Keep Your Ticker Ticking

Appetizer

Expose yourself to LESS tobacco. This is not new news, by any means, yet I still see people lighting up every single day. Using tobacco products and being exposed to tobacco smoke increases your risk for heart disease, stroke, cancer and other serious illnesses.


If you smoke cigarettes, you need to stop. Today. And even if you don’t smoke, you need to heed these warnings because you have to be vigilant about protecting yourself, and your children, from second-hand smoke. Wouldn’t it be awful to suffer the consequences of exposure when you weren’t even the one smoking?


Main Course


According to the American Heart Association, there are three things that every smoker should do:
(1) Keep track of when and why you light up. Be aware of the situations and places that make you crave a cigarette. Try changing what you are doing to avoid those triggers.

(2) Find out what distracts you when you want a cigarette. Take a walk or wash your hands – whatever works best to redirect your attention.

(3) Keep substitutes around to keep your mouth and hands busy. Try eating carrots, sunflower seeds, apple sections, celery or chewing sugar-free gum. Carry a pencil or paper clip to have in hand.

In addition, practicing deep breathing techniques can help reduce dependence on cigarettes. Deliberate breathing not only helps to reduce stress-induced urges, but it also allows you to just take a moment to yourself to relax, inhale, and exhale – which is often just what a smoker needs most.


Dessert

I was never one of those kids who saw smoking as something cool to do. I didn’t think it was a great way to rebel against my parents either. I simply viewed smoking as a way to make my hair and breath stink, and I was definitely not interested.

Aside from the aforementioned turn-offs, the information provided in health class was enough to keep me far away from cigarettes. Even as a teenager, a time when we usually feel most invincible, I was afraid of having black lungs or a ticker that stopped ticking.


While all of this is quite good, the one negative thing that came out of my aversion to tobacco was my judgmental attitude towards those who did smoke. Until recently, I’d always been very hard on smokers – not understanding how they could do something so harmful to their bodies. But now, instead of just sitting back and judging them, I want to help them.

Don’t get me wrong, I still think smoking and chewing tobacco are gross, and smokers are often inconsiderate of others around them, but I just recognize it for what it is – an addiction.

If I saw an alcoholic mother stumbling down the hall towards her children, I would not roll my eyes. I would try to get her into Alcoholics Anonymous. If a family member became hooked on heroin, I would stage an intervention – not simply ask them to smoke in the other room with an irritated look on my face.

So, why is it that when I see someone smoking, I expect that person to pull themselves up by the bootstraps and just quit – cold turkey? The most important thing to remember is that for many smokers, if they could quit…they would.

About Cafe Physique:
The mission of Café Physique is to help clients reach and exceed their personal fitness and nutrition goals. If you’re in need of an a nutritionist in Atlanta or an Atlanta personal trainer – Café Physique is the perfect solution. We offer Atlanta yoga instruction, Atlanta prenatal workouts, and Atlanta personal training. We also have private sessions of pilates that Atlanta residents are raving about. We invite you to let a member of our Atlanta registered dietitian staff or personal training team develop and implement a realistic and healthy lifestyle plan to meet your personal goals.