Dr. Wallace: I’m 19 and have been smoking for four years. I’m really addicted. I smoke about three packs of cigarettes every two days. I work in a smoke-free restaurant, and I like the idea of the smoke-free atmosphere. I want to quit this nasty habit, but I’m afraid if I do, I’ll gain weight and, for me, that’s a no-no. Have they ever figured out a way to stop smoking and still stay slim?

Cayla, Chicago

Cayla: If you are totally dedicated to your goal to eliminate your smoking habit and not gain weight, it can be done. Those who have recently stopped smoking get nervous and don’t know what to do when the nicotine begs them to light up, so they turn to food for comfort. When that urge hits you, and it will, snack on fresh fruit, vegetables, yogurt, cottage cheese or air-popped popcorn without butter. If you don’t “chow-down,” you won’t gain weight.

Eliminating the smoking habit is most important for your health and your wallet.

If by chance you do gain a few pounds but conquer nicotine, consider it a great trade-off. Once you are 100 percent sure tobacco is a thing of the past, then go to work getting rid of the pounds you added. Remember, you should consume about 18 calories per day per pound of body weight. For example, if 120 pounds is your perfect weight, you should consume 2,160 calories daily (120 x 18). Consume more and you will gain weight; consume less and you will lose weight. Never lose more than 1 pound per week. Cayla, I wish you all the best!

Doctors on the Tuberculosis day urged people to quit smoking and other intoxicants as they increase the risk of the TB infection. Doctors say smoking affects lungs and increases chances of infections by 20% in people who smoke six cigarettes a day. Dr Sanjay Dixit, head of department, Community Medicine said, “Lungs’ TB is most common. Since smoking directly damages lungs, chances of developing TB infection are high in comparison to those who do not smoke.” It is advisable to give up smoking and live a healthy life, he added.

HIV infection is another reason of for TB. The infection reduces body immunity at which gives space to TB bacteria to damage organs, he added.

In addition to these, irregular lifestyle and unhealthy food habits too increase the risk of infection, doctors say. Such habits affect children as they are at a higher risk of developing cervical gland TB. Genital TB in women and intestinal TB are two other common forms of the disease.

“Healthy lifestyle coupled with balanced diet help decrease the chances of developing the disease,” Dr Vijay Chajjlani, district TB officer said.

PARENTS and retailers need to make a bigger effort to stop underage people from smoking, a councillor has said. Conservative Pat Murray claims he regularly sees teenagers as young as 13 smoking in Swadlincote after they have finished school. He called for tougher enforcement on the shops that are selling cigarettes to youngsters. It is illegal for anyone under the age of 18 to buy cigarettes. His comments came ahead of national No Smoking Day tomorrow. The Tory member for Woodville said: “My worry is if they are smoking at that young age when they are growing and developing, what is it going to cost the NHS to look after them later on in life?

“On top of that, will we be able to afford it? “There needs to be more enforcement to stop people from smoking at a young age.
“I think it should be up to the parents and the retailers that are selling these cigarettes.” Hundreds of smokers across Burton and South Derbyshire will be attempting to kick the habit tomorrow as part of the NHS campaign.
Stop Smoking co-ordinator Julia Moore said: “The benefits of not smoking begin within hours and boost not just your health but your wallet too.
“Thousands of smokers attempt to quit on No Smoking Day, so if you’re a smoker why not take the leap and join in?”
The campaign is also supported by Staffordshire Fire and Rescue Service, which will be holding an open day at Burton Fire Station to offer advice on how to give up.
Staffordshire Fire and Rescue Service station manager Mick Daniels said: “Cigarettes account for a high number of firerelated incidents in the county, and having the opportunity to support people who want to stop smoking is welcomed.”
The open day runs between 2pm and 5pm and will feature kids’ activities, carbon monoxide and lung age readings, as well as the chance to speak to firefighters about safety in the home.

Maryland recently ranked third-worst in the country for the lack of assistance it offers its residents to quit smoking, according to the American Lung Association’s “Helping Smokers Quit: Tobacco Cessation Coverage 2011” report. But with so many smoking cessation programs available in Charles, Calvert and St. Mary’s counties, the news comes as a surprise to the citizens of Southern Maryland. “It’s true that Maryland fell into the bottom five, but despite that fact, Maryland actually has one of the lower total smoking rates in the country,” said Kimberly Williams, manager of advocacy and communications for the American Lung Association.

“So why is there this difference? There are definitely cessation activities going on the local level in the state, but our report looks more at the insurance side of things on the state level.”

According to the ALA, Maryland government presently offers no tobacco cessation benefit to state employees. Further, the Maryland quit line is only funded at a rate of $1.20 per smoker for fiscal 2012, which is a fraction of the national minimum standard of $10.53 that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends to reach an adequate number of smokers in every state. Some low-income Medicaid enrollees in the state do have access to tobacco cessation treatment, but it is not guaranteed for all Medicaid enrollees.

“On top of that, the CDC’s recommendation for tobacco cessation and control programs is $63.3 million per state, but Maryland only invests $4.3 million on top of the $1.7 million it receives in federal funding,” Williams said. These numbers are both far below where they need to be, Williams said, though there is no legal penalty for falling short of the suggested minimums. Georgia, Louisiana, Alabama and New Jersey also are cited for weak efforts to encourage smokers to quit.

And in its 10th annual State of Tobacco Control report this year, the Lung Association graded all 50 states and the District of Columbia on four proven policies to save lives and cut health care costs. Maryland got an F on tobacco prevention and control program funding; and A on smoke-free air laws; a C on cigarette tax rates; and an F on coverage of cessation treatments and services. In the assessment, six states — Alabama, Mississippi, Missouri, South Carolina, Virginia and West Virginia — received all Fs. Only Delaware, Hawaii, Maine and Oklahoma received all passing grades. No state received straight As, though 2011’s five most quit-friendly states were Maine, North Dakota, Delaware, Oklahoma and Wyoming.

On the state level“Maryland has a very strong smoke-free law, in reality, so it makes it more difficult to smoke in public, which discourages people from doing it in the first place,” hence the lower smoking rate, Williams said. “Then, Maryland’s cigarette tax falls in around $2, which is decent but could definitely be higher. But that tax helps deter people on a financial level from smoking.”

But that’s not enough, Williams said.

“Smoking is never an easy habit to break, so that’s why we need Medicaid to step up and provide a comprehensive coverage plan in Maryland geared toward smoking cessation for its state employees,” she said. “Typically, I see Maryland as a state that holds up the health of the population and sees it as a top priority, so it’s just surprising that even though there is that support in the general culture to be mindful of your health, there’s nothing in regard to comprehensive coverage — be it for gum, patches, nasal sprays, lozenges, medications, group or individual therapy. It’s important that Maryland has preventative programs in place, sure, but it’s equally important to see that there is an option for those already smoking to have the chance to quit or get help on the insurance level. That’s what makes a good quit-friendly state.”

In Southern Maryland

According to the CDC, smoking is the leading preventable cause of illness and premature death, claiming more than 443,000 lives annually because it directly increases the user’s risk of heart disease, stroke, emphysema and a variety of cancers. A variety of smoking cessation classes are offered in the tri-county area, but quitting is easier said than done, most say.

“There’s still a lot of misunderstandings about quitting smoking,” said Patrick O’Malley, a certified tobacco treatment specialist with the Calvert County Health Department. “People always want to use the term ‘willpower.’ But it’s not about willpower; it’s about what you want. Addiction is addiction is addiction — it’s a disease of desire. Do you want to quit smoking or do you not? That’s where the commitment kicks in.”

O’Malley teaches an eight-week smoking cessation program offered at noon and 6 p.m. each Thursday at the Holiday Inn Express in Prince Frederick, where he said treatment focuses more on changing smokers’ habits.

“Our program is different because it addresses both the addiction and the behavior,” he said. “We offer participants the nicotine replacement patch and Chantix as per their physician’s recommendation, but the patch and the pill only get you so far with the addiction itself.

“It’s just that the behavior is so engrained — most have started smoking very young and it’s just become a part of them and it’s really hard for them to get away from it. … But you have to make a firm decision and stay committed.”

In Charles County, the ALA’s Freedom From Smoking program is offered three times a year in 10-week increments, said Mary Beth Klick, community health educator for tobacco prevention and smoking cessation programs with the Charles County Health Department.

“It’s a free program that we offer starting in January, April and September, during which we consult with each client, establish their smoking history and find out exactly why they are trying to quit,” she said.

Klick said many clients respond with health-related concerns, but most make it clear that the financial strain of supporting the habit is a major factor.

“They also talk about how hard it is nowadays to smoke in public,” Klick said, noting that most restaurants, bars, hospital grounds and other public access areas in the state have cracked down on their no-smoking policies.

“That makes change happen,” Klick said, “and the more confining we make it, the more people are pushed to quit.”

In addition, Civista Health provides a list of community resources for quitting smoking to all of its patients who identify themselves as smokers when they are admitted to the hospital as well as to community members who contact Civista through its website or community resource line, said Joyce Riggs, director of community development and planning for Civista Health.

And in St. Mary’s County, the health department’s wellness and health promotion program offers a free tobacco use prevention course, available in eight-week increments throughout the year, said Jane Dodds, a nurse with the health department.

Participants must be at least 18 years old and St. Mary’s residents to attend, though there are case-by-case exceptions. The classes meet once a week, with the next session set to run May 1 through June 19. Committed participants also are offered Chantix and free nicotine patches, which they can pick up at Reynolds Pharmacy in Leonardtown. “It is very hard to quit here in St. Mary’s, as it’s become a way of life,” Dodds said, noting that many area residents grew up around tobacco fields and even helped harvest it at one time or another. But Dodds said that the most common arguments she hears include the ever-popular “If it’s so bad, then why isn’t it illegal?” question alongside the “life is just so stressful” excuse.

“But the biggest reason is it’s addictive,” Dodds said. “People are addicted to nicotine just like they are addicted to alcohol or other drugs.”

MedStar St. Mary’s Hospital offers a free smoking cessation program exclusively for hospital employees, where one-on-one counseling sessions can be arranged with Karen McCleaf, a nurse practitioner in the hospital’s occupational health department.

“We offer these one-on-one sessions because to some people, this is an extremely private matter,” McCleaf said. “And if they need medication regarding smoking cessation, be it prescription or not, I can write them an order for it and they can pick it up at our pharmacy free of charge.” Calvert Memorial Hospital offers a similar program for its employees as well.

And with such a large portion of St. Mary’s County representing the military, there are options for service members and their families available through Tricare, as the company offers its beneficiaries in the North, South and West regions who are not eligible for Medicare a 24/7 help line that allows them to speak with a trained tobacco quit coach.

Looking aheadWilliams said she and other advocates are working to increase cigarette and other tobacco taxes, allowing some of the proceeds to trickle back into anti-tobacco programs in the state.

“We’ve got to angle ourselves now toward hitting these other tobacco products with higher taxes, because that’s what people are turning to since it’s so much cheaper” than cigarettes, she said.

Dodds added that she believes the state needs more legislators who will deny big tobacco companies the right to advertise in Maryland. “The tobacco industry spends over $12 billion in advertising annually,” she said, “and it’s estimated that the amount spent in Maryland is $144 million. We spend less than 10 percent of that on cessation and prevention. We know that tobacco is bad for us. … But we have to get involved and voice our opinions to our local, state and federal legislators” to establish anything concrete.

“It’s more addictive than heroine and cocaine according to the ALA, but the fact that you can get it legally provides that ‘fix’ some people are looking for,” McCleaf added. “But you have to rise above the addiction and determine that you want to quit; when you come to the point where you realize that you need to do it for yourself, that’s when you make it happen.”

A high demand for help with quitting smoking has prompted the Champaign-Urbana Public Health District to repeat its Freedom from Smoking classes a second time this year. The next series of classes will begin March 27, and some spaces are still available, according to program coordinator Nikki Hillier. This is the first time in many years a mid-year session is being offered, she said. The Freedom from Smoking classes this year come with double the number of nicotine patches than participants previously received, enough for the full eight weeks. In previous years, students had to buy their own patches for four of the eight weeks, Hillier said.

People taking the eight-week program work together to develop their own individual “quit plans” and carry them out, according to the health district.

The classes are open to anyone age 18 and older who lives in Champaign County, and the fee is $20. But $10 is refundable to anyone completing six of the eight sessions. All classes are held each Tuesday at 5 p.m. at public health headquarters at 201 W. Kenyon Road, C .

WITH No Smoking Day approaching (March 14), smokers at Stretford Mall are being reminded that help is on hand to bin the cigarettes once and for all. Cigarette bins around the entrances to the mall are carrying adverts for NHS Trafford’s stop smoking service, reminding people that they are four times more likely to quit using the NHS service. The adverts also include a code which smartphone owners can use to contact the smoking cessation team directly by text message.

Kerry Briggs, NHS Trafford’s stop smoking manager, said: “We know that many people in Trafford want to quit but don’t know where to start. The ad-bins are there to remind them that our stop smoking team is here to help, and our trained advisers can provide ongoing support.
“The codes on the adverts make it even easier to take that first step – simply scan the code to text our team directly, and we will call you back to discuss your needs.

“We even have specialist services for those who have made repeated attempts to quit, pregnant smokers and those who need support while in hospital.”

NHS Trafford is also launching a 24 hour, seven day-a-week phone number to coincide with No Smoking Day, ensuring that advice is always available for anyone wanting to quit.
Callers will be offered information about how and where to get help across the borough, including details and opening times of pharmacies and the services they offer. Referrals into the specialist service can also be made.

The list of 599 additives approved by our Governments for use in the manufacture of cigarettes is something every smoker should see. Submitted by the 5 major American cigarette companies to the Dept. of Health and Human Services in 1994, this list of ingredients had long been kept a secret. While these ingredients are approved as additives for foods, they were not tested by burning, and it is the burning of many of these substances which creates over 4,000 chemical compounds, and 69 of those chemicals are known to cause cancer.

Carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides, hydrogen cyanides and ammonia are all present in cigarette smoke. 43 known carcinogens are in cigarette smoke. It’s chilling to think about not only how smokers poison themselves, but what others are exposed to by breathing in the second-hand smoke.

The next time you’re missing your old pal, the cigarette, take a good long look at this list and see them for what they are: a delivery system for toxic chemical and carcinogens.

And what about Nicotine replacements? Well I bet you were not aware that Nicotine is a natural insecticide which drop for drop is 3 times as poisonous as Arsenic (which by the way is also in your ciggie!) ….granted they may not have a lot of the other chemicals in them….but why have any at all?

Despite the angry protestations of some smokers under pressure to quit, most smokers understand only too well that smoking is a killer: they do want to give up smoking but find the process itself too daunting. Some smokers have tried to give up before and found that supportive products on the market help slightly, but not enough to complete the process of quitting.

Also the effects of smoking are unsociable to say the least: smelly clothes; smelly hair; bad breath; stained fingers and lips. Many smokers are unaware of the pervading smell until they are smoke free for several weeks.

Hypnotherapy is available to help or even completely eradicate all manner of habitual behaviour. Some of these therapies require an extended period of cognitive help to conquer cravings but in the case of quitting smoking, the help that is so desperately needed can be given in a short and effective session that takes just 30 minutes.

GIVING UP SMOKING IN JUST 30 MINUTES

All potential clients requiring help to quit smoking, as with all other clients seeking help through Hypnotherapy, receive an initial consultation and suitability assessment free of charge.

The process of Hypnotherapy is comfortable, soothing even. You will not feel ‘out of it’ in any way or even feel you are in a hypnotic state. On the contrary, you will feel completely in control at all times and leave the clinic feeling refreshed and totally able to turn your back on smoking.

WHAT IF I CAN’T AFFORD THE THERAPY?

The Quit Smoking programme costs just 140€ – the cost of around four or five cartons of cigarettes. So you will find that the cost of your therapy will be recovered in saved expense on cigarettes in a very short time!

Campaigners said that a ban on smoking outside bars and pubs could improve public health, and described people who smoke on patios and pavements as “anti-social”. Most “social smokers”, who only reach for a cigarette while on a night out, support the idea of extending smoking ban legislation to cover such areas, according to academics. Ash, the anti-smoking campaign group, said the idea of an outdoor ban would be worth investigating if evidence emerges that it can help occasional smokers. Their comments came after researchers at the Otago University in New Zealand found 12 out of 13 “social smokers” that they interviewed strongly supported extending anti-smoking legislation.

The interviewees said that although smoking and drinking went “hand in hand”, they considered themselves non-smokers because they only lit up on nights out.
The academics, writing in the journal Tobacco Control, concluded that introducing a policy of smoke-free bars would help social smokers quit by “changing the environment that facilitates it”.

Martin Dockrell, of Ash, said there was currently no evidence available that banning smoking in pubs’ and bars’ outside areas reduced social smoking.
However, he noted: “In New York there are plans to limit smoking in some outdoor places.
“It will be interesting to see if it has any effect on occasional smokers.”
Paul Barlett, a councillor in Stony Stratford near Milton Keynes, who is trying to get the town to go smoke-free, said: “Whatever we can do to discourage smoking has to be encouraged.
“If there was a move to stop smoking outside bars and in pub garden I would support it.”
He argued those who lit up in such spaces were being “anti-social”, particularly if there were children about.
Jean King, Cancer Research UK’s director of tobacco control, said: “This small study highlights some interesting points about what triggers some social smokers to light up.
“Given that a quarter of all cancer deaths are due to tobacco, Cancer Research UK believes one key measure that would reduce the attractiveness of smoking would be to remove all branding and colourful designs on packs.
“This would reduce the appeal of tobacco to young people and increase the impact of health warnings on the packs.”
Dame Helena Shovelton, chief executive of the British Lung Foundation said: “The BLF could consider supporting this call for legislation but more research needs to be done to find out if it would make a difference to people’s smoking behaviour.”
However, Simon Clark, director of the smokers’ lobby group Forest, said: “This study can’t be taken seriously: it’s based on just 13 people.
“Aside from that, the smoking ban was brought in allegedly to protect bar workers. Banning smoking outdoors would have nothing to do with that.
“I would also query that social smoking, having the odd cigarette, is an unhealthy activity.”
Anti-smoking campaigners are keen to extend the ban on smoking in public places.
Last November the British Medical Association called for a law to ban smoking in private cars, arguing there was strong evidence that it could be dangerous to others in the vehicle.
The Welsh Government is looking at the idea, as well as another to ban smoking in children’s playgrounds.

Smoking is one of those things that I could never get my head around. Why would anyone want to pay money for something that damages their health? I have a few friends who are smoking, and one of the things that I witnessed over the years were lackluster and honest attempts to quit smoking. And while some managed to quit from one day to the other, many failed in their attempts after a week, month or even years of not smoking.

The incentive to stop smoking should be obvious: You can save a lot of money which you could spend for other things. You first may spend them on things that help you mitigate the desire to smoke. The second benefit is that your overall health will improve over time.

The Firefox add-on Quitomzilla helps smokers quit smoking by keeping track of statistics associated with smoking. The add-on keeps track of the money that was saved by not smoking, the number of cigarettes that were not smoked, and the overall time since the last cigarette.

First time users need to open the add-on’s configuration with a left-click on the status bar icon. Here they can set the quit date and time, the price of a pack of smokes with 20 cigarettes, the currency and the cigarettes that they consumed per day.
The extension furthermore displays milestone information in the browser. These milestones use macros that reveal how much money has been saved since the day of quitting smoking and how many cigarettes have not been smoked.

The milestone message can be edited in the options. Firefox users who want to quit smoking should give it a try. While it probably is not enough to keep users from smoking on its own, it could very well assist them in that task.