
- With Mayo Clinic behavioral counselor
Jennifer A. Kern, M.S., C.T.T.S.
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Jennifer A. Kern, M.S., C.T.T.S.
Jennifer A. Kern, M.S., C.T.T.S.
Jennifer Kern is a tobacco treatment specialist, certified through the Mayo Clinic Nicotine Dependence Center.
Her counseling work addresses various aspects of tobacco addiction, including the love-hate relationship many tobacco users have with their smoking or chewing, education about nicotine addiction, and effective strategies to help with quitting.
In addition, she explores the importance of getting emotional and social support when stopping tobacco use, and offers ideas and suggestions about how to ask for and give this support.
Being bilingual, she enjoys counseling in both Spanish and English. She holds a master's degree in psychology, with interests including spirituality, psychosomatic illness, depression and anxiety, maladaptive coping behaviors, and overall health behavior change.
"As a former smoker, I am personally familiar with the complexity of dealing with the 'tobacco shackles,' " she said. "I am committed to helping others conquer this addiction so they may regain their freedom and possibly even save their own lives."
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July 24, 2009
Blog: Finding substitutes for cigarettes
By Jennifer A. Kern, M.S., C.T.T.S.
When making any kind of lifestyle change, it's not enough to "just quit" doing something like smoking, overeating, or watching too much TV. Doing so leaves a void, which creates vulnerability to falling back into undesirable behavior patterns.
When you go through the process of becoming smoke-free, I encourage you to find replacements for the cigarette during the times you're used to smoking. This process starts with being willing to consider what adequate substitutes might be.
Examine the role each cigarette plays in your life. For most of you, the cigarette with coffee in the morning is not the same as the cigarette when you're stressed out or while you're driving or after you've finished a meal.
Ask yourself, "In this situation, what does the cigarette do for me?" Does it temper boredom by providing something to do with your hands? Does it give you an excuse to remove yourself from a stressful situation? Is it acting as a "best friend" or companion during an upset or lonely moment? Are you getting actual pleasure out of it?
Once you recognize the role the cigarette is playing, you can try out alternatives that will also meet that need, such as taking a brisk walk to deal with stress, starting a new hobby, calling a support person or finding other sources of joy.
I really like the concept expressed by one of you a few weeks ago. Andi wrote, "Make an apple a day your best friend." This kind of shift in thinking can move you further along the path toward becoming comfortable as a non-smoker.
For brainstorming new and different alternatives, talk to other people who have successfully quit, search for tips online or seek out a counselor who can help you discover strategies or replacements you may not have tried.
It's important to realize that nothing will be exactly like smoking a cigarette, but there are alternatives you can use to both manage short-term cravings and make long-term adjustments to fill the void as you transition into your new smoke-free lifestyle.
Please share some of the alternatives you've found to be effective on your journey to becoming a non-smoker.
8 comments posted
November 17, 2009 6:57 p.m.
Hi, I'm a student at Metro State of Denver. I'm researching a new product possibility; the product would be a "Quit Smoking" aide that offers a stepping down approach. I am a former smoker myself but I'm addicted to Commit lozenges and they contain nicotine. I would still buy them if they had zero mg of nicotine but they don't offer that. I would like to market a product that does. Anyways, I made this survey for my research project and it would really help me if anyone could take it [smokers, former smokers, and non-smokers are all welcome] Thanks so much. -- Casey Here's the link to the survey. http://www.surveygizmo.com/s/206243/r2zgt
- Casey
October 10, 2009 3:24 p.m.
I actually quit a couple of years ago. I think I smoked almost 10 years and smoked a pack a day for the last 3 years. I got married and wanted to have kids. One day it hit me hard that I just had to quit smoking for my future kids and I quit just like that. I did gain weight, because I kept munching everytime I wanted to smoke. I think I was fighting with it for about a couple of weeks and it was gone. After that, I feel just so fresh and good. I also don't feel extra tired when I go to bed or wake in the morning. Seriously quitting made me so much happier. I also joined some guys blog about quitting smoking. It's about people sharing about their own experience, so I write some post on their blog about how I quit smoking and what you need to so to quit. You can check it out if you want to share information and quit together. httP://www.myquitsmokingdiary.com Let's share our experience and help others to quit together!
- Michell
September 13, 2009 2:39 a.m.
Just a couple of ideas to add here... Both my brothers quit, one chewed sunflower seeds, the other toothpicks and straws. I personally have been using tootsie roll suckers. They last for a few seconds if that is all I need or I can re-wrap again for later use. Or it takes a long time to go through one if needed. "I sometimes just "play" with them in my hand, flipping the white part with my fingers like flipping an ash and just going through the motion of "putting out" the sucker end of the lollipop. I puff on the white stick periodically too, although I haven't done that for several days now. The silly things that just keep gettin me through without smoking a real cigarette. dc
- dc
August 31, 2009 9:19 p.m.
I quit 35 years ago and it wasn't easy, but what helped was carrying toothpicks with me and chewing on them whenever I wanted to smoke. I prayed a lot too and that helped the most, but the toothpicks gave me something to chew on and have in my mouth when the craving hit.
- Naomi
August 20, 2009 8:36 a.m.
Actually, when you quit smoking your metabolism slows by approximately 12%, so it's normal to gain some weight depending on how much you smoked to begin with. In order to keep the weight off, you'll have to increase your exercise to 12% more of what you were doing prior to quitting. Either way you'll be healthier for not smoking. I slowly cut back and eliminated things that were habits for me, ie; smoking in the car, with coffee, etc. I'm smoking one cigarette a day now and just cant seem to stop that last one!! However, cutting back slowly made it so I didnt gain the weight. Good luck.
- Jess
August 11, 2009 7:08 p.m.
Guys and gals I hear you all from the four corners of this blog and being addicted sucks. I’ve been a smoker for 15 years and tried everything to quit. …gum, patch, herbals, zyban… I even tried to cut back. Well I’m sure you folks are hearing about the electric cigarette. Well I’ve tried it and at freesmokeless, it’s the cheapest and most advance design available. I can smoke everywhere with this thing …especially at work and on planes. Do your research and you’ll see for yourself. A built in atomizer in each cartridge and I only spend a 1/3 of the cost of what I do when I smoked. Make sure you get the two piece design with the built in atomizer in each cartridge or else you’ll end up having to buy more atomizers. Freesmokeless provides the cartridges with the built in atomizers. This is a great way to cut back or even quit all together. This is by far the best quit smoking device I ever tried….check it out,,, you will not regret it. I always said, if there was a product that looks, taste, and feels like a cigarette, but not with all the harmful chemicals and tobacco,,, I’d rush to be the first to buy it (I really wasn’t the first..hee hee). So initially I cut back by only smoking at home. Since I couldn’t smoke in the house, I ended up smoking more of this e-cig than regular cigs. So the long and the short of it is, I just flipped the switch and went a much healthier way of ‘smoking’ and gave up the real cigs. With the tier level cartridges I'll wean myself of
- Bryce
July 29, 2009 7:18 p.m.
You only gain weight because you start snacking to replace the cigarette addiction. Try buying a plastic cigarette and every time you get the urge for a cigarette, put it in your mouth as you would a bona fide cigarette and go through the puffing motions. It helped my husband to quit smoking.
- Carol
July 28, 2009 7:44 p.m.
It´s true, nothing ever will be like smoking a cigarette...It´s been six months I quit, but still don´t know how to deal with cravings, and the bad thiing is that I´m gaining weight... I´m practicing yoga twice a week, and hopw this will help.... If anyone know of anything else, please post it.
- Dora
8 comments posted