Don't stop smoking.. unless you have your diet correct.

Dr. Mercola's Comment:
My response may be somewhat surprising to you because its counter intuitive. My recommendation is to not stop smoking initially. That might seem shocking to you, but it was been my experience that there are far more important things to do before you stop smoking.

When I was brainwashed by the conventional medical system, one of the most potent and consistent recommendations that they provide for preventive medicine is to get your patients to stop smoking. Well, that is exactly what I did because I have had a passionate interest in preventive medicine ever since I graduated medical school about 25 years ago.

One of the first things I did when I started practicing was start a stop-smoking clinic at my office. And one of my very first patients who was successful in my program was my younger sister. She is 2 years younger than me and had been smoking for a long time . Both her and her husband were successful in dropping their tobacco habit and they are still non-smokers today. That was over 20 years ago.

However, her husband has a normal body weight but my sister has grown and expanded and weighs nearly twice as much as I do now. She is clearly morbidly obese because we failed to address the underlying causes. It was vital to address the dietary issues first.

It's critical to understand the food you need to eat to get that under control because it is clear that there is substantial evidence to support not smoking. Smoking is actually a drug. Actually it's made up of many drugs that speed up your metabolism, so you going to burn calories quicker.

When you stop smoking, there are reflexes that slow down your metabolism which will increase your ability to gain weight. This also, in conjunction with many behavioral components, tends to cause people to reward themselves with sweets and desserts because they have done a great thing by giving up something like smoking.

It is a tendency for most who are successful in stopping smoking to gain large amounts of weight and my sister is a classic example. So do I recommend smoking? Absolutely not. But do I recommend they stop smoking? No, not until you get your diet right.

The dietary recommendations I have on my site provide 3 different sections: One is for Beginners, one is for Intermediate and one is for Advanced people. So you can start at what ever level you feel comfortable with and it is so critical to get this done first as you need to get heavy sugar intake under control.

It's also vital that you exercise and sleep well, among other things. And then once you're feeling good, you feel healthy. You are going to spontaneously want to quit by yourself. And that is the most important thing. Because you're going to quit for yourself, no one can do it for you. Not your spouse, your parents, your children.

An article on the dangers of sugar vs. cigarrettes supports my contention that sugar is actually more damaging to your body than smoking. I firmly believe this. My simple analogy is that one French fries, just one French fries, is probably worse for you than one cigarette. So think about that, the next time you have your French fries.

related articles:
Sugar is More Dangerous than Smoking
Learn How to Control Your Diet Before You Quit Smoking