80 cigarettes a day - that is hard to believe. Am I reading your post correctly?

Thanks for the nice comments.

I'm afraid so. Well, technically, it's 76 cigarettes - as I usually went through 4 packs of 19*.

Allen Carr smoked about 100/day according to his own book.

* only found out recently they contain 19 instead of 20. So I have always smoked 5% less than I thought.

Congratulations Wide-O! I am truly impressed with your honesty, and totally agree that you are a true inspiration for others. May I ask if you are using any method in particular to help you stay tobacco-free?

All this is wonderful, Wide-O. Congrats on your hard work and persistence. It becomes easier to lead a healthy lifestyle when you start seeing improvements, doesn't it. Regarding vitamin D3, remember your body will make a great deal when exposed to sunlight.
Ron

The answer to that isn't easy, but in short, I'm using a method that is pretty close to Allen Carr's "Easy Way to Stop Smoking".

What's important is that you (well, I) don't see it as "giving up" something. White-knuckling only gets you so far.

I really really wanted to quit, just like I really really wanted to quit drinking. I'm also vigilant when it comes to any thought in my mind that could weaken my resolve.

Would it help with food? lol I am really struggling to get back on track after the holidays. I am a carb addict and giving it up the way I need to is always hard, but there are times it is easy and times it is not. I just can't seem to get back on track and keep cheating.

Watching you say you gave up 80 cigs a day is very inspirational. Surely I can give up nasty sugar/carbs again.

thanks for the inspiration today!

Hello I am just curious about the sugar. I too have a craving for sugar now that I do not drink any alcohol any longer. Wondering how many of the posters on here have found that cutting out sugar helps tremendously? I LOVE my fruit!!!

Yes, cutting out sugar definately makes a difference for me.

Also, simply put, I believe sugar is the number 1 enemy of our bodies, health wise, more so than cholestrol and other things.

Now if I could stay off it.

I blew it again last week. It's so depressing. It's been over a year since I gave sugar up, last year the holidays didn't do this to me. This year everyday I say is IT. Today was my start over day...again, lol. So far so good. I keep making it for 2 or 3 days then fall. It's so hard this time...

--when I cheat, and eat things with too much sucrose or glucose in them, I will pay down the line.

It's not always with increased pain, though there is that, but there is more often increased sluggishness and lethargy, which of course brings around a craving for more sugar to make it go away. One can easily get into a vicious cycle with this--it takes a lot of willpower not to get caught up in it. (This cycle extends to a desire for simple carbs that are not specifically sweet as well--i.e., rice, potatoes.)

Interestingly, eating sour fruit helps to quell this--certain berries, Granny Smith apples. The cravings seem reduced afterwards and I can more easily normalize.

I haven't specifically found that sugar or carbs cause me any problem but I do believe for sure that sugar and simple carbs (which are quickly converted to sugar in our stomachs) are not good for people. I believe a good measure of how bad a food is in this regard is its glycemic index or glycemic load. These are measures of how quickly the food increases blood glucose. Glycemic index is determined by feeding people a standard portion (say 100g) of the food and measuring their increase in blood glucose after some period of time. The glycemic load takes into account the serving size. 'Simple' carbs--sugars, white rice, white bread will have a higher glycemic index.

Here are some helpful sites:
http://www.glycemicindex.com/index.php
http://www.mendosa.com/gilists.htm

This issue can get a little complicated, for example because different types of rice have different glycemic indexes and it also depends on cooking time. Basmati rice is one of the very processed white rices that is generally lower glycemic than others.

It is important to make a distinction between whole foods and foods that are very processed. For example brown and wild rice may have a fairly high glycemic index, but is a whole grain product so it contains all the good nutrients found in the husk (unlike white rice which is pretty much empty calories).

Notice that fructose has a very low glycemic index of about 15. This does not mean it is good for us. This is a big topic of discussion.

Ron