Do Fruits and Veggies Help Cessation?

We all know that eating fruits and vegetables is good for you and smoking is bad for you. But, what if the good could actually help you defeat the bad? That’s right – a study published in the Nicotine and Tobacco Research journal last May suggests that consuming fruits and vegetables may help you put the cigarettes down. The study, conducted by researchers at the University of Buffalo, looked at 1,000 smokers who were 25 years and older. Participants had to have smoked at least 100 cigarettes in their lifetime and smoke daily or at least some days. Telephone surveys … Continue reading →

Shocking New Cigarette Package Warnings

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is turning up the heat to try to stop Americans from smoking. This week, the agency release nine new graphic warnings that will be required on at least 50 percent of the cigarette packages sold in America within the next two years. The FDA hasn’t added any new labels in more than 20 years and it decided to make these good ones – well, depending on your point of view. One label lists a smoker with smoke coming out of his tracheotomy hole in his throat. The caption reads, “WARNING: Cigarettes are addictive.” Another … Continue reading →

One in Five U.S. Adults Still Smoke

The other day, I called my best friend. She had just learned her holiday weekend trip home to Illinois would be moved up a day but not for a good reason. Her octogenarian father was having open heart surgery. She called her mom to tell her she was leaving to make the seven hour drive, but first warned her that she was smoking again, after trying to quit recently. As a supportive friend, I told her not to worry about that right now. I know she needs to quit, I’ve talked to her about it, but a stressful time like … Continue reading →

Great American Smokeout 2009: Measuring Success

I read a very interesting thing on the American Cancer Society website about quitting smoking and how you measure success. Many people look at the success rates of a particular quitting smoking program before they decide whether or not to try it. But the ACS points out a few problems with that. For one thing: not all programs define success in the same way. Some may measure a “success” as a person not smoking for six months, while another may call reaching the one year mark a “success”. So before you even start, you need to figure out how YOU … Continue reading →

Great American Smokeout 2009: November 19

It’s Smokeout season again: the American Cancer Society celebrates the Great American Smokeout on the third Thursday of November each year. On a smaller scale, Smokeouts began in the 1970s. In 1971, a guidance counselor in Massachusetts asked people to give up smoking for a day — and donate the money they would have spent on cigarettes to a high school scholarship fund. A Minnesota newspaper editor organized the first D-Day (Don’t Smoke Day) in 1974. Just two years after Minnesota’s D-Day, the American Cancer Society in California got close to one million smokers to commit to not smoking for … Continue reading →

Smoking Ban Reduces Heart Attacks

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control took a look at the relationship between public smoking bans and heart attack rates — and found some encouraging news. On July 1, 2003, Pueblo, Colorado banned smoking in workplaces. Over the three years following the ban, the rate of people hospitalized for heart attacks dropped more than forty percent. Pretty amazing, huh? Areas around Pueblo that had no such smoking ban saw little change in their heart attack rates. This leads CDC researchers to believe that the ban was directly responsible for the change. The bad news? Secondhand smoke may be a bigger … Continue reading →

Should Menthol Flavoring in Cigarettes be Banned?

There is a bill before Congress right now that would ban some flavor additives in cigarettes: mint, clove, and vanilla. These flavorings are under fire because they’re seen as appealing to young people. One flavor that isn’t on the list? Menthol. According to government estimates, menthol is a pretty popular cigarette flavoring among certain groups of smokers. More than seventy-five percent of black smokers choose menthol cigarettes. That translates into nearly thirty percent of the entire cigarette market. Some members of the American Medical Association — including some who served as government health secretaries under several administrations — are opposing … Continue reading →

Today Is the Great American Smokeout!

The day is here! The Great American Smokeout is going on — are you kicking the habit for the day? If you are taking part in the Great American Smokeout, sound off in the comments to this blog. Let the whole world know that you are giving up cigarettes for today. It isn’t easy to quit smoking. After today, you may decide to go back to smoking — and that’s okay. But you may also decide that if you made it one day, you can make it one more day. And one more after that. I would love it if … Continue reading →

Alternatives to Smoking During the Great American Smokeout

The Great American Smokeout is just a few days away. Are you ready to give up smoking for just one day? Even if you are only quitting for a day, you may be worried about cravings and other symptoms of withdrawal. Distraction can be key! Here are some things you can do on Thursday when the cravings hit. Take a walk. Exercise can release endorphins — the happy chemical in your brain. Call a friend. Get yourself involved in a conversation and you might just find the cravings fading into the background. Chew a piece of gum or have a … Continue reading →

The Great American Smokeout: November 15th

One week to go. Mark your calendar for the third Thursday of November. The Great American Smokeout is coming! Since the 1970s, the American Cancer Society has encouraged people to take part in the Great American Smokeout. Sure, quitting entirely would be great for your health. But if you aren’t ready to take that step, maybe you can commit to not smoking for just one day? Show yourself that you can stop for just one day… maybe that will be the first step to a new, smoke-free life. The idea for the Great American Smokeout started in Minnesota. A newspaper … Continue reading →