Quit Smoking: 7 Myths That May Be Keeping You From Quitting (PHOTOS)

Smokers hang on to a variety of myths that ultimately keep them addicted. The fact is that there's no good reason to keep puffing. Any way you look at it, tobacco causes multiple types of cancer, heart disease, cataracts and pneumonia, and shaves years off your life. Every year, nearly 450,000 Americans die of tobacco-related illness. Fortunately, research has conclusively shown that smokers can successfully quit with proper treatment, from behavioral therapy to nicotine replacement systems to medications. To debunk the common myths that keep smokers smoking, we spoke to Iyaad Hasan, medical director of the Cleveland Clinic Tobacco Treatment Center.

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Quitting Will Make Me Gain Weight

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The fear of weight gain keeps many people smoking. The fact is, smokers do gain, on average, between five and 10 pounds when they quit. Physiological and psychological changes happen when a person quits. Many mistake a craving for nicotine as a craving for hunger, while others use food as a coping mechanism. However, weight gain is not inevitable; quitting can actually open up new possibilities. "If you're able to exercise and make that your next obsession, you increase metabolism, up your stamina and raise your lung function," says Hasan. If you need help keeping off the pounds, consider joining a weight-loss support group. A Northwestern study showed that those who found a group of like-minded, health-focused people were less likely to gain weight and 29 percent more successful at quitting smoking. More From AOL Health: Surgeon General: Just One Cigarette Can Harm DNA, Trigger Heart Attack Smoking May Thin The Brain Exposure to Secondhand Smoke Linked to Hearing Loss

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The fear of weight gain keeps many people smoking. The fact is, smokers do gain, on average, between five and 10 pounds when they quit. Physiological and psychological changes happen when a person quits. Many mistake a craving for nicotine as a craving for hunger, while others use food as a coping mechanism. However, weight gain is not inevitable; quitting can actually open up new possibilities.

"If you're able to exercise and make that your next obsession, you increase metabolism, up your stamina and raise your lung function," says Hasan.

If you need help keeping off the pounds, consider joining a weight-loss support group. A Northwestern study showed that those who found a group of like-minded, health-focused people were less likely to gain weight and 29 percent more successful at quitting smoking.


More From AOL Health:
Surgeon General: Just One Cigarette Can Harm DNA, Trigger Heart Attack
Smoking May Thin The Brain
Exposure to Secondhand Smoke Linked to Hearing Loss

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[JBS]

02:33 PM on 12/31/2010

Cigarettes were $0.50 a pack when I quit, I don't have any idea what they cost today, but I didn't think I could afford the cost then, I **KNOW** I can't afford the cost now.

I quit 40 years ago. But I still occasionally get a whiff and my mouth will start watering. So far I've managed to resist.

You may quit and stay quit, but you never get free.

[cf184]

01:18 AM on 12/31/2010

Articles like this perpetuate many myths about smoking. Having been a long time smoker I tried pretty much every silly quit method that is pushed upon us by the medical profession. After failing repeatedly, I ran across a little book called the Easy Way to Stop Smoking by Allen Carr. The book effectively shattered every false belief about smoking I had picked up over the course of my life. I could spoil the book here but I won't and it is mostly common sense but if anyone has trouble quitting this is the cheapest, most effective and permanent solution out there. I also recommend that people who have "quit" using other methods also read this book because most people I know who quit using many accepted methods haven't really quit, but have "given up" and are one puff away from falling right back into the trap again. I would recommend they read it too to open their eyes up to seeing what smoking really is.

The difference this book made for me is that when I finished the book it eliminated my desire to smoke - no other method I tried before that even attempted to do that. No matter how much cigarette smoke I am around nowadays I am sickened by it to a point that I don't ever feel the need to smoke again and want nothing to do with it. That is what I actually call quitting smoking vs. being a "recovering" smoker like many people out

[Alex Zhang]

11:13 AM on 12/19/2010

I don't understand why more people aren't advocating for smoking to be illegal. It clearly endangers the smoker, everyone around them, and everyone unfortunate enough to chance across their path. Yes, they have their freedom of choice, but don't I have my freedom to have clean air?

[blogVF]

07:19 AM on 12/17/2010

In MENA, smoking ban is not really efficient because habits are important among young people.
How could you stop smoking when a cigarette is so cheap in Arab world?

See my post from Jordan here http://vincentfromentin.fr/recherche/linterdiction-de-fumer-un-ecran-de-fumee/

[dforetwenty]

06:42 PM on 12/16/2010

Smoked for 15 years, a pack a day. Quit 3 months ago using nicorette. For me it was more psychological than physical addiction. The hardest part is completely changing your daily habits. It is still very difficult each day, but I just think about all the benefits of not smoking when I get the itch.

[Half a century]

02:09 AM on 12/18/2010

Like Kojak, change to lollipop!!

[Aelfgifu]

07:22 PM on 12/29/2010

Good for you! Keep it up!

[Ojodelgato]

10:31 AM on 12/16/2010

I quit cold turkey in 1991. My wife and I decided to start our family - that was reason enough.

We took a 2 week road trip vacation with no destination. We chose our route every day at breakfast sitting with a US atlas. No pressure, no stress, no work, no excuses to smoke.

When I got back to work I was through the physical part of the addiction, and I made every friend of mine promise to NEVER give me a cigarrette. They helped me and discouraged me from buying a pack and starting up again. Next June I'll celebrate 20 years without a smoke.

[wulidncr]

08:49 AM on 12/16/2010

My sister gave me my first cigarette when I was 8. Made me nauseous. But wanted another one. Started in earnest at 14, like 3 a day. Never smoked more than 10 a day. At age 44 just stopped. Didn't miss it at all. 14 months later, started again. Still do it, lightly. Most people in my family smoke. Some near 90 years old still smoking - since age 12 in some cases. Still ok. None of the smokers in my family have ever had cancer or heart disease.Three non-smoker friends have died from cancer. Lucky genes? Good diet? I know its not good diet, my family is from the south and never met a vegetable that couldn't be deep fried. Better not to smoke, obviously yes... but really, this crusade against smoking is completely skewed. Genetics is huge in this and all things. Personally, I think it's more about justifying absurd taxes and applied moral superiority from those deeming themselves more pure. You wanna talk smoking related illness being a strain on government budgets....its less than a puff of smoke compared to the 3/4 Trillion we spend on defense annually - more than all other countries on the plant, including Russia and China combined. Now, there's a strain on government resources. Am I pro-smoking? No. Am I anti-moralizing, yes. There is nothing more irritating, not even second hand smoke than an air of superiority. Jesus thought so too, (See Jesus vs. Pharisees)

[dkhawkee]

10:46 AM on 12/16/2010

I am in the same boat as you. My family is filled with smokers, drinkers, etc.. Cancer is not a problem within the family. My stepmom freaked out at the last reunion when she saw older folks ( 70-90) walking around with a cig in one hand, JD an coke in another... Does smoking cause issues besides cancer, yes. Does smoking increase the risk of cancers, yes. Nobody disputes that. Yet, who can explain all the non-smokers with lung cancer? It's genetics, plain and simple. Some folks are just don't have the susceptibility to develop lung cancer.

[MagicalPossibilities]

09:14 PM on 12/18/2010

F&F! I am so tired of the anti-smoking crusade. I think obesity is a much bigger issue than smoking.

[wulidncr]

06:42 PM on 12/20/2010

Thanks! And I loved your pun too, "obesity is a much bigger issue". Funny, witty, smart writing. Love it!

[SisterAnn]

07:39 AM on 12/16/2010

I am a strong willed person, but I couldn't quit smoking. When I tried, I would get high anxiety and feel like I lost my best friend. I went one week without smoking and life seemed pointless. I didn't want to get out of bed. It was miserable.

I had major surgery and was in the hospital 3 weeks in intensive care. I was asleep most of that time. Nicotine patches were put on me. When I came home, I bought the patches and haven't smoked since.

Every once in awhile, I really want to smoke. If I found I have two months to live, I probably would start smoking again, but I marvel that I have quit. It has been 21 months.

Some say that Nicoderm works a lot better to help you quit than the other patches. They are expensive, but I learned to buy the 21mg and gradually cut down by cutting the patches into smaller pieces and gradually dwindled down to almost nothing. It costs as much to buy the 7mg as the 21mg. I am cutting them into six pieces now. I may have set the record for wearing the patches the longest. lol

Some think I am a nun because of my name ID. I chose the name because that is what my sister used to call me when we were small. Just thought I would throw that in:-) in case some were disappointed a nun would smoke.

[ljkcan]

11:34 PM on 12/15/2010

I quit cold turkey in 1987, it was a time when they were stopping smoking in the office, and I was offered a realy good promotion clause no smoking in the office. I got the job and tried the smoking lounge perhaps a dozen times and it was like walking through a haze of smoke each time.
So I quit and never went back.

I am not one of the radical ex-smokers yet, when I went to Las Vegas it was the one thing that kept me out of the casino's . If second hand smoke does not get you, a senior on one of those scooters on the way to a slot machine will.

[ecotopian]

11:23 PM on 12/15/2010

If you want to quit, do it when you're sick. Really sick. I quit when I cracked a rib from coughing. Yes, you can do that. I was a pack a day smoker then. Since then, my father and my brother died from lung cancer and I had bladder cancer. The bladder cancer was from the smoking. Really, it was.

[JacksonD]

05:05 AM on 12/16/2010

So true!  That's how I quit.  Got an upper respiratory infection, couldn't smoke and decided after about 4 days to quit.  It works.  Sorry about your Brother and hope your bladder cancer is no longer an issue.

[Nelson Montana]

11:18 PM on 12/15/2010

If you go from 20 cigarettes a day to just 3 and stick to that -- you're doing all right.

[asmir]

11:15 PM on 12/15/2010

re: But nope - I never did gain any weight once I quit. It took turning 40 for my metabolism to finally slow down before I gained the weight I wanted, but that was 12 years after I quit smoking!

the reason people gain weight is because they are used to having something in their hand and foods are the easiest thing to grab on to.

[asmir]

11:13 PM on 12/15/2010

e-cigs will get 99.9% off regular cigarettes I smoked 5 packs a day yes 5 packs a day. the lobbyists for tobacco have tried everything to ban e-cigs. they work have various flavors and strengths of nicotine to ween you off analog cigarettes that are filled with deadly chemicals. these e-cigs are water vapor with nicotine and flavoring, can be used anywhere in public and are 99% odor free (unless your vaping chocolate or cappuccino or coffee flavors which is nothing different than going into a starbucks!
http://altsmoke.com (silver bullet is the best with refillable cartomizers with many different flavors)
http://www.dfwvapor.com (many different flavors of ejuice)

[Dave F]

10:58 PM on 12/15/2010

The weight gain myth is spot on: I was actually looking forward to gaining a good 10 or 15 pounds when I quit (I've always been very thin). But nope - I never did gain any weight once I quit. It took turning 40 for my metabolism to finally slow down before I gained the weight I wanted, but that was 12 years after I quit smoking!

[asmir]

09:41 PM on 12/15/2010

3. Eggplant

Eggplants (aubergines) have a concentration of 100 ng/g of nicotine. It is second highest next to tobacco among the nightshade family where nicotine alkaloids are commonly present. In simple terms, 10 kg of eggplant have the same nicotine content of a stick of cigarette. This only means that the nicotine content of eggplants is negligible compared to passive smoking.

4. Teas

According to research, green and black teas also contain small amounts of nicotine whether regular or decaffeinated. Studies show that black teas appears to have a non-detectable to 100ng /g nicotine concentration. Compared to brewed teas, instant teas show higher nicotine content with a concentration of up to 285 ng/g.

5. Peppers and Capsicums.

Peppers and capsicums also contain solanine and solanadine, nicotine alkaloids, just like the other nightshade family plants. Common peppers have a solanine concentration of 7.7 - 9.2 mg per 100 grams of serving.

6. Cauliflower

Surprisingly, even cauliflowers, which are not part of the nightshade family, also contain nicotine. Research findings gave cauliflower a nicotine content of 16.8 ng/g.