine (Robinson). Visit her website www.healthandnutrition.co.uk