Lemondrop has a series of old advertisements for smoking. They're humorous in an I-can't-believe-they-said-that kind of way. A couple of the ads focus on how smoking can help keep you thin. Yeah, good idea. You'll have stinky breath, smelly clothes and hair, lung cancer, and emphysema ... but at least you'll be thin!

If you still believe the smoke-and-stay-thin myth, you'd better think again. Or somehow time travel back to the 1950s. A recent study suggests that teens who smoke are more likely to be overweight later in life. The researchers aren't suggesting that cigarettes themselves cause you to gain weight (though that might be a more effective deterrent than the Surgeon General's warning). Instead, it's thought that smoking in teenage years just becomes the first in a string of bad habits. Like burgers. And fries. And sugary soda. And chocolate. And, excuse me ... now I'm hungry.



Smoker or not, if you're looking to shed some extra pounds, check out America Takes It Off: Shrink a Size for great weight loss tips.

Source

That's Fit Club is our feature devoted to you, the reader! We have all learned so much on our paths to becoming more fit, and now it's time to learn from and inspire each other! That's Fit Club members are constantly working to better themselves. Some are perfect; some are not. But all have health on the mind. Besides showing you off, we want to reward you for all of your hard work! Everlast and Everlast Woman are giving gorgeous workout T-shirts to each featured member! To join, please send Fitz your answers to these questions with a photo of yourself. Time for you to be the motivator!

Name: Christian Mayoros

Age: 39

Occupation: Computer Systems Architect

How often do you exercise? Three or four times a week.

What type of exercise do you do? Running, biking, and weights.

Source

My family had a birthday party for my mother recently. Even though it's downright chilly here, my oldest sister was wearing a short-sleeved shirt and kept fanning herself. Since I'm 15 years younger than she is, I got a little laugh out of her hot flashes. But it's only a matter of years before my time comes.

While the cause of hot flashes during perimenopause and menopause aren't fully understood, there are several health-related possibilities. Women who smoke are more likely to have hot flashes -- one more reason to quit -- and women who are overweight or obese are also more likely to have hot flashes. In addition, blood glucose levels may play a role in hot flashes.

If you're currently experiencing hot flashes, talk to your doctor. He/she may have nutrition or fitness suggestions that will help, and there are several medications that can help as well. If, like me, hot flashes are only a future possibility -- take action now. Make sure you maintain an appropriate weight and eat healthfully.

Source

September is National Cholesterol Awareness Month, so take some time this month to educate yourself on cholesterol -- the good, the bad, and what you can do about it.

• Get tested. If you don't know your cholesterol levels, visit your doctor. Ask your doctor to explain the results and give you some recommendations if your cholesterol levels needs improvement. Chris recently posted a good overview of the different types of cholesterol and some general guidelines for healthy ranges.
  
• Eat heart-healthy foods. Choose plenty of whole grains, healthful fats (monounsaturated and polyunsaturated), lots of fruits and vegetables, and lean protein. Also, remember to minimize your sodium intake.

Source

While incense is often linked to meditation and tranquility, it's now being linked to something much, much different -- cancer of the upper respiratory tract.

To clarify, only use over long periods of time appears to increase the risk, and it does not increase the overall risk of lung cancer. A study found that "Incense burning almost doubled the risk of developing squamous cell upper respiratory tract carcinomas including nasal/sinus, tongue, mouth and laryngeal. There was an increased risk both in smokers and in nonsmokers, pointing to an independent effect of incense smoke."

As scary as this sounds, as long as you're not filling your room with incense every day, year after year, you're probably in the clear. However, it's good to be aware that burning incense or candles introduces environmental pollutants into your home, which isn't the best thing in the world for your health. If you yearn to burn, do your homework first!

Source

Keep lifting the fork to your mouth and you'll have to fork over some cash. This is essentially the message the state of Alabama is sending out to its 37,000+ employees.

The state has already had a policy in place where smokers can either quit their habits or they must contribute to the costs of their health insurance. Recently state employees were told that they have a year to get their BMI under 35 or else they'll be charged $25 per month toward their insurance costs.

The state also has an upcoming plan in place for 2010 where, if state employees don't take free health screenings the state offers for them, they'll also be charged. If employees take the screening and conditions such as high blood pressure or high cholesterol are found, the employees will be offered free doctor visits and wellness programs to help improve the problem. A year later, they'll be screened again and if there's no improvement, they will be charged, too.

Source

There are certainly a million plus reasons to quit smoking: the smell, the cancer risks, the heart disease, etc ... But now there is a new one! If you want to have plastic surgery on your face (and if you've smoked for a long time ... you probably want to), your doctor may insist that you quit before she'll do the procedure. Smoking interferes with the healing process.

This article tells the tale of a woman who repeatedly tried to quit smoking with no success. Until! That is ... her purpose for quitting was vanity. Hooray for that! I don't honestly care what she does with her face, I'm just grateful to have one less smoker in the world. I'm also thrilled that doctors have found a legitimately convincing way to get people to stop.

Source

We know that it's important to eat right and exercise to care for our bodies. We buy special products and take care of our skin. Brushing and flossing take care of our teeth. But what about our eyes? It's just as important to guard our eye health -- Revolution Health gives us six simple tips for healthy vision:

• Good nutrition. Inflammation is the root cause of many eye disorders, so opt for anti-inflammatory foods when possible. Avoid red meat, choose fish and other products that are rich in omega-3s, and choose monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats (avoid saturated fats as much as possible). Also eat lots of green, leafy veggies -- they're high in lutein which is important for eye health.
  
• Protect your eyes from the sun. Wear sunglasses that have 100% UV protection. It can also be helpful to wear a wide-brimmed hat when at the beach or other sunny spots.
  
• Exercise. Moderate exercise has been proven to reduce intraocular pressure, a causative factor for glaucoma.
  
• Don't smoke. Smoking doesn't just damage the lungs -- it also damages blood vessels which, in turn, can deprive the eyes of much-needed oxygen.
• Minimize eye strain. Position your computer monitor properly (not too close and a bit below eye level) and use a glare guard.
  
• Have regular eye exams. Even if your vision isn't impaired, it's important to visit an eye doctor regularly. (Many people go annually, but you can ask your doctor what intervals he/she recommends.)

Source

Sometimes I worry about my bones. My grandma had osteoporosis, and my mom is taking measures to keep from falling prey to the same condition. Seems I should follow suit. Here's how I might bone up on staying strong, according to RemedyLife.com.

• Eat a diet rich in calcium and take a vitamin D supplement.
• Get at least 30 minutes of exercise, like walking and running, most days of the week.
• Engage in strength-training at least two days per week.
• Get a bone density screening at the time of menopause (or around age 50).
• Limit salt intake -- it causes the body to excrete calcium.
• Limit soft drinks.
• Don't smoke.
• Don't consume more than one or two alcoholic drinks per day.

Source

There's no stopping the hands of time. We're all going to age, and there's not a thing we can do to stop the process.

I don't know about you, but I'm happy to get older. The older I get, the better, in fact – because right now, I'm not too fond of the alternative.

If, like me, you want to keep tacking on the years, try these five Woman's Day magazine secrets for aging long into the future.

• Don't smoke. And avoid secondhand smoke. These two practices will help prevent cancer, heart disease, stroke, and lung disease.

• Do play. Working too much can increase your risk of high blood pressure and heart attack, so take a breather from work-related fatigue and stress whenever you can. Start this weekend.

• Don't eat fried foods or drink soda. Too much fast food and soda contributes to weight gain and can cause chronic inflammation, which prompts the entire body to age.

• Wear sunglasses and a hat. Protecting your eyes from the sun's UV rays will cut your risk of cataracts and macular degeneration -- it's the leading cause of blindness by about 45 percent.

• Get important health screenings. Get checked for high cholesterol, high blood pressure, and high blood sugars. Get screened for cancers of the skin, breast, cervix, colon, prostate, and more. Catch any of these conditions early, and you have a good chance of surviving them.

Source

Firefighters are known for their bravery. Their job description includes risking their own safety for the sake of others. But it turns out that forging into raging fires isn't the only danger firefighters face. Frequent exposure to smoke and chemical fumes puts them at higher risk of certain diseases, including bladder cancer.

A research team tested over 1,000 active and retired firefighters. Ninety-nine of the firefighters exhibited warning signs of bladder cancer, and two were diagnosed with the disease. The overall incidence rate of bladder cancer for firefighters was 36 of 100,000 -- which is higher than the general population.

Check out AOL Body's quiz to see if you're doing what you can to avoid cancer.

Source

Sometimes, despite our best intentions, we can't avoid secondhand smoke. I know because smokers huddled outside restaurant doors and mall entrances always force me to wade through dirty air. I guess I don't have much choice but to breathe in others' smoke if I want to enter these establishments. Or do I?

It seems I do have a few options when it comes to steering clear of smoke, says Mego Lien in the March 2008 Ladies Home Journal.

I can hold my breath. If the exposure is brief, this might be worth it, especially for those with respiratory problems. I can cover my mouth and nose. I can add distance -- at least six feet in those outdoor areas I described. And I can wash my clothing as soon as possible -- smoke chemicals can liner indefinitely in fabrics and can be reemitted into the air.

So I've got some options. What would you do?

Source

Bars and other hot night attractions in Minnesota have found a loophole to get around the smoking ban that was rolled out last year. According to the legislation passing the ban, nobody can smoke in these public areas... unless you're an actor.

This is for stage performances, and patrons must be told beforehand that an "actor" will be lighting up. Well, to garner more traffic, over two dozen bars have rolled out Theater Nights where customers show up in costumes to become actors for the evening. Essentially, the bars are hosting their own plays using the public as an acting crew!

Needless to say, the Department of Health doesn't take kindly the idea. They're about to slap these establishments with fines as high as $10,000. But bar owners say they were struggling before and that these "theater nights" provide them with huge sales. Even if it means exploiting a loophole in the system, they want to be able to act and smoke. It's a clever idea -- no doubt about it! However it's going to be interesting to see how long they can keep it up.

Source

Newsflash: smoking is bad for your health. Okay so everyone knew that already, but until now the carcinogenic effect of cigarette smoke on lungs was not completely understood. Scientists knew the smoke caused cancer due to toxins, but how?

Now they've tracked it down to hydrogen peroxide contained in the cigarettes. By exposing human lung cells to cigarette smoke and hydrogen peroxide independently, they found the same cancerous development after a couple of days. Don't worry, this was done in a lab so nobody was sucking down peroxide for test results.

At any rate, the cells which were not exposed to anything were naturally clear of all signs. The connection has been made, so now companies can start making "safer" cigarettes without the chemical which they know causes cancer. Since they figured out exactly what triggers it, this could also lead to better treatment options!

Source

File this one under the "When I was your age" category. Kids in Canada are getting some cold, hard incentive to stay smoke-free through high school. A new program is launching alongside their National Non-Smoking Week which is aptly named R.E.W.A.R.D.S. -- Rewarding Everyone Who Acts Responsibly and Doesn't Smoke.

They literally want to pay children to not light up. The payoff? Five thousand dollars at the end of 12th Grade! To keep them honest, a contract must be signed and four sponsors found to help pony up the cash. The students being offered this deal are currently in grades 5-8.

This is quite a movement to encourage healthy lifestyles. The group is reaching for the stars, hoping to sign up 100,000 youngsters. It will be interesting to see how many kids take the bait, but hopefully it becomes an effective program. I know I would jump at the chance to stay smoke-free if I were that age! Do you think something like this would work in the US?

Source