Question about second-hand cigarette smoke

Does anyone know if nicotine can hang around the body for years if you've been exposed to second-hand cigarette smoke? I know with smokers it can, because I've seen plenty of folks at Cure Zone doing cleanses who have stopped smoking for years, but once they do some cleanses they smell the "cigarette" smell in their urine and sweat.

I was wondering because when I was a child my dad smoked heavily (and still does at age 85). It made me feel horribly ill, and still does if I go to visit him or wind up sitting/standing near someone who is smoking. Yes, smokers have a right to their cigarettes, but as a kid we're "forced" to the exposure. What smoking parent is going to listen to a kid asking them not to smoke around them (most won't). I felt like a captive victim when we'd have to drive anywhere; dad always wanted those cars with power windows, yet he'd get ones that the power windows were broken, so we were trapped in the small enclosed space of the car with him smoking away. And he smoked the worst thing out there at the time, Lucky Strike unfiltered. And he's incapable of not lighting up at meal times, so I had cigarette smoke blown in my face and food even then.

As sick as I feel around any of the second-hand smoke I may be exposed to nowadays, I wonder how much of my "normal" (which isn't normal as God intended) poor health issues might not stem from my exposure to years of Dad's cigarettes, if the nicotine and such do get absorbed and trapped in our bodies over years and years.

I just got to wondering about all of this when I was researching baking powder last week (was wanting a non-aluminum based one) and came across a cleanse for helping people stop smoking by using cream of tartar (one of the ingredients in baking powder). The cleanse is supposed to push out the nicotine stored in the body, so I got to wondering if there is nicotine stored in the body from second-hand smoke and if this might help us non-smokers.

The "Stop Smoking" cleanse: 1/2 tsp. cream of tartar in 8 oz. orange juice (not from concentrate) taken at bedtime daily for 1 month (1 week minimum). Cream of tartar is high in potassium, and it gathers up nicotine particles (and maybe some other toxins?) in the body while your metabolism is slowed during sleep and comes out in your first urine of the day or out in your sweat. It also aids in the replacement of potassium that smoking robs from the cardiovascular system, and balances body pH, which typically becomes too acidic when toxins from cigarettes are present.

Each cigarette you smoke robs your body of about 25 milligrams of vitamin C.

Note: Personally, I would not try that cleanse if you are one of the following because cream of tartar is high in potassium. There may be other situations; these are just ones I thought of:

1. On a medication/supplement that increases your potassium (like for those with heart or blood pressure problems)
2. Have adrenal disease. Adrenal disease affects your potassium levels. Address your adrenal disease FIRST.
3. On YAZ birth control pills. YAZ increases the potassium levels in your blood (thus why they say NOT to be on YAZ if you have adrenal disease).

Oh, for those who might be interested in what I came up with about baking powder:

Commercially sold baking powder has aluminum in it; also all baking soda that is NOT labeled "aluminum free." Basically, baking powder is baking soda plus cream of tartar. While several people in Cure Zone have tried making their own baking powder with baking soda and cream of tartar at a 1:1 ratio, that is not the correct ratio, but it's close. Baking experts say the correct ratio is 2:1 (baking soda:cream of tartar). So for aluminum-free baking powder, use aluminum-free baking soda, like Bob's Red Mill brand, and cream of tartar in that ratio.

For example, to make 1 tablespoon baking powder:

2 teaspoons baking soda + 1 teaspoon cream of tartar = 1 tablespoon baking powder

(3 teaspoons = 1 tablespoon)

The baking experts say in a recipe you can replace baking soda with baking powder if you want, at a ratio of 1:2 or 1:3 (baking soda:baking powder). You need more baking powder to get the same leavening of baking soda. The reason you may want the substitution is for flavor; there is a difference in taste between the two. Baking soda will give your recipe a saltier taste, which I think would be really good with something like peanut butter cookies. Baking powder I think gives it a slightly sweeter taste with the tiniest touch of sour, which might be better for things that you don't want tasting more salty, like a recipe that is already salty, or old-fashioned biscuits, or meringue, etc.

Why was I researching about baking powder? I was wanting to share with you all a healthier alternative to the store-bought aluminum based baking powder, because I was going to share a ginger snap recipe with you all that fits many of the healthy eating and cleansing protocols here at Cure Zone. The recipe I've come up with is awesome, and uses coconut oil, and a lot of spices that have anti-parasitical and anti-bacterial/viral properties plus a lot of additional health benefits (ginger, cinnamon, cloves, and nutmeg). Add in the benefit of sea salt and the potassium from the baking powder! The only bad thing in these cookies is the sugar and the flour. I'll have to post back either tonight or tomorrow night with the recipe—I don't have it here with me at the moment. Tweet