Thursday, April 5, 2012

2 Months - The Temptations

You would think that after 2 months of being tobacco-free, the temptation to smoke cigarettes would go away. It doesn't. They happen less often as time goes by, but they do still happen. The past two weeks were the most difficult since I quit 2 months ago. I was at a conference in NYC and, surprisingly, I found myself surrounded by smokers most of the week. The e-cig really saved me. But, the most surprising temptation came from a Scotch whiskey pairing dinner in Phoenix. Cigars were never a big part of my tobacco intake, but for some reason they now smelled great in combination with the aromas of the Scotch. E-cig calmed those cravings, also.

The reinforcement that I needed came this week from my doctor. Three months ago I had high cholesterol, high triglycerides and high blood pressure.  As of today, I am well into the normal range for all of them. The cholesterol was the most serious with a reading exceeding 320 last year (normal is under 200). Yesterday my score was 159. Oh, and I have also lost 17 pounds. The moral of the story-Give up tobacco, exercise a little and modify your diet. Amazing things can happen!

For any of you that are also struggling with these kinds of health problems, I will share with you how I started on the road to recovery. This was many months before giving up tobacco. I bought a pedometer(less than $10 at most stores with sports equipment) and a lot of Active Lifestyle instant oatmeal( less than .25 per serving). Every morning, I had oatmeal instead of my normal breakfast. Then, I went for a walk. The pedometer would record the amount of steps that I took. I tried to hit 10,000 steps every day, but I did not beat myself up on the days that I didn't get there. After 8 months of doing this, my cholesterol levels had dropped 100 points. Still high, but now manageable. The last 60 points came off in the 2 months since purchasing e-cig.

Until next time- Good luck and good health