I'm sure many people have resolved to quit smoking in 2009 and may turn to patches and gum, but are there any natural solutions that aren't full of chemicals?
I haven't tried these remedies, because i don't smoke, but I found it interesting to learn that there are alternatives if you don't want to use patches or gum and don't want to quit cold turkey either.
St. John's Wort may lessen cravings but make sure to check with your doctor if you take any prescription drugs. You wouldn't want any adverse interactions going on there.
Replace your habit with something else. When you want to smoke, chew a piece of gum, take a walk or find something to keep your hands busy and your mind elsewhere like origami or paperclip folding. Just make sure you don't pick something that can turn into it's own bad habit like eating candy or other junk foods.
Set up a reward system. Use your cigarette money for something else if you don't smoke for a week or get a massage after several weeks of not smoking. Make the rewards something you really want.
Smoking causes death of thousands of people around the world. It is the main cause of various chronic diseases like asthma, bronchitis, mouth cancers, heart problems, tuberculosis, and lung cancer and stomach problems.
Home Remedies to Quit Smoking
Diet for quit smoking - Honey is the best foodsource that is rich in vitamins, enzymes, proteins and amino acids that helps dealing with cigarette addiction.
Quit smoking cure - Eating high alkaline foods also help to quit smoking.
Take grape seed extract to repair damage lungs. This is one of the best quit smoking treatment.
Mix fresh grated radish with 2 teaspoon of honey and drink it as a juice. This is a good home remedy to quit smoking.
Chewing licorice stick is a safe and the best substitute for a cigarette. This is a good home remedy to quit smoking.
Drinking grape juice is the other best drink that helps to quit smoking. This is one of the effective quit smoking remedy.
Orange juice is acidic in nature and the first step in quitting smoking is to eliminate the nicotinefrom the body. Drinking orange juice twice a day will be useful. This is also effective natural remedy to quit smoking.
Dissolve two tablespoons of baking soda--sodium bicarbonate--in a glass of water and drink this with every meal. This will help in quitting the habit of smoking and is one of the good home remedies to quit smoking.
Alternate Names: The two most common types of ginseng are Panax ginseng, also called Asian, Korean or Chinese ginseng, and Panax quinquefolius, also called American, Canadian, or North American ginseng.
According to traditional Chinese medicine, each type of ginseng is thought to have unique healing properties. American ginseng has more "cooling" properties, which make it valuable for fever and respiratory tract disorders. Asian ginseng has "heating" properties, which are good for improving circulation.
The active compounds in ginseng are believed to be steroid-like components called "ginsenosides".
Why Do People Use Ginseng?
The word Panax comes the Greek word meaning "all-healing". In much of Asia, ginseng is prized as a revitalizer for the whole body. This is partly due to the shape of the root, which resembles the human body.
Mental and Physical Performance
Ginseng is known as an adaptogen, which means it increases resistance to physical, chemical, and biological stress and builds energy and general vitality.
Immune Function
A study examined 323 people who had had at least two colds in the prior year. Participants were instructed to take two capsules per day of either the North American ginseng extract or a placebofor a period of four months.
The mean number of colds per person was lower in the ginseng group than in the placebo group. The proportion of subjects with two or more colds during the four-month period was significantly lower in the ginseng group than in the placebo group, as were the total symptom score and the total number of days cold symptoms were reported for all colds.
Diabetes
In one study, Panax ginseng in dosages of 100 or 200 milligrams were given to 36 people with newly-diagnosed non-insulin dependent diabetes. After eight weeks, there were improvements in fasting blood glucose levels, mood, and psychophysical performance. The 200 milligram dose also resulted in improved hemoglobin A1C levels (a test that measures how well blood sugar has been controlled during the previous three months).
Erectile Dysfunction
In one research study of 90 men with erectile dysfunction, 60% of the participants reported improvement in their symptoms compared with 30% of those using the placebo. Unlike prescription drugs for erectile dysfunction which are usually taken when needed, ginseng only appears to be useful for erectile dysfunction if taken on a continuous basis.
Dosage
The dosage often used in research studies is 200 mg a day of a standardized ginseng extract.
Some traditional herbalists recommend using ginseng for no more than three weeks at a time, followed by a one to two week rest period.
Side Effects and Safety of Ginseng
Pregnant or nursing women or children should avoid ginseng. People with hormone-dependent illnesses such as endometriosis, uterine fibroids, or cancers of the breast, ovaries, uterus, or prostate should avoid Panax ginseng because it may have estrogenic effects.
Panax ginseng may decrease the rate and force of heartbeats, so it shouldn't be used by people with heart disease unless under the supervision of a healthcare providers.
Ginseng may lower blood sugar levels, so it shouldn't be taken by people with diabetes unless under a doctor's supervision. Ginseng may worsen insomnia.
Side effects of ginseng may include nervousness, agitation, insomnia, diarrhea, headaches, high blood pressure, and heart palpitations.
Herb-Drug Interactions
Ginseng can increase the effect of blood-thinners (antiplatelet or anti-clotting drugs), such as clopidogrel, ticlopidine (Ticlid), warfarin (Coumadin), heparin, and aspirin, which may result in uncontrolled bleeding or hemorrhage. Certain herbs, such as danshen, devil's claw, eleuthero, garlic, ginger, horse chestnut, papain, red clover, and saw palmetto, can also increase the risk of bleeding if combined with ginseng.
Ginseng may affect heart rhythm and can increase potential side effects from theophylline (and similar asthma drugs), albuterol, clonidine, sildenafil citrate (Viagra).
Panax ginseng may interact with insulin and other drugs for diabetes, such as metformin (Glucophage), glyburide (Glynase), glimepiride (Amaryl), and glipizide (Glucotrol XL).
Ginseng may interfere with the metabolism of monoamine oxidase inhibitors such as phenelzine sulfate (Nardil), tranylcypromine sulfate (Parnate) and isocabaxazid (Marplan). It's also believed to affect levels of neurotransmitters (chemicals that carry messages from nerve cells to other cells) and may interact with antipsychotic drugs such as chlorpromazine (Thorazine) and fluphenazine (Prolixin).
Ginseng stimulates the central nervous system, so it may increase the effects of prescription drugs that do the same (such as medications for attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, narcolepsy, and obesity. The combination may raise heart rate and blood pressure.
Ginseng has been found to interfere with the metabolism of drugs processed by an enzyme called cyp3A4. Ask your doctor to check if you are taking medications of this type.
When it comes to the herbs you're taking, are you unwittingly making mistakes that could harm your health? Here's a rundown of the 10 most common herb mistakes.
1) You drink chamomile tea without knowing what medications it interacts with.
Although most people think of chamomile tea as being harmless, it can have some serious side effects if it's combined with certain medications.
For example, a case report published in the April 2006 issue of the Canadian Medical Association Journal describes a 70-year-old woman who, while being treated with the drug warfarin, was admitted to hospital with internal bleeding after having used chamomile tea and body lotion for cold symptoms.
2) You're tired all the time so you turn to herbs and other natural products to boost your energy.
Constant weariness, tiredness, or lack of energy warrants a trip to your primary care provider, not the health food store. Although diet and supplements may help, the first step is make sure that the cause of the fatigue isn't an underlying illness, such as:
Tip See your primary health provider first. He or she will ask you questions and make sure you have the proper laboratory and/or imaging tests to rule out these conditions. Then you can think about natural approaches.
3) You take herbs, supplements, and/or drugs that together may increase your risk of bleeding.
Anticoagulant drugs such as aspirin or warfarin (commonly referred to as "blood-thinners") prevent the formation of blood clots inside arteries, reducing the risk of stroke and heart disease. When they are combined with herbs and supplements that also have an anticoagulant effect, they can increase the risk of bleeding:
Tip If you are taking more than one of these herbs or are taking them warfarin, aspirin, or other anticoagulants, or if you are self-prescribing any of these herbs, consult a licensed holistic practitioner (such as a naturopathic doctor) for guidance. Be sure to inform your family physician of all herbs and supplements you are taking. Blood tests called theprothrombin time and international normalized ratios (PT/INR) can be used to assess blood clotting.
4) You quit your coffee or soda habit in favor of lots of yerba mate and energy beverages.
Yerba mate is the coffeehouse "it" drink. Widely consumed in Central and South America, it's often touted as a healthier alternative to coffee, a herbal tea that energizes without causing jitters. However, yerba mate has been associated with esophageal, oral, lung, andbladder cancers in several research studies. Although studies have found it's really only a risk for people drinking huge amounts of the tea (greater than 1 liter a day) or very hot tea, it should be avoided until more evidence is in.
Energy drinks, such as Red Bull, Monster Energy Drink, Full Throttle, contain caffeine and a slew of vitamins and herbs. One of the biggest concerns is that we just don't know enough about the combined effects of these ingredients. Many ingredients are believed to work synergistically with caffeine to boost its stimulant power. Most of them contain loads of sugar and are really no better than soda. What you need to know about energy drinks.
Tip If you're looking for healthier drink options consider water with a splash of pomegranate juice or cranberry juice.
5) You take immune-boosting herbs like echinacea and goldenseal with immunosuppressant drugs, such as corticosteroids.
Drugs that suppress the immune system are used to prevent organ rejection after transplant and to control the symptoms of autoimmune diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, and type 1 diabetes (more autoimmune diseases). Herbs that stimulate the immune system may counteract these medications, resulting in transplant rejection, an exacerbation of pre-existing autoimmune disease, or precipitation of autoimmune disease in people genetically predisposed to such disorders.
Tip If you are taking immunosuppressant drugs such as the ones listed below, do not take the herbs alfalfa, astragalus, echinacea, ginseng, licorice root, or the mineral zinc.
People can become dependent and use them for weeks, months, or even years at a time. However stimulant laxatives such as senna should not be used for longer than a week without consulting a doctor or other health provider. Prolonged use may cause the bowels to lose the ability to move on their own, and has been linked to chronic diarrhea, muscle weakness, potentially dangerous irregular heart rhythms, and kidney or liver impairment.
Tip Talk with your primary care provider about weaning off laxatives gradually and recovering normal bowel function. The key is to do it slowly—usually in combination with a fiber supplement such as psylliumand adequate fluids.
7) You take herbs and supplements before or after surgery.
Your surgeon needs to know about all herbs and supplements you are taking to prevent complications. Herbs and supplements can interact with anaesthestics or cause excessive bleeding. Columbia University's Department of Plastic Surgery recommends that all herbs and supplements be discontinued 2 to 3 weeks prior to surgery. The herbs they identified as some of the most risky yet commonly used include:
8) You don't tell your doctor about the herbs or supplements you're taking or stop taking medications on your own.
A 1997 study by David Eisenberg, MD, of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, discovered that almost half of Americans use some form alternative medicine, only a third of them told their doctors.
Why is this? A survey published in the Journal of Family Practice found patients didn't reveal their use of natural therapies because they thought their doctors wouldn't be interested, were biased against alternative therapies, or didn't know enough about them to comment.
However, there is increasing evidence that not telling could have serious risks to your health. Many herbs interact with common medications and medical procedures and may increase side effects or reduce the effectiveness of your treatment.
Tips
Type up a list of your current supplements, including the ingredients, ingredient amounts, and how often you take them. Next time you go to your family doctor, bring the list with you and ask that it be added to your chart.
You may wish to consider consulting a licensed natural practitioner who can inform you of any interactions.
When asking your family doctor a question, frame your questions so they are as specific as possible, such as "I am thinking of trying massage therapy for my neck. Is there any reason why I shouldn't have it?" If communication is difficult, consider whether it's in your best interest to find a family doctor who is easier to talk with and is non-judgmental about your choices.
9) You rely soley on the manufacturer's website for information about safety and side effects.
You should know about potential side effects and safety concerns from an independent resource that is current and is based on scientific research. Some manufacturers will describe their products as natural therefore safe, but some have the potential to cause serious adverse effects if taken improperly.
For example, in a 2003 study published in the journal Obstetrics and Gynecology, Adrienne Fugh-Berman at George Washington University states that "the use of bust-enhancing products should be discouraged because of lack of evidence for efficacy and long-term safety concerns." And yet these pills are incredibly popular--they're one of the most searched-for herbal pills on the web. Herbs used in many of these breast enhancement pills (e.g. hops, fenugreek) have been found to have potent estrogenic effects and may increase the risk of hormonal cancers such as endometrial and breast cancer. What you need to know about herbal breast enhancement.
10) You don't take your herbs and supplements consistently.
It's important to take herbs and supplements regularly as recommended in order to assess whether or not they are working. A common mistake is to start taking a supplement, skip a day, then two, and then after a while start taking another supplement because you haven't noticed an improvement. If you're not consistent, you'll never know whether it's effective.
Tip Get a day-of-the-week pill organizer online or at your local drug store.
