OH! Magazine - Australian Version May 2015 | Page 15

BUTT OUT

HEIDI
DI SANTO

WITHOUT WEIGHT GAIN

www.heidi.com.au

( Emotional Fitness )

Heidi Di Santo shares her tips to help you butt out, without gaining weight!
Back in 2011, I worked with Alex Perry
and Nicabate as part of the Pledge to Quit
Campaign where we set an Australian
record number of people to pledge to quit
smoking on World No Tobacco Day. When it
comes to butting out, there are three things
to consider. Before I share these things, I’d
like to point out that this article will
concentrate on the third point (becoming
emotionally fit) because it is at the heart of
why people fail to quit long term and also
gain weight when they quit smoking.
There’s also a lot of information to help you
in relation to the first two points and I’d
like to focus on what you can’t find
elsewhere. The three things you need to
manage on your quit journey are:
1. Breaking your smoking habits. Many
people smoke when they have a coffee,
drink alcohol or get stressed. Knowing
your smoking triggers and being
prepared with alternatives is essential
for you to successfully quit.
2. Weaning yourself off your addiction to
nicotine. There are many products
such as gums, patches and lozenges
that can help you with this or you can
go cold turkey!
3. Becoming emotionally fit.
Being
emotionally ready to quit and
addressing the underlying emotions
that caused you to smoke initially and
that trigger you to smoke presently is
essential to long term success.

because they swap one addiction for
another (i.e., cigarettes for food)
without addressing the underlying
emotional cause that drives them to
smoke. If you want to be addiction
free, it is essential that you address
the underlying emotional cause that
drives your smoking habit.

Expanding on point three, here’s what you
need to know about becoming emotionally
fit to quit:
•

•

Do you really want to quit? The
decision to quit smoking needs to
come from you. It has to be something
you want to do and not something that
someone has forced you to do,
otherwise the likelihood of you quitting
successfully is low.
You need to address the emotional
cause. At the root of virtually every
addiction are parts in conflict and
parts in trauma. When you decide to
quit smoking, part of you will want to
quit and part of you will want to
continue to smoke. These two parts
are in conflict. The aim of emotional
healing is to get all of your parts
aligned towards common goals. Often
at the root of one or both of these
conflicted parts are traumatised parts,
which are those segments within you
that have experienced something in
the past and are stuck holding on to
unprocessed emotions. When you get
help for these parts, you become free
and quitting smoking becomes much
easier. Resource therapists and ego
state therapists specialise in helping
heal these conflicted and traumatised
parts. Many people avoid quitting
smoking because they’re afraid they
will gain weight. Whilst it is true for
some, the only reason they do is

•

You need to learn to be kind and gentle
with yourself. Many people avoid
quitting because they think they might
fail. The truth is, most people have
several attempts at quitting before
they are successful. The most
important thing is to take the pressure
off yourself by being kind and gentle.
If you do have a cigarette, it doesn’t
mean that you have failed in your
attempt to quit, or that you are a
failure. Become aware of your self
talk. Rather than berating yourself for
smoking, focus on how many cigarettes
you
have
avoided
smoking,
congratulate yourself and continue on
your path to quit. Another way to take
the pressure off is to cut down slowly
rather than quitting all at once.
Remember, every cigarette that you
don’t smoke is doing you good!

`

https://youtu.be/e3mPGCfdDRI

( OH! MAGAZINE ) MAY 2015

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