Smokers, believe it or not, one simple, yet powerful everyday product may be the most beneficial solution to cease smoking long-term. Nowadays, a lot of people smoke cigarettes. However, smoking has been linked with serious health problems and a lot of people are doing their best to give up this dangerous habit.
However, as nicotine, an ingredient in cigarettes, is known to be addictive, smokers cannot easily put an end to it. Many do try to give up smoking; but they cannot ignore and cope with their physical cravings and reach for their cigarette pack again.
Why Are Cigarettes so Addictive?
When a person smokes cigarettes, the nicotine from them goes into the blood and begins to stimulate the adrenal gland, which causes production of epinephrine. Once the nicotine goes into the brain, it starts to release dopamine or a neurotransmitter for reward and pleasure.
By giving up smoking, the supply of dopamine to the brain reduces and may cause symptoms like anxiousness, depression, and irritability. This is why a lot of individuals tend to gain weight when they cease smoking- usually because they switch from pleasure and reward from smoking to that from foods.
How to Stop Smoking with One Ingredient
According to Urbo, researchers have discovered that sugar may help decrease the cravings for nicotine; however, sugar is not the healthiest alternative that one should have in their diets.
Refined sugar and nicotine work similarly in the body, the only difference being that a cigarette works faster than a candy does. Unfortunately, if a smoker finds solace in sugar and leaves aside cigarettes, there is yet another problem he/she needs to fight off, i.e. excessive sugar consumption.
Luckily for smokers who are reading this article, there is a safer alternative to sugar that many people swear by. This ingredient is stevia, a substance which is used as a natural sweetener, and it does not have a negative impact on the health as refined sugar does.
How to Use Stevia & Stop Smoking
When you feel a craving coming in, drop one to two drops of stevia onto the tongue. When this sugar replacement enters your bloodstream, it will encourage the production of dopamine, same as from smoking a cigarette.
Powder vs. Liquid Stevia
As Urbo point out, a liquid stevia may be a bit healthier as it is free of carbs and calories whereas the powder option does have 5 calories and a gram of carbs. Be that as it may, both of these versions are much healthier than sugar- one packet of refined sugar has 30 calories and 8 grams of carbs. Oh, no!
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