Quit smoking.

Botanical name: 
Nicotiana tabacum
Problems: 
Addiction

To: herb.franklin.oit.unc.edu
Subject: [herb] Re: question on quit smoking
From: Henriette Kress <hetta.saunalahti.fi>
Date: Wed, 02 Jan 2002 09:59:14 +0200

> attempting to quit smoking and would like info on herbs and or natural medicine to make this process easier. Also I few years back PAUL, (chinese med) told of herbs to help get the tar and residue out of the lungs after you stop smoking. any advice will be appreciated. thank you

First, you have to REALLY want to stop.

If that's in place, you can do several herbs:

  • Avena (oats) milky seed tincture, regularly
  • Vitex when you think you really need a smoke. The tincture is best because you can carry that with you
  • licorice to help your lungs, your adrenals, your gut, and in fact a few drops of a licorice tincture every now and then is extremely helpful when you're trying to stop - and it tastes good, too

If you do blueberries or bilberries regularly cigarettes will taste rather ghastly, which also helps. (Over here bilberries are almost a staple, with your average household picking 10 or more buckets of it each year.) Then people ask me how much. Well, drink a glass or three of diluted bilberry juice a day, or do a cup of blueberries with your favorite additives (sugar, cream, whatever) a day. Regular is more important than amount, though.

And remember: it's easy to stop smoking. I've done it dozens of times...