From: Dcuster Subject: Larry Brandon's Smoke-free Notes --------------------------------------------------------------------- The quit smoking posts in this subject were collected by Mr. Larry Brandon for use on this and other smoke-free support group bulletin boards. At present the series consists of Parts 1,2,3,4,5,6a,6b,6c,7. I wish you good luck on your journey. (It's only me) Father Don from the Store Front Church Larry part #1. Welcome to the quit smoking program and congratulations on making a decision that will be the smartest thing you have ever done. Quitting smoking now can save you years of agonizing suffering down the line. Some people say, "you have to die of something, so it might as will be smoking." WRONG! Most people don't die right away from smoking. They suffer for a long time first, gasping for breath and hurting every minute of every day. Smoking will do that to you IF you let it. Cigarettes are not an old friend that you are giving up. Cigs are a mortal enemy that means to do you great harm and eventually kill you. And you even get the pleasure of spending a lot of money for the agony that your cig buddies will eventually bring. Are you going to let the tobacco companies do that to you and make them rich at the same time? Once you decide to quit smoking, you have begun a fight for your life. You CAN and MUST WIN!! Every smoker is still smoking because they are getting more positive out of it than negative in their subconscious. You must reverse that imbalance by actually brainwashing yourself. The more you enjoy smoking and the higher your nicotine addiction level, the harder the exercise becomes. But you can do it! You start one step at a time. First, just think about quitting for a few days and make a list of all the positive things about quitting. Then make a list of all the negative things about continuing to smoke. Read your list several times each day and repeat one reason 10 times aloud before going to bed each night. Visualize yourself as a non smoker and how much better you will feel when you become smoke free. Try this stuff and stay with it. IT WORKS. Your mind is the key. If you want to quit, YOU MUST MAKE IT HAPPEN! "Counselor Larry" sorry for any typos Larry The quit smoking posts in this subject were collected by Mr. Larry Brandon for use on this and other smoke-free support group bulletin boards. At present the series consists of Parts: 1,2,3,4,5,6a,6b,6c,7. Larry part #2 Now that you have gotten used to the idea of quitting it is time to move to the next step. You must stop enjoying smoking. That means you need to make smoking be a royal pain in the rear. Never let yourself be comfortable when you smoke. Don't smoke in your house, or in your car or in the building where you work. Always go outside to a place where you won't be comfortable. Make your cigs hard to find by putting them away somewhere. Don't keep them handy where you can light those automatic cigs. Don't smoke your favorite ones of the day like first thing in the morning or right after eating. Take a shower first thing in the morning or do whatever to alter your pattern and habit. After eating, go brush your teeth and then go for a walk. Exercise is a great tool to fight smoking because it also helps fight stress. Smoke brands that you don't like and switch brands often as you get used to each one. Fill a jar with cig butts and sniff the jar often when you get the urge to smoke. Take a picture of an overflowing ash tray and keep it with your cigs. Look at it before you light up and think about what a gross habit it is. Say to yourself, "This really stinks" every time you light up. Change the way you hold your cig or smoke with the opposite hand. Again, do whatever you can think of to make smoking as uncomfortable as possible as often as you can. The more times you make smoking a negative experience, the closer you are to correcting the positive to negative imbalance in your subconscious. Go to a hospital and visit someone who is dying of lung cancer or emphysema. Go to a convalescent home and visit the people who sit in wheel chairs with oxygen bottles attached because they can't breathe and are too weak to walk. Picture yourself in that bed or wheel chair...are you starting to get the picture? If you do all this stuff, smoking will soon start to be a very negative experience quit often and you are that much closer to quitting. If it is going to happen, YOU are going to have to make it happen. YOU CAN DO IT!!! "Counselor Larry" The quit smoking posts in this subject were collected by Mr. Larry Brandon for use on this and other smoke-free support group bulletin boards. At present the series consists of Parts: 1,2,3,4,5,6a,6b,6c,7. Counselor Larry's Quit Smoking Plan....Note #3: Sorry it has taken me so long to post this note, but I've been busy. By now you are at your quit date, which you were supposed to set as soon as you began preparing to quit. Picking your quit date is important because "somedays" have a habit of never coming around. Your quit date should be far enough in the future to give you enough time to prepare for the ordeal by using the concepts in my previous notes. Pick a date that has some significance to you like a birthday or anniversary or kids birthday. Make it a day of celebration. Cut down how much you smoke per day as you approach your quit date. Postpone each cig longer and longer as you get closer to that date. Quitting from a 5 or 6 a day habit is usually much easier than going cold turkey from a pack or more per day. If you can't get yourself to cut down first, you will just have to go cold turkey. That's doable too and many have had success even though they had VERY strong habits of 2+ packs per day. YOU CAN DO IT! On the last day before you quit, try to chain smoke and really OD on cigs. Get as much smoke into you as you can so that you really feel lousy. Then remember that feeling when the urges hit you. Your subconscious will be telling you that if you could have just 1 cig it would be wonderful and you would then be fine. It lies. That cig will just make you feel crummy, both physically and mentally. And one cig just makes you want another. All you have to do is avoid that first one. Go one minute at a time, then one hour, then one day, etc. Tell yourself, I CAN MAKE IT! Then DO IT! Tell your family and friends when you are going to quit. Try to get a bet going with someone that you will succeed. These things put pressure on you to succeed, and that bothers some people, but if you are ready, it will help push you over the top. Find a friend to quit with. Clean your clothes and household furnishings to get rid of that terrible cig smell. Then focus on never wanting you or your house to smell like that again. Get rid of all your cigs and ash trays. Having them around is just too tempting for most people. Don't let smokers smoke in your house anymore. ask them to go outside. It's the least they can do to help you out. Get your teeth cleaned and vow to keep them looking that nice. Focus on all the money you are saving and think about the things you will be able to do with that extra money. Save your cig money up and do something really special with it in six months after quitting. Tell your family and friends when your quit day has arrived and ask them for their support and encouragement through those first few days. Let them know that you will be irritable, so cut you some slack. Above all, tell them not to nag or question you frequently about how you are doing. Plan your quit day to fall on a weekend or while you are on vacation so you can reduce stress to a minimum on that day. Make lots of plans to keep yourself busy. Plan to hang out places where you can't smoke like the movies. Keep your hands and mind busy! Avoid other smokers and smoking environments. also try to avoid activities that you have always associated with smoking. Remember that you are not giving up an old friend, you are getting rid of a deadly enemy that means to do you great bodily harm. You CAN and MUST win this fight! YOU WILL WIN! The quit smoking posts in this subject were collected by Mr. Larry Brandon for use on this and other smoke-free support group bulletin boards. At present the series consists of Parts: 1,2,3,4,5,6a,6b,6c,7. Hi All, It's The Long Awaited Part #4: By now you are "READY" to quit. You have gone through all the steps in the first three parts of this series. Your "Quitting Day" has arrived and when you do a gut check and your conscious self says, "OK this is it, I'm quitting those terrible cigs" your little voice inside of you is not screaming, NO NO NO, I can't do it." If you are hearing NO NO NO from your subconscious, then you haven't worked hard enough on getting ready and need to go back and start over. If you don't think you can do it, you are probably right. Conversely, YOU CAN IF YOU THINK YOU CAN! First of all, you concentrate on the fact that YOU are a good, likable person. YOU DON"T DESERVE TO BE A SMOKER! You deserve the benefits of a smoke free life. Think those thoughts several time per day. Keep your hands and mind busy. Hang out places where you can't smoke and avoid places and situations where you usually smoke. Stay away from your smoking friends for a week or so, OR ask them not to smoke around you if you do see them. DON"T let anyone smoke in your house or car! Concentrate on being a non smoker. Picture yourself as a much healthier and happier person. Think clean, fresh thoughts and surround yourself with a clean, fresh nonsmoking environment both at home and at work. Buy yourself some flowers and smell them a lot. Drink several glasses of water and fruit juice every day. This helps flush the nicotine out of your system and makes you feel better. Avoid coffee and sodas that contain caffeine, or at least keep those drinks to a minimum. Also, try to avoid alcohol or any other beverage that you tend to associate with smoking. Keep something around to occupy your hands. Hold a pencil or pen INSTEAD of a cig. If you need to put something in your mouth, make it be that pen, or a toothpick, or ANYTHING but a cig. Even make believe you are smoking your substitute" cig when you get the urges. Draw on it and breathe in deeply, then let the air out slowly. Watch out for those times when you always smoked! Do something else instead...vary your normal routine. After meals, go brush your teeth and then go for a walk. Upon awakening in the morning, take a shower and start getting ready for your day instead of going for that coffee and cig. Get some motivational, or anti-smoking tapes to listen to in your car instead of smoking. Maybe you might even want to take a bus or ride with a non-smoking friend for a few days if you always smoke in your car. Have your "substitute" cig handy when the phone rings. Try to avoid getting in any situation where you always smoke, and if you are in one of those situations....do SOMETHING different than usual. For instance, don't sit in your favorite chair to watch TV if you usually smoke while doing that. Again, KEEP YOUR HANDS BUSY...and don't let yourself get bored. The first two to three weeks are going to be the most difficult as far as temptation is concerned. Try to avoid the situations and places that you associate with smoking. Stay away from bars and cocktail parties. If you find yourself at one of these places, hang out with the non smokers. Try to limit your social activities to outdoor or other healthful events or situations where smoking is not allowed. Form new habits where smoking is difficult or impossible. Find something to do with your time where smoking won't fit! The quit smoking posts in this subject were collected by Mr. Larry Brandon for use on this and other smoke-free support group bulletin boards. At present the series consists of Parts: 1,2,3,4,5,6a,6b,6c,7. Hi Again All You Wonderful Quitters! Here is Part 5: You need to find new activities and hobbies that require the use of your hands. Examples are crossword puzzles, needlework, gardening, household chores, chess or other games, writing letters, giving yourself or others a manicure, and EXERCISE. The benefits of exercise are terrific in the quitting process and will be discussed in detail in another Part of this series. Enjoy the good points of being a non smoker. Stop to smell the flowers and notice how much better everything smells. Notice how much better you can breathe. Enjoy having that clean mouth taste and maintain it by brushing your teeth frequently, using a mouth wash or breath spray and chewing gum. Stretch a lot. Take deep breaths frequently. Get plenty of rest. Spend extra time making yourself look great and pamper yourself. Make time to do the things in life that you really enjoy. You are a good person and you DESERVE a smoke free life! Think, "I don't smoke...HOORAY!" The really bad urges WILL hit you, so be prepared for them. Don't panic, you CAN handle them. Keep all of your oral substitutes handy. You will need plenty of carrot or celery sticks, pickles, sunflower seeds apples, and sugarless gum. When the urge to smoke hits you, take several deep breaths and let them back out slowly. Learn to relax by thinking pleasant and tranquil thoughts. Picture yourself in some peaceful, pleasant place. Concentrate on that peaceful image and don't let any other thoughts come into your head. Get up and go for a walk. Do anything you can to help relieve stress EXCEPT smoke. Handling stress is crucial to successful quitting. You must learn to deal with stress in order to stay off cigs for the long term. Go to the library or book store and find a book or two on how to deal with stress. Get to be an expert on dealing with stress. It will help you on your smoke free journey and will also make life easier for you. Stress relief will be handled in another part of this series, but get yourself a book on the subject anyway. A few things to remember when the urges get bad. The urge to smoke will pass whether you smoke or not. Your subconscious will be telling you that one won't hurt. It lies. Smoking one will only make you want to smoke another, then another....pretty soon it's hello old habit! You have come this far, it's not worth going back now! Stomp your feet or clap your hands and say, NO...I'm NOT going to smoke!" No one has ever died from quitting smoking, but the reciprocal of this statement is NOT true. When you are in a particularly stressful or upsetting situation and the urge to smoke is great, ask yourself, "How is my smoking a cig going to help this situation." The answer is that it won't. You will still have to deal with the situation and you will just feel crummy, both physically and mentally because you smoked. You will have blown it and will have to start the quitting process all over again. IT JUST ISN'T WORTH IT. You are a strong person and are totally in control of the situation. If you are going to quit smoking, you are going to have to MAKE IT HAPPEN. All you have to do is avoid that first one. YOU CAN DO IT!......You MUST do it! The quit smoking posts in this subject were collected by Mr. Larry Brandon for use on this and other smoke-free support group bulletin boards. At present the series consists of Parts: 1,2,3,4,5,6a,6b,6c,7. Quit Smoking Part #6A - STRESS >> Stress is defined as a force which deforms bodies. In biology and medicine, the term usually refers to a process in the body for adapting to all the influences, changes, demands and strains to which it is exposed. I recently saw a new definition of stress as being that uncontrollable urge to choke the living tihs out of someone who really deserves it. However you define it, stress is a real force that we must all learn to manage in our lives. Stress is the single most common reason why people return to smoking even though many have quit for long periods of time. It is essential that you learn to successfully manage stress without cigarettes if you want to remain smoke free. First of all, let's examine how smoking relates to stress. Many people believe that they need to smoke in order to cope with the stress in their lives. Somehow lighting that cig makes them more able to handle a stressful situation. But, does it really? The nicotine in the smoke has dual reaction on your system. The initial reaction when the nicotine is absorbed into the bloodstream is a relaxing, calming sensation. However, that feeling is very temporary. Within twenty minutes after inhaling the smoke, the calming effect of the nicotine is replaced with a stimulating effect to the nervous system so you are even more nervous than you would have been had you never smoked. The only way to get the calming effect back is to smoke again, which makes you more nervous so you smoke again,etc. It is a Catch 22 situation. Once you have quit smoking for a week or two, your body is much more susceptible to the effects of the nicotine. Thus, you will not get the expected results if you smoke. The impact will be much more severe and unpleasant than you think. You will probably get very dizzy and possibly nauseous. So, when you experience a stressful situation and ask yourself, "How will my smoking a cigaret- te help me handle this situation" and the answer is that it will make you feel better, that answer is WRONG.It will make you feel crummy physically and will make you feel bad emotionally because you will have blown all your hard work to quit and you will feel like a failure. Stress is impossible to avoid, but we can make it easier to live with. Stress from external sources like your boss or family must be handled as it comes. However, much of the stress in our lives comes from within us and we CAN control that kind of stress largely with our attitude. In other words, LIGHTEN UP and don't take life so seriously. Learn to laugh at situations and yourself. Laughter really is the best medicine in life and especially in dealing with stress. Keep laughing, the boss loves idiots! Make a point to laugh several times every day. Like my Grandpa always said, "Never take life too seriously because you aren't going to make it out alive anyway". Find people and things in your life that help you to laugh, then LAUGH! You can also plan your life better to reduce the amount of stress in it. Too much to do and too little time to do it is a prime cause of stress. You can help the situation by getting organized. Get up fifteen minutes earlier each day so you will have more time to deal with the inevitable morning mishaps and they will be less stressful. Set aside two one hour time periods in the day when you will return phone calls. Have the switchboard operator or answering machine take messages the rest of the day. This will save you time and reduce stress. << See Part 6B >> The quit smoking posts in this subject were collected by Mr. Larry Brandon for use on this and other smoke-free support group bulletin boards. At present the series consists of Parts: 1,2,3,4,5,6a,6b,6c,7. Quit Smoking Part 6B Sort your mail into three folders labeled, 1. To Do Now; 2. To Do Later; and 3. Reading Material. Then prioritize your work and handle it in order of importance. Once you define a project, get started on it and keep at it. You will get more work done and feel less stress. BE ORGANIZED! Prepare for the morning the evening before. Set the breakfast table, make lunches, put out the clothes you plan to wear the next day, get a head start on other family demands you know will be coming in the morning. Do the same thing at work before you leave each evening. Make a list of what you need to do the next day and prepare for what will be coming as best you can. Don't rely on your memory. Write things down and define when they have to be done. Try to plan errands so you can accomplish more than one thing on an outing. An old Chinese proverb says, "The palest of ink is better than the most retentive memory." Make duplicates of all your keys and have a good hiding place for a spare house key. Carry a duplicate car key in your wallet or somewhere apart from your key ring. Carry a set of jumper cables in your trunk. Practice preventative maintenance on your cars, appliances, and your home so that breakdowns will not be as likely to occur at the worst possible moment. In other words, BE PREPARED! Here is a list of the most common reasons for stress in the workplace. 1.Unrealistic deadlines. 2. Lack of clear direction. 3. Lack of recognition and/or respect. 4. Unrealistic workloads. 5. Unresolved conflicts. 6. Interruptions. 7. Equipment problems (copy machines,phones, computers) 8. Having your decisions overturned. 9. Lack of communication. 10. Personality conflicts. 11. Lack of independence and control over your own job. 12. Lack of cooperation from others. 13. Personal money problems and being unfairly compensated for what you do. 14. Sexual harassment. 15. Disorganization. You are undoubtedly experiencing some of these problems at work. It is up to you to bring them to the attention of your supervisor and help formulate a plan to solve whatever problems you are facing.If there are big problems that can't be resolved, maybe it is time to start looking for another job. Your health and emotional well being are more important than your job in most situations. YOU are IMPORTANT! Once stress hits you, there are several ways to deal with it. One good method is called biofeedback. This technique employs the use of feedback about psychophysiological functions where a person learns to exercise a degree of control over that function. Muscle activity can be recorded and transformed into tone whose pitch rises as tension increases and falls when tension decreases. A person can learn which thoughts, feelings and images tend to raise or lower the tone and can then control the amount of tension being felt by concentrating on the activities that produce the lower tones. Biofeedback training has been used successfully to lower heart rate, blood pressure and overall stress in many people. Unfortunately, it is fairly expensive and requires professional assistance. Muscle relaxation is another very good technique used to deal with stress. In this technique, people are taught to be aware of sensations of tension in muscles ansd also the the feeling of muscle relaxation. First you tense a muscle group and study the feelings of those tense muscles. Then you relax the muscles and notice the feelings as tension leaves. The quit smoking posts in this subject were collected by Mr. Larry Brandon for use on this and other smoke-free support group bulletin boards. At present the series consists of Parts: 1,2,3,4,5,6a,6b,6c,7. Quit Smoking Part 6C By systematically practicing this technique, a person can become proficient in recognizing tension in the major muscle groups and how to relax so that the tension drains out of their body. Using a word like "RELAX" as you practice this technique helps as well as slow and deep breathing. Stretching exercises are very beneficial in conjunction with this method. Stretch, relax and breath deeply. Meditation is another major stress reduction method avaiable. The best known of the meditation methods is Transcendental Meditation, or T.M. This method involves the repetition of a mantra or prayer word while maintaining a passive attitude for 20 minutes per day. One must repeat the chosen word over and over while focusing on complete relaxation. T.M. has proven to be very successful in controlling rapid heart rate, and high blood pressure. Regular, aerobic style exercise is one of the most popular stress reduction methods. This is my favorite. I jog nearly every day during the noon hour. You may choose any type of exercise you like that raises the heart rate, gets your blood circulating and your lungs pumping for at least 20 minutes, five days per week. Many people are joining a gym or health club and exercise during their daily lunch break. That exercise removes the tension of the morning and refreshes the person for the afternoon. It works great and I highly recommend it. If you think you don't have time, go back and reread the section on getting organized. You might want to try a combination of the above methods. I use muscle relaxation and exercise frequently at work. When I start feeling tense from stress, I stretch, take deep breaths and then let them out slowly while concentrating on relaxing. It takes some practice, but you will get the hang of it after awhile. I also get up and walk around the office to get a drink of water, go to the restroom, make a copy or any excuse to get away from my cubicle and get some exercise. It is very important to BREATHE! Most people under stress are barely breathing. That's why so many people think smoking helps relieve stress, because it forces them to take deeper breaths. You can do the same thing without a cig. Having your cig substitutes handy is another good way of dealing with momentary stress. Get your straw, pen or pencil and just go through the same motions you would if you were smoking. (But don't light up cause the stink is something awful) Get yourself one of those little Nerf type toys that you can squeeze or bend around when you are feeling stress. I have an inflatable BoBo the Clown punching bag that I can punch when things get really bad. It's great because you can transpose any face you want on BoBo, knock him flat and feel great! Whatever you do, you MUST find some method that will allow you to successfully deal with tension that does NOT include lighting a cig. Hopefully, some of the suggestions here will help you devise a stress reduction plan that will work for you. There will ALWAYS be stress and what appear to be good reasons to start smoking again. Nothing is really worth making you smoke again. You are still going to have to deal with whatever problem comes along whether you smoke or not. All smoking does is waste a lot of time and energy that you could be using to solve your problems. So, BEAT STRESS and BEAT SMOKING all at the same time. YOU are worth the effort! The quit smoking posts in this subject were collected by Mr. Larry Brandon for use on this and other smoke-free support group bulletin boards. At present the series consists of Parts: 1,2,3,4,5,6a,6b,6c,7. Quit Smoking Program, Part 7...Weight Gain... In order to deal with the weight gain issue, it is important to understand the principles involved. When you smoke, the nicotine in your system actually speeds up your metabolism so you burn more calories in a day. Unfortunately, stopping your daily intake of nicotine slows your metabolism down so you don't burn as many calories per day as when you were smoking. Consequently, you will gain weight even though you may not be consuming any more calories per day than when you smoked. Most people also eat more while in the quitting process because they are hungrier, food tastes better and they substitute food for cigarettes in their oral gratification satiation. The combination of consuming more calories while burning less ultimately results in weight gain. According to a national study, the average smoker gains about eight pounds after quitting smoking. I'm not sure where they found this "average smoker", but I gained over twenty pounds when I quit and almost everyone I know has gained at least ten pounds. Weight gain is a primary reason why people, especially women, return to smoking after experiencing success with a quitting program. I can't tell you how many times I have heard the phrase, "I'd rather smoke than be fat." It IS possible to quit smoking AND avoid weight gain. Unfortunately, the success formula takes work. The key to that success is somewhat obvious. You have to use a combination of exercise and diet. Exercise is very important because it also reduces stress, as was discussed in the stress chapter, and promotes an anti-smoking attitude. Exercise must be aerobic in nature to work effectively. Aerobic exercise is defined as any activity that will increase a person's heart rate to it's "training level" for a minimum of twenty minutes per day at least three days per week. Your "training level" is measured in heartbeats per minute and is calculated by subtracting your age from 220 and then multiplying the results by 65%. Very few people are active enough in their daily routines to meet this requirement without exercising. In other words, doing housework and chasing a two year old around the house all day is NOT going to cut it. One must pick some sort of aerobic type exercise and participate in that exercise three to five days each week. You can walk at a brisk pace, jog, do aerobic dancing, bike ride, do step aerobics, swim or any other form of exercise that will accomplish your goal. Swimming is excellent because it is almost impossible to smoke and swim at the same time. Diet is also very important. Once you start exercising, you may also be hungrier. You must be careful not to consume more calories to counter the weight control effect of the exercise. Counting calories is an effective tool. Determine how many calories you need to consume each day to stay at your ideal weight, then count those calories and design a diet that will keep you at your desired daily caloric intake. Reduce fat and sugar from your diet. Replace your usual high fat foods (like dairy products, mayonnaise, hamburgers, fried foods, chips, crackers, and sugar snacks) with fresh fruits, vegetables and grains. Eat a balanced diet that includes vegetables, carbohydrates and proteins. Eat pastas and potatoes in limited portions as well as proteins like beans, lean meats, fish and poultry. Try to limit your fat intake to about 20 grams per day. Drink at least 6 glasses of water per day. You CAN do it!