Quitting smoking is literally a life-changing event.  Nicotine has your body hooked on physical, emotional and psychological levels.  Kicking the habit is a great start to reclaiming your health and your life.  Vitamins and supplements can help you to recover from smoking while soothing withdrawal symptoms.  If you have already quit, good for you!  Quitting smoking is the best way to increase your chances of having a long and healthy life.

Smoking depletes several vitamins and minerals in your body, particularly vitamin C.  Smokers constantly bombard their cells with toxins, radiation, chemicals and free radicals that the body can't handle.  Hormone levels are depleted, calcium and iron can't be absorbed, bonds that hold cells together are broken, and rapid aging ensues.  Almost all smokers are deficient in vitamins and minerals and can have a very difficult time replacing their vitamin stores, especially if they have not yet quit.

Once you've quit smoking, you need to replace these stores of vitamins and minerals that are essential for life.  A good multi-vitamin will get you started.  It is a very good idea to talk with your doctor as soon as you quit smoking.  Your doctor may want to test your blood levels, suggest vitamins and supplements that can help, and adjust your medications.  Many medicines are chemically changed by smoking and your body may react differently to them when you quit.

Most people think that when they quit smoking they will gain weight.  This can be true if you soothe the anxiety of withdrawal with food.  You can combat the stress that is caused by the body telling you that you need more nicotine by supplementing with stress-buster vitamins like vitamin A, C and E.

Replacing your blood concentrations of vitamin C can actually promote weight-loss.  Vitamin C is an important component of carnitine, which is responsible for fat oxidation.  Without enough vitamin C, the body's ability to burn fat is greatly reduced, even during exercise.  Reduced levels of vitamin C have been directly linked to a myriad of health problems and symptoms including irritability, fatigue, gum disease, cataracts, cancer, and more.

Vitamin C is essential for protecting cells from damage caused by free radicals.  Smoking bombards your body with over 4,000 chemicals every time that you smoke.  This translates into a lot of free radicals.  Your cells make even more when they process these chemicals.  Not only does vitamin C protect your cells from damage, but it also clears free radicals out of your body.  It is needed for dozens of bodily functions that protect your body and give it energy to live.

Vitamin C is the key to helping your body repair itself after smoking.  It can actually reverse many degenerative diseases that smoking contributes to.   It increases the neurotransmitter function that is inhibited by smoking.  The reduced neurotransmitter function in smokers causes anxiety, depression and inhibits the body's production and use of dopamine.  Vitamin C has a calming effect on the brain and helps to calm withdrawal symptoms while repairing damage caused by smoking.

Before you buy vitamins, make sure that you talk to your doctor.  Taking vitamins and supplements can help to replace your vitamin and mineral stores, reverse damage done by smoking, and help you to manage withdrawal symptoms.  When you buy vitamins, remember that smokers and people recovering from smoking may have a much higher vitamin requirement than someone who has never smoked.  This is why it is beneficial to talk with your doctor and monitor your health as you recover.