One of the hardest things any of us have ever had to do, is overcoming an addiction. When you are addicted to anything you feel almost helpless at even the thought of quitting your habit. There is however help out there, than can definitely help you overcome the addiction, and kick the habit. I am referring to cigarettes, but this can be any addiction.
One great thing to do is get in a group of people that are all attempting to achieve the same goal. For example we have narcotics anonymous or alcoholics anonymous. In our case, I don't know of any actual groups that get together to assist us with quitting smoking, but you can always create your own. One thing I do not recommend is relying on pills, patches, injections and things like that. They are very costly, and you may not be able to quit by using those products.
Another quit smoking tip is to start a hobby, i.e. scrap booking, or photography. Hobbies make a great alternative to smoking, when you get a craving just take a picture, or scrap book a page or two. Another great "hobby" is exercise, not only is it a great hobby, but it will also benefit your health as well. A lot of us tend to eat more when we are quitting this habit, so the exercise will counter act that as well.
Quitting smoking doesn't have to be this awful time in your life, where you seem to be grumpy, agitated and "testy" all the time. If you are willing to accept help, then it is there. Another great quit smoking tip is too eat healthy snacks. When you get a craving for a cigarette grab a banana, or chex mix, something to that effect.
You can overcome this addiction without spending the hundreds or thousands of dollars some places want you to spend to kick the habit. Just read up on it, check out some other articles, and research the side effects smoking has on your body, and how quickly your body starts repairing itself after you quit smoking. In fact, your heart rate drops about twenty minutes after your last cigarette. About half a day later, the carbon monoxide level in your blood would return to normal. Your sense of smell returns to normal within 3 months, and your blood pressure will start to return to normal.
These are only a few of the benefits of quitting smoking. Please keep in mind that this will not be easy, and you may fail a time or two, but the important thing to do is to keep it up, keep coming back and trying again. Once you have a game plan down you will definitely be able to quit. Thanks for reading and good luck.
Banana snack industry goes stale
Not so long ago, the Central Java town of Majenang was famous for being the home of sale pisang, a unique snack made with bananas, but recently the market changed and the local snack industry faded to a fraction of its former success.
Majenang, one of 23 districts in Cilacap regency in the far west of the province - bordering with Banjar and Ciamis regencies in West Java - has about 30 small factories producing the snack.
Before the 1998 economic crisis, there were around 100 such producers, leading Cilacap administration to come up with the idea of making the snack the icon of Majenang.
But with the crisis, the plan hit snags and many cottage industries were forced out of business. More than a decade later, the situation has yet to improve.
"Before the crisis I could sell 2 or 3 tons of fried banana sweets to Jakarta. But things are difficult now," Yayat, a 61-year-old sale pisang business owner, told The Jakarta Post in Majenang.
Today, Yayat produces only about 200 kilograms of sale pisang a month, and 99 percent of this is sold in Majenang. The snacks are sold in 250-gram packages, each costing around Rp 25,000 (US$2).
Another snack producer, Juremi, said that before the crisis she could send 2 tons of sale pisang to Jakarta, Bandung and Surabaya each month.
"Now we only sell sale pisang for the local market," the 60-year-old said.
Juremi said most of the snack producers were struggling to survive.
"What's important is that business survives. If there are buyers in the city, that's enough. Sometimes we get an order from outside the city, but this is unreliable," she said.
"Once, a distributor from outside the city wanted to place an order, but the price he offered was too low to cover our production costs. Rather than suffering losses, we preferred not to take it."
Making sale pisang does not take long. Ripe bananas are cut into slices and dried in the sun.
"If the sun is bright, the bananas will dry out in two days. But in a rainy season like this, it takes about four days," Juremi said.
The dried bananas are then smeared with flour and deep-fried. After being drained, the banana chips are ready to be packaged and sold.
The sale pisang business has supported many, including farmers and traders who sell raw bananas to cottage industries in Majenang, as well as banana snack makers such as Juremi and Yayat, and the vendors.
Majenang district head, Heru Susedyo, said he was aware of the stagnant business situation.
"Sale pisang was once so popular that the Cilacap administration planned to make it the icon of Majenang city, but the plan could not be realized because sales keep decreasing."
http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2009/03/06/
Tuesday 13 January 2009
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