About the behavioral dimension; I'm not at all sure that it'll be that difficult though. vaping will have taken away much of the dependency, and the hand to mouth habit shouldn't be too difficult to break. Since January I've given up sugar, potato chips, beer, flour, rice, pasta, and pretty much everything else with carbs - and compared to that then breaking the hand to mouth habitat should be easy.
I agree Ken. I weaned myself off nic by the end of 2012 and almost quit vaping about a year ago because I was losing interest in it. I was vaping very little and would go for a couple of days without vaping with no problems. I didn't really have any desire to quit though and bought a Reo Grand to try out squonking. I'm still enjoying that and will probably continue to vape for a while. If there is any hand to mouth dependency in me, it's not enough for me to feel it at all from a day or two of not vaping.
I also really changed the way I eat this year. I did some research in December and decided to start eating unprocessed foods a lot more. I stopped eating bread, pasta, cereals, sugar and anything from a can, box or pouch. I don't exclude these things completely, but I consider them junk food now in the same way I used to think of most fast food. I also limit meat and fish to around 4 ounces a day, changed milk to soy and limit dairy products. In effect, I've taken most of the high calorie foods out of my diet and a lot of chemical preservatives. I actually add salt to my food now to make sure I get enough sodium.
I've found it very easy to lose 28 pounds in three months while still eating enough to satisfy me. As you know, we can change old habits if we want to. It just takes the will and the right attitude to make the change