That's Fit

Quite a few years ago I wrote an article regarding the concept that 3 servings of low-fat dairy a day could help you lose weight. Then it was uncovered that the sponsor of the original study had ties to the dairy industry. Hmmm... makes you pause and think about how unbiased the study was, doesn't it? It's unfortunately the case with a lot of studies. Research is time consuming and expensive, so financial backing is necessary. Often, the finances come from an organization with a vested interest in the result. Any researcher worth his or her salt will perform an unbiased and accurate study regardless of the sponsor, however. And, if the sponsor wants accurate results, they should demand nothing less. Sometimes, however, the sponsorship of a study makes people question the results.

Such is the case with a 2006 study that determined lung scans might help save smokers from cancer. Big tobacco indirectly financed the study by making sizable donations (to the tune of 3.6 million) to a foundation that was listed as a sponsor of the study. Researchers properly revealed the study sponsors, but the indirect connection to big tobacco wasn't revealed. At this point, there is no indication that the study's findings are in any way tainted.

It's a fact -- 80% of smokers gain weight when they quit. So which is a worse habit: being overweight or being a smoker? Both have been shown to lead to cancer.

The answer, of course, is to be neither overnight nor a smoker. Yes, it is possible. So if you're thinking of quitting smoking, don't let potential weight gain deter you from taking that important step. Arm yourself with the facts and set out to defy the statistics.

Everyday Health has some tips to help soon-to-be-ex smokers from piling on pounds:

-Limit the fat you're eating -- it's high in calories
-Instead of focusing on what you can't eat, focus on what you can eat -- there are a lot of great foods that are weight-friendly.
-Avoid sweets.
-When you get the urge to snack, snack on fruits and veggies
-If you're used to having a cigarette after a meal, develop a different habit like having a cup of herbal tea after meals.
-Record what you eat in a food diary.

Here's a bit of an oxymoron: a smoker who's concerned about putting too many chemicals in their body. But apparently they are out there and they're interested in getting their cigarettes in all-natural, organic, and animal-cruelty-free style. The brand "Natural American Spirit" promises all that, and some are calling it marketing genius.

I think it sounds more like an experimental last-ditch-effort to save the dying tobacco industry, but you can't really blame them for trying. Just don't fool yourself: smoking is smoking.


Via Green Daily

It's amazing what lengths people will go to get their smoking fix these days, especially considering that there are fewer and fewer public places that allow smoking indoors. Here's an option that lets smokers get their nicotine fix inside -- even in non-smoking establishments. It's a "smokeless" cigarette. Well, actually it's a plastic stick with a nicotine "nico-filter" inside and a battery operated atomizer. The tip glows red, little fake puffs of smoke come off the end, and the user gets their nicotine fix without any tar or chemicals.

So that's the up side. The down side is that they're fairly expensive (10 for a pack of 6 replacements) and for some they could be deceptively unsafe: there may not be smoke to inhale but the nicotine is still an important (and unhealthy) part of the addiction.


Via FitSugar

So you've quit smoking. Good for you! You're one step closer to a healthier, longer life -- unless you pack on the pounds, in which case you'll compromise your health in other ways.

To help you manage your weight while you resist the urge to smoke, Dr. Cindy Pomerleau, Director of the Nicotine Research Laboratory at the University of Michigan, offers these seven tips:

• Start the day with breakfast, not a cigarette. A satisfying breakfast can help deflect the urge to smoke. Avoiding the meal might sound like a good way to avoid unwanted calories, but it's not a sound weight-management strategy.

According to this, smokers who are trying to kick the nicotine habit need to be treated like addicts hooked on a drug like heroin. Doctors say that those trying to quit smoking need to be given a product that provides a hit of nicotine as strong as one they'd get from a cigarette, much the same way that heroin addicts use methadone to quit that drug.

The article points out some scary statistics -- 100 million people died in the last century due to the negative effects of smoking cigarettes, 150 million will likely die over the next 20 years and a whopping 1 billion people are projected to die of smoking-related causes in the 21st century.

Unfortunately, those who want to quit only have access to products like nicotine gum or the patch, which deliver low doses of the drug, rather than the kind of fix a smoker would get from a cigarette. The solution? The piece mentions that better cigarette substitutes need to be developed to give smokers a better chance of kicking the habit.

New research released this week looked closely at the signs and symptoms of nicotine withdrawal and pinpointed brain mechanisms linked to dependence on the chemical as well as anxiety over the stopping of its use.

The study in this situation was done on a rat population, but even so may lead to drugs or treatments (or both) that could lead to more effective treatments in the future for smokers.

The brain system involved with anxiety and craving was stimulated heavily by nicotine withdrawal, which helps explains why it is so hard to quit for many smokers. Smokers often relapse long after stopping smoking because of the long-term effects nicotine has on that area of the brain, according to the research.

I'm not sure what to say about this news item regarding musician Paul Weller lighting up on stage at a recent London gig despite the smoking ban in that country. I think that Weller has every right to smoke cigarettes if he chooses to, but I also feel it's unfair of him to openly flout the ban in front of non-smokers in the crowd.

I even think it's kind of unfair to the smokers in the crowd who may have wanted to have a smoke as well but couldn't afford to pay the fine. According to the piece, the fine for defying the smoking ban is about $400US, which for a regular person in the audience would likely be a hefty chunk of change, but for Weller is likely a mere drop in the bucket.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that if one person in the building isn't able to smoke then no one should be able to, but if the only deterrent is a fine, then what's to stop wealthy celebrities like Weller from defying the rules anyway?

Another smoking ban is coming this Monday (tomorrow) to Tennessee, as public buildings will no longer allow smoking inside those structures.

The state's "Non-Smokers Protection Act" goes into effect October 1st, and prohibits smoking in all enclosed public places within the state.

So, if you're in Memphis starting next week and sitting in a restaurant, health care facility, hotel or sports arena, be prepared to snuff out those ciggies for good. That, or find another state to move to that permits smoking in public.

China currently houses the world's largest population of smokers )300 million, give or take), and a recent smoking ban in Hong Kong is causing a reduction n profit for about 40 percent of restaurants in that city, according to a report this week.

This will be the largest test yet on the effectiveness of smoking bans and the resultant effects on public establishments where smoking is being eliminated.

Can businesses afford to lose revenue and therefore reduce the amount of sales tax they send to local taxing authorities? That seems plausible in the U.S., and other countries may see similar effects. But, the shrinking of those developing lung cancer from secondhand smoke would seem to counter the revenue loss problem. The only problem with a developing hypothesis like that is that it's almost impossible to correlate the two.

If you've ever seen a hookah, you were probably thinking it was a device for doing recreational drugs or something. But these devices, which are really just "water pipes" that burn flavored tobacco, is threatening to hurt some businesses in Vancouver, Canada.

The province recently banned indoor smoking in public places (must like many areas of the world), and as such the ban threatens to close many hookah-containing tea houses due to the fact that tobacco could be used (but may not be).

Hookahs can be used for herbal drinks and tea instead of for inhaling flavored tobacco, so are all devices with the 'potential' to be used as smoking devices under the gun? In Canada, they just might be.

According to new research smokers need to be especially conscious of knee pain, as it could be an early indicator of lung cancer. In a small study looking at patients with both knee inflammation and pain, a small percentage (only 2%) were also found to have non-small cell lung cancer. Now that may sound like an extremely small number, but consider this: of that 2% that had both knee pain and cancer all of them were smokers.

Non-small cell lung cancer is very difficult to treat unless it's caught in the early stages, so getting this clue that knee pain could be an indicator could really help save lives.

The more I hear about smoking bans being erected in countries all across the world, the more I see health improving in citizenry just due to the elimination of public second-hand smoke. I'm not alone, either.

English citizens are apparently liking the ban in their country, and business owners that have to comply with the ban are complying at excellent rates all things considered.

A recent report pegs compliance rates at 97 percent in terms of businesses complying with the ban. It's amazing to see that in a city the size of London, a staggering 99 percent of public establishments were compliant with the country-wide smoking ban the first two weeks it was in existence.

What if somebody said you could get your nicotine fix, just as fast and just as effectively as smoking, but without the smoking? Next Safety Inc., a new company based in North Carolina, says it can do just that with a new device it's hoping will be approved for use soon. It's a small machine that allows users to inhale nicotine directly, which provides for faster and more direct brain absorption than nicotine gums and patches do.

As of now the device is still in the testing stages and waiting for FDA approval, but it looks like it might be the next big thing. Will you be on board if it comes to a pharmacy near you?


Via Engadget

If you're a smoker who's looking to quit, and the words "smokeless tobacco" sound appealing, please think again. Although in theory getting rid of the smoke should solve the problem, the truth is smokeless tobacco is just as dangerous, if not more dangerous, than cigarettes when it comes to cancer-causing chemicals. The soot and smoke isn't the only thing you're avoiding when you avoid smoking.

The good news? Although smokeless tobacco isn't the way to go, nicotine replacement therapies (the patch, the gum, etc) is a fairly safe choice. It's a step down, not just trading one evil for another equal evil.