Today’s subject is very serious…smoking. I would be remiss if I didn’t at least ask you to think seriously about why you are smoking. You must have heard over and over again that smoking is at the root of many serious diseases and quitting is absolutely the best preventative medicine available to you.
Did you know that Marlboro cigarettes were originally developed for women as they were filtered? Everyone was surprised that men started to smoke them and the advertising company immediately switched their focus and voila …. “The Marlboro man”. The popularity of the cigarette was so immediate that other companies started to study Marlboro to discover why. They found out that Marlboro cigarettes were treated with ammonia. The way ammonia works is that it makes the smoke less acidic. That changes a portion of its nicotine into “free nicotine,” a form that is more readily absorbed in the lungs. Free nicotine’s effects are felt in the brain within seconds. Boosting free nicotine also ensured that cigarettes would remain addictive even though companies were bringing out low-tar, low-nicotine brands. In addition, tobacco leaves are cured with sugar which wrecks havoc with people’s blood sugar. To make matters even worse the tobacco companies have admitted that in the past ten years they have increased the nicotine content of their cigarettes by 10%.
In a class I took to stop smoking I was told; “picture the largest rat you have ever seen. It would weigh about a pound. The 1mg of nicotine that entered your bloodstream from your last cigarette would be sufficient to kill that rat. A smoker smoking 30 cigarettes per day is, over an entire day, taking in enough nicotine to have killed a 160-pound human if the entire 30mg had been taken at once.”
I do know how difficult it is to quit. I loved my cigarettes yet I wanted desperately to stop. I quit for three years – yet in a period of stress I picked up a cigarette and smoked for a year. Again I quit for 3 and half years and went back again. It is very very difficult. I have lost six very close friends to smoking related diseases. They all suffered and none died quickly . It was hardest on their families whose lives were forever altered by giving up everything to care for their loved one and then ultimately losing them.
There are as many ways to stop as there are brands of cigarettes. Call around – people will be very happy to talk to you about their stop smoking protocols. I tried everything and they worked for years but I still went back. Twelve years ago I quit through an acupuncture protocol that was developed by a Chinese oncologist and so far this has worked for me. Other acupuncture protocols did not work long-term for me but this one has. You have to be relentless and keep trying till you find the treatment that works for you.
There is never a perfect time to quit ~ just set a date and go for it.
If you have quit, please write in with tips and suggestions that helped you. If you are struggling to quit please write in with questions and we’ll try to help you.
Good Luck!
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Feng Shui
Taboo: Never sit with open bookcases pointing at your back. You run the risk of symbolically being stabbed in the back by your co-workers.