Why is quitting from smoking so tough?

[HoggRobinson]

Why is it hard to quit smoking, are cigarette sort of drugs? And can anyone tell me why smoking is considered cool

[Caldwell]

Smoking initiates many processes in the body. As nicotine enters, the endorphin is released and you are actually becoming high. Yes these are sort of drugs which have obvious symptoms like becoming anxious, sweating and feeling of physical illness on removal. But you can easily give-up this habit. I found a good e-book on “Smoking Cessation” (http://www.stop-smoking-guru.com). Concerning cigarettes being cool, I don’t agree with you. What I feel is that some great personalities fall victim to this habit making it look cool which is surely a myth.

[Hellcat07]

I quit smoking almost 5 years ago..it was hard at first, but I just ate the heck out of cinnamon altiods and the cravings passed. You'll get thru it if you are determined :)

[elemteach5]

With the price increase I'm sure a lot of ppl will be quitting. They are outrageous!!

[Ajay42]

I read something last week that was talking about how low carb diets work.

What they said was that something in our body called lipoprotein lipase essentially tells your body what to do with fat. If your insulin is high, your body stores fat. If it's low, it passes it.

(as an aside... This is a complete paraphrase and I probably screwed it all up. I'm no Dr.... good thing :) )

Well... it went on to say that nicotine also tricks the body into releasing it. Which is why people tend to gain weight when they stop smoking.

I don't smoke and haven't since high school days, which is getting to be an ancient memory at this point lol. But if I did, that would make me think twice about quitting.

[fkaye6]

I smoked for 6 years and would quit for my pregnancies. After the first baby I was so stressed out all the time I started again but after my second pregnancy I stopped completely and haven't smoked for four years. It wasn't hard for me to quit because I would either keep myself busy or chew a lot of gum. I still chew a lot of gum....especially when I'm driving. The first pregnancy I taught myself how to sew so that kept me busy and the second I sold a lot of stuff on ebay and did online classes. Just keep busy and you'll be okay! If your hands need to stay busy and gum isn't working then buy lollipops!

[Geogeek]

I quit smoking in September after 13 years. I didn't notice weight gain likely because I had begun my walking routine back in July. I had wanted to quit for years and had tried multiple times but it had never worked before. I moved away from all of my friends in July and smoking was less pleasurable for me. I think I most enjoyed it with conversation and beers, all of which I wasn't having much of in my new environment. Once that association was broken the other two biggies were with my coffee in the morning and as an excuse to take a break while I was working. I just had to dissassociate it with things in my life that it had always been conected to. I will admit that I have indulged in visits home while with friends after a beer or two, since then. But there is no way I could complete the hour long step class I do twice a week, or the 3 miles on the treadmill every other day if I still smoked.