Road to healthy life includes giving up cigarettes

First lady Michelle Obama spilled the beans earlier this month that President Barack Obama had quit smoking about a year ago. That is good news and certainly a difficult choice given the state of the world these days.

However, it is great to see a high-profile role model giving up smoking. If you are serious about making a lifestyle change, putting down the cigarettes is the next step you want to consider. Smoking is not good for you. We've known it for years.
However, if you can give up fried foods and alcohol as we did during 40 days and 40 nights, then you can put down the cigarettes, also.
"I'm very proud of him," Michelle Obama told reporters during a White House luncheon. "When somebody is doing the right thing, you don't mess with them. Our kids are getting to the age where he wants to look them in the face because they want to know. 'You don't smoke do you, Dad?' He wants to be able to say 'No.' "When I was a child, I used to hide my cousin Miss Boot's cigarettes. I wanted her to quit. It has been an on and off again battle for her decades later, but you must be strong.
One of the issues is binge eating. Smokers say that when they quit they have to put something in their mouths. It often leads to weight gain.
It is difficult to quit the smoking habit. Nicotine floods the brain with dopamine, a neurochemical that stimulates the brain. It makes smokers feel relaxed and satisfied. It also shuts down the urge for food, water and sex.
Wait?! It shuts down the urge for sex? There is reason enough to quit right there.
"I completely understand why you wouldn't want to give it up," Dr. David Abrams, an addiction researcher at the National Institutes of Health, told the New York Times. "It's more difficult to get off nicotine than heroin or cocaine."
Here is the problem. Tobacco reportedly has 19 cancer-causing chemicals and 4,000 other chemicals. That is a lot of junk to inhale in your body.
Smoking can lead to cancer, heart disease, high blood pressure, poor blood circulation to the legs and emphysema; plus inhibit taste and smell. And did I mention reduces your sex drive? Yeah, I guess I did.
Wow.
It is not good.
Many of you have worked to lose weight and want to keep it off. Maybe you are a smoker who uses tobacco to cut down on eating.
If you are binge eating it does not mean you have to put a fried chicken leg in your mouth. There are other alternatives. Try Pirates Booty, which features baked popcorn and puffs that are free of trans fats and gluten. Each serving is 130 calories and contains half the fat of regular potato chips. You can find it at Whole Foods.
I enjoy dipping green and red peppers in hummus or low-fat ranch dressing, and one of my favorite snacks is dried cherries, raw almonds and raisins. You can give up smoking and not gain a million pounds.
You must remember our core principles. Do baked and not fried. Always remember moderation and not excessive. And if you are good for the week, you can have a cheat day.
Good luck — and no smoking please.