way from the pressure and temptations at work, the summer season can be the perfect time to quit smoking. The payoff: within 20 minutes of your last cigarette, blood pressure returns to normal; in five years, lung-cancer risk is cut in half; after 15 years, the risk of coronary disease mimics a non-smoker’s.

Holistic smoking cessation programs help restore the body to a natural healthy state. The best treatments with counselling or group support.

A supporting plan
Good nutrition supports your body as it undergoes natural detoxification when quitting smoking. Eat a whole foods diet including fruits, vegetables, beans, nuts, seeds; increase fluids such as water, fresh juices, soups and herbal teas to aid in the detoxification process. Include supplements to help repair your lungs and other organs that have been damaged and to aid in eliminating additional circulating toxins. Research shows that both body weight and number of cigarettes smoked were significantly lower in people who used nutritional supplements, especially Vitamins A, C and E, along with niacin, folic acid and iron. Damage caused by smoking far exceeds the benefits offered by any single supplement but the additional nutrients can slow the rate of decline in health: B Vitamins support the nervous system and contribute to an overall sense of emotional and mental well-being. Vitamin C is metabolized by smokers approximately twice as fast as non-smokers. Vitamin A is destroyed by smoking but necessary for healing mucous membrane tissue.