As an truck driver who had smoked 2-3 packs a day, I had tried everything. I was one of those that enjoyed the smoke going in my lungs. I started paleo at the end of October and quit smoking cold turkey the second week of November. For me whenever I was having a craving, I took a long, slow deep breath and held it for as long as I could. I'm so happy to finally get rid of that sh*t.

First you have to really hate it. You have to hate it more than anything, every time you walk in to buy a pack think about how the folk that make that are overcharging you, and giving you something that is guaranteed to kill you. They are lying to you to take your dollars and they give you cancer as a thank you. Think about the sublet marketing and advertising aimed specifically at killing you with nicotine, think about the super rich fatass laughing it up when he thinks about all the suckers he sells his poison to. Think about what kind of person would willingly get in line to become addicted to a poison, and you'll figure out pretty quick that you are not that kind of person. I tried to quit a few times, willpower isn't the answer, because willpower will always fail. Willpower is for short term efforts, use will power to avoid buying the pack while you are in the store, but don't rely on it to keep you strong during the constant craving period.
And keep repeating this, always, "IT DOESN'T MATTER WHAT I WANT, THE ONLY THING THAT MATTERS IS WHAT I DECIDE"
That chant, and the anger I felt at those bastards looking me dead in the eye and charging $5 for a pack of poison is what kept me off lady nicotine long enough that it became habit. The first few weeks are a bit rough, but everyday is a victory and you can proudly give the finger to the tobacco barons, and that feels better than smoking. Replace the habit with a victory dance.

Pick up Allen Carr's book "The Easy Way to Stop Smoking" I used it to quit many years ago and have recommended it to others who have found success with it as well. It focuses on the psychological aspect of smoking and gets to the root of the problem with is perception and motivation for quitting. Seriously good book - it sounds too good, but is effective. Hope this helps and I would love to hear how it goes!

I just quit smoking and I think paleo helped a lot. Nora Gedgaudus talks about cravings and cigarettes a little and that motivated a more healthy thought process for me. I am really focused on healing my body and helping it operate and eliminate toxins more efficiently and so I keep thinking about how inhaling the drug will impede that. I'm totally "allowed" to smoke all I want, but it really works against my goal of internal balance. I don't really want to excite, strain or subdue my internal workings through sugar, nicotine, alcohol or other quick boosts/fixes. I think smoking feels great to me but it's really part of that up and down addiction cycle.

I don't know if that helps, but I wish you the best of luck with it! Just thought I'd share the little mental shift in case there's something you can use.

I quit cold turkey and the biggest help for me was NOT making a big deal of it. Not talking about it all the time, not telling people, this allowed me to not THINK about smoking (or the fact that I wasn't smoking but wanted to be) all the time. I just stopped one day. Didn't even tell my boyfriend. Took him a couple days to notice and a couple days after that I was through the worst of the cravings and crabbiness, then it was just a matter of paying attention to the habits I'd formed around smoking and breaking them.

Screw paleo, go get Chantix. Pretty much a magic bullet for several people I know. Yes, there are possible side effects but the possible benefits outweigh them.

Patches are a nice tool. Just realize that any assist is a tool, not a solution in itself.

I don't know if the tools are Paleo Friendly. Think I'm having trouble acknowledging the question. It's like the "How do I eat Paleo in X location?" questions. I look at the words, but they just don't add up for some reason.

Anyway, remember to just keep quitting until you have given up cigarettes for good. Extra patches are great to have around after failures. I'd throw a patch on for a long flight, or for an exam. Nice little product.

Smoking is a habit, something we do without thinking about it. As a pharmacist--and sorry, but I'm a non-smoker so I can't say that I've actually had to deal with this--I've advised my customers to list all the situations where they want to smoke. Such as, particular times or places or in particular social situations. Anything you do to change that, no matter how small, may be enough to help you be more aware and break your habit. Quitting smoking is hard to do but with planning and determination you can kick it. Good luck to you!

EFT is very effective at clearing the emotional "hooks".

I wrote this to a friend of mine (in a facebook comment, no less -- I received some WEIRD virtual internet stares), so please ignore anything that seems a bit random. I'll just copy & paste and hope it helps:

Nicotine acts by binding to the acetylcholine receptors on neurons, particularly the beta-2 subtype. Acetylcholine is one of the main neurotransmitters that neurons use to 'communicate' with one another. When smoking, the nicotine mimics the action of acetylcholine and the body responds by growing more acetylcholine receptors on the aforementioned neurons. When someone quits abruptly, the body initiates a panic response, thinking that it's deficient in an essential signaling molecule. Deficiency is obviously an undesirable state, so the cravings for nicotine ensue. With that said, you're only on day 15--it takes a fair period of time for the acetylcholine receptors to normalize. You've probably got somewhere in the range of 20-30% more receptor sites than someone who has never smoked. Fear not though, the amount of receptors in ex-smokers decreases to the level of never-smokers within 6-12 weeks, eliminated the physiological addiction. Here's a study illustrating that: http://www.nida.nih.gov/NIDA_notes/NNvol22N4/Abstinent.html. As far as the psychological addiction goes, there's probably two sides to it. The stimulant effect of nictone--either ignore it as you readjust or maybe introduce a little caffeine (don't OD on espresso) & the repeated movement pattern of just doing something with your fingers and mouth. Go for a hell of a lot of chewing gum or munch on some baby carrots or something. Anyway, if you read all of my nonsensical gibberish, I'm impressed, because that was probably damn boring. haha. I am a dork though, so I figured I'd contribute. Best of luck!

Check out this site here: http://whyquit.com/ - Lots of good information on there.

Read up, then quit cold turkey. Cold turkey is really the best way.

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Oh sorry for bumping old posts all day, just worked that out. Snus is great, the Swedes use it for quitting , It's little pouches of salty tobacco you keep under your top lip. The forum snuson has all the answers about it. It's a traditional thing for them but probably not quite paleo.