Quitting Smoking - The Most Important Rule for You to Remember

This online quitting smoking book is free for you to read, print etc (though not to reproduce in online form) The most important rule is this - Nobody is trying to make you do anything. Please don't think the author is trying to preach or patronise. We are not trying to make you feel foolish by presenting facts and ideas about smoking. If you decide to press that internal 'quitting smoking button' then that will always be your choice and you will do it on your own terms. If this book and Website help you to stop then that's a bonus.

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Giving Up Smoking

'There is absolutely nothing to give up. There is no genuine pleasure or crutch in smoking. It is just an illusion like banging your head against a wall to make it pleasant when you stop.'Allen Carr - Quote from The easy way to stop smoking

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Does Smoking Give You Pleasure – Do you Enjoy Smoking?

If the answer is yes then what is it you enjoy? If it's the taste then there's no need to inhale because as I'm sure you're aware, all of your tastebuds are in your mouth and guess what? They're all clogged up with tar. When you become a non-smoker everything really will taste better. Everything will smell better too. The last two points come with a cast-iron guarantee!

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So What Else Do You Enjoy About smoking?

You really should think long and hard about this because you need to be able to explain it to someone else who hasn't experienced it before. You need to be able to explain to a teenager who has never smoked before just what it is that he or she is going to enjoy so much. And then when they start to cough and splutter you need to be able to explain why they're not doing it properly. It sounds ridiculous doesn't it? But then, if smoking is enjoyable, shouldn't it be enjoyable to someone who hasn't done it before? Enjoy quitting smoking! It makes more sense, doesn't it?

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The Truth About Smoking

Here's the real truth About Smoking. If you haven't done it you can't enjoy it. The pleasure is not pleasure at all - it's simply the feeling of topping up the nicotine in your body. The first time you smoked it smelt, tasted and felt awful. It actually still does! Your mind is just disguising the fact from you - stop for a few days and then light a cigarette! You'll soon notice the illusion disappear. It will taste nasty, just like it always did in reality.

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Facts About Smoking - Is Smoking Addictive?

Nicotine is generally thought of as an addictive substance. However do you actually realise how long it takes for nicotine to leave your body after you stop smoking?

The truth is it's just a few days. And once it's gone you can't scientifically be addicted. If you can stop for two or three days then you can be confident what you are left with is a strong habit which you probably associate with other experiences - socialising, drinking coffee, driving etc... etc... etc...

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Everyone is Different - Stop Smoking Forums

Because everyone is different, you can be sure that people smoke for different reasons. It follows then that everyone will have their own 'best way to quit smoking' There are many helpful and friendly forums on the internet dedicated to advice and help with quitting smoking. There may be someone there just like you (Except, of course, they found their way to quit smoking!)

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The Effect of Quitting Smoking - The First Few Days

The first few days can be uncomfortable because your body is losing the nicotine. Its important to understand this, maybe pamper yourself a little. Always look for the positive angle with smoking cessation. This isn't your body withdrawing, it's your body shedding the harmful toxins and poisons. Once those first two or three days are over you are not dealing with any kind of addiction, just a habit. Find someone who has successfully become a non-smoker and ask them how the first few days were. They'll probably tell you they were fine. Part of the very positive process of becoming a non-smoker.

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Smoking Facts - But I Know Someone Who Stopped Smoking and Found it Really Hard!

Willpower involves giving up smoking even though deep down you don't really want to. Choice means giving up smoking because you choose to. The problem with willpower is that people tend to find themselves thinking constantly about the one thing they shouldn't be 'cigarettes'. It is because they still feel they are depriving themselves of something and no one wants to be deprived!

People who stop through choice and stop permanently tend to not think about smoking and if they occasionally do then it's to think about the benefits of not doing it. Ask them!.

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Why is Willpower such a hard way to Stop Smoking?

When you use willpower to stop smoking you end up creating an internal battle. And guess who you're battling against? That's right - Yourself. So, of course, you've got a pretty formidable opponent who just happens to have just as much willpower as you. So forget willpower and start thinking about what you really want.

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What do you Really want?

Here's a tip that often helps. First, write down your reasons for wanting to stop smoking. And then turn them all into positive reasons. For instance, if one of your reasons for stopping is to 'not get ill' then change that to 'enjoying good health'. Your list will probably include reasons such as;

To enjoy good healthTo be fit and energeticTo have more money and enjoy more holidays etc.

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Ways to Stop Smoking - Why Stop This Way?

The established way to stop smoking is using willpower, all the leaflets tell you so. You need willpower, you need nicotine patches, gum and it's going to be very difficult. Well stage 1 of giving up easily is to get the nicotine out of your body and patches, gum etc seem to do the opposite i.e. they keep putting nicotine into your body. What we have found time and time again is that the people who are successful at stopping permanently are surprised at just how easy it was. This does not understate what an incredible achievement it is to stop, it is simply an observation that it does not have to be difficult.

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So What is Stage 2?

Stage 2 is simply enjoying your life and living it in a more healthy and energetic way.As pointed out earlier, willpower tends to focus on what you are depriving yourself of.As you are now aware, you are depriving yourself of ABSOLUTELY NOTHING other than Nicotine and Tar and all the other nasty things in Tobacco products.

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How to Break the Smoking Habit?

Breaking a habit can be simple - you just create a new one and then practice it again and again. If you've smoked for any period of time then you have probably practised the smoking habit thousands of times. Every time you think about it, you practice it. Ironically, when you try to not think about it you also practice thinking about it. To understand what I mean, try not thinking of one of your schoolteachers. Impossible, is it not? Every time you start to think about smoking just revert to thinking about something else - the positive benefits of stopping, health, happiness, being in control, smelling fresh etc. If you notice a dark thought, turn it into a bright one.

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Affirmations for Smoking Cessation

Many people benefit from using affirmations to help develop a new habit which is, let's face it, what you are doing. In the past you've unconsciously been practising such affirmations as 'I'm a smoker', 'I'm an addictive personality', 'smoking relaxes me', 'I always have a cigarette in the morning' and so on.

How about a new affirmation 'Everyday I'm getting healthier, happier and richer', Choose your own affirmations for stopping smoking and practice them every time you start to think about smoking or even notice someone else doing it. It will soon become second nature.

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Health Benefits of Quitting Smoking

'Heart attack risk drops to the same as a non-smoker three years after stopping smoking'(Source Ash.org.uk - Top 15 Tips for stopping smoking

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Other Health Benefits of Stopping Smoking

The fact is your health improves the moment you stop smoking. Every night you stop smoking when you fall asleep and, within hours, your body is clearing out the tar and other toxins. Imagine the health benefits after a week, a month a year. It won't be long before you are as healthy as if you never smoked. This is amazing - but true.

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You Will Look and Feel Healthier

Imagine how clean your skin will feel. Your skin, your hair and your clothes will all smell fresher as will your house and your car. A lot of people can't imagine what it would be like to be a non-smoker. Well, unless you started on the day you were born, you've already got plenty of experience of what it was like to look and feel like a non smoker, probably sixteen years or so.

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The Cost of Smoking

Smoking 20 cigarettes a day for 20 years in the UK will cost you £32,120. Converted into US dollars that's $49 500 (correct conversion in May 2003).Many clients who come to us to stop smoking claim that money isn't a reason to stop. Of course, compared to your health it absolutely is not but then perhaps you might like to spend a few minutes planning what you’d like to do with all that money because, like it or not, it's a fact that you will save that much.

(Source for figures - ash.org.uk)

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When is the Best Time to Quit Smoking?

The best time to stop smoking is when it feels right for you. Don't let anyone tell you it can't be done, including yourself. The problem with setting a date for the future is that it stops you from dealing with it now. It also doesn't allow for the possibility that maybe you won't want to stop that day. Forget birthdays, new years eve etc and stop when it's right for you. Stop on the day that's right for you! Ideally make that today, you're obviously already thinking about it.

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Success or Failure with Quitting Smoking

There is no success or failure. There really isn't. If you want to stop, rest assured you will. You may just need to find the right time and the right way for you. Ask someone who has stopped successfully and easily and they may well tell you that they had to try a few times. The secret is to never stop trying. Many authorities will tell you that it's essential to use willpower and to buy patches and to stop on a particular day. Well fine, maybe that's the way that will work for you. If it doesn't then for goodness sake don't see it as a failure. Just try something different and keep doing that until you stop easily and permanently. Come back and read this book again. It may make more sense next time.

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What about Zyban and smoking cessation drugs - Do They work?

Bupropion is the active ingredient in Zyban. It was originally marketed as an anti-depressant and for this reason it is absolutely essential that you go to your doctor to have Zyban prescribed.There is evidence of it helping smoking cessation but in some cases it is medically inappropriate. Seek medical advice before taking it.

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Natural Ways to Quit Smoking - Hypnosis, Hypnotherapy

Hypnotherapy has helped a great many people stop smoking and its major benefits are that it's natural, relatively cheap and doesn't involve pumping nicotine into your body. You'll hear on some websites that there is no clinical evidence for its effectiveness. Don't believe a word of it. The problem is that the kind of research methods used to investigate pills and patches is not appropriate for assessing hypnosis. Phone a local hypnotherapist. Have a chat with them. Ask them how it works, what their approach is etc. You have nothing to lose and of course 'It might work! - It has for many others'

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Smoking Cessation and Weight Gain -Do People Gain Weight when Quitting Smoking?

If you eat more calories than you burn off you put on weight. When people stop smoking they find very quickly that their sense of taste improves and so you would be forgiven for developing an appetite. But the fact is that the only reason for putting on weight is that you have given up using willpower and still feel you are depriving yourself, therefore you substitute. This means using something else to take over from the smoking habit. If you remind yourself of all the wonderful reasons to stop smoking and celebrate the gift of health and happiness then you will have no need to substitute anything. Long term non-smokers tend to be fitter and healthier and to weigh less than smokers.

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Why Would You Want An Alternative?

Look at what you lose; the smell, the taste, the coughing and wheezing, the feeling of being out of control, not being able to run half a mile, the expense, etc...etc... You gain your health, fitness, self-respect, financial and social rewards.Why on earth would you want an alternative?You lose NOTHING

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But it Helps Me to Relax, (Concentrate, focus, be happy, be creative etc...)

It does none of these things. Smoking does not help you to relax in fact, scientifically speaking, it does quite the opposite. Smoking does one thing and one thing only - It satisfies the need for nicotine which your body has from the last one you put out. Ask yourself this, if you had never ever had a cigarette, if you had never lit that first one, what would a cigarette do for you? Come on, be honest!

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How to Stop Smoking - Cutting Down

Cutting down is very much like using nicotine replacement products, you never actually stop putting nicotine into your body until you stop completely. The sooner you get to stage 2 the better and the only way to do that is to put out that last cigarette.

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Quitting Smoking - The Withdrawal Symptoms

This is a very interesting one. Those who use willpower and make giving up smoking a personal battle tend to report lots of withdrawal symptoms but the symptoms are often quite vague. A common one is irritability. Well it's not unheard of for someone who is being denied something they really want to be irritable. The fact is that if you can get yourself to the place where what you want (and desperately want) are such things as happiness, health, personal success, fitness, money etc, the feeling of being deprived goes away. In fact, you are filled with a feeling of success and achievement. Nothing to withdraw from. This explains why people stopping smoking the natural way report that they find it surprisingly easy.

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Permanent and Natural Smoking Cessation

Two things that people using willpower often forget to do;

1. Make it a permanent commitment - Rather than saying 'I am becoming a non smoker for ever and removing all of the unnecessary pressures and doubts, people often use such phrases as 'I'll give it a go' or, 'I'll stop for a week and see how I feel'

2. Use their incredibly powerful imagination to help them succeed. In fact they often actively switch off their imaginations.

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Using your imagination to help you Quit Smoking

We have five senses which we use to make sense of the world. We can also use these five senses in our imagination. And remember, the reason we have imagination is to facilitate change. Now try this short exercise. You might want to practice it often with your eyes closed until it becomes very natural. Imagine that you've quit smoking for a year. What will you look like? Imagine your skin looking and feeling healthy, a look of freedom about you. How will it feel to be that successful? Think about how fresh and clean your skin, clothes and hair will smell. Think about how great food will taste. Use all of your senses to create your own incredible future. What starts in the imagination can soon become real.

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Pictures of the Harmful Effects

We've all seen pictures of lungs removed from deceased smokers. They resemble something offered at a bad barbecue and pictures like these display the true horror of what cigarettes do to a human body. The problem is that as with ads on TV that show terminal cancer patients or photographs of gravestones etc, these pictures of the harmful effects of smoking create fear. And fear is not always a helpful force for becoming a non-smoker. Often it makes smokers reach for a comforting cigarette.

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How do you Experience the Smoking Habit?

Some people think of the smoking habit as an annoying voice in the back of the mind. 'Go on, have a cigarette, one won't hurt'. Some people notice it as more of a feeling like hunger or thirst. Some people experience the sensation of wanting to smoke as a big 'smoking picture' in their mind that won't go away until they light up. Allen Carr, in his book 'The Easy Way to Stop Smoking', describes it as an itch that needs to be scratched. How do you know when you want a cigarette.

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How to give up smoking - Summary So Far

1. Make a list of your outcomes as a non-smoker. In other words what will be the wonderful benefits you will enjoy.2. Understand that you get nothing from smoking. If you'd never lit one you'd never want one and soon you will be back in that situation.3. If you ever think about cigarettes, immediately repeat to yourself your personal affirmation (I am getting healthier and healthier or whatever works for you) At the same time remind yourself of all the wonderful gifts you are giving yourself.

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The Health Benefits of Quitting Smoking

Smoking is assumed to cause cancer and heart disease. There are now strong links between smoking and diabetes. One of the great benefits of quitting is that you no longer need to weigh up the odds, wonder about which one might get you first. You will be free from all of this. Just remember to focus on what you do want. You can do it! Lots of people have already done it.

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But Smoking is Relaxing, isn't it?

Smoking is not relaxing - It is stressful. Ask a doctor, they will confirm it for you. When you stop smoking you body displays more symptoms of relaxation, so long of course as you don't believe you're depriving yourself of something which will always be stressful. If life is hectic and stressful then there are many appropriate and healthy ways to relax including exercise which will seem far easier once you've stopped. Some smokers keep fit anyway, but then when they stop they get much fitter again.

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Why Doesn't Smoking Kill More Quickly?

Smoking can be thought of as a slow way of killing you. Smoking is full of toxic poisons. Nicotine itself is a toxin, a fertiliser like DDT. Packet cigarettes contain thousands of poisons including arsenic, benzene and carbon monoxide. Our bodies are well equipped to deal with poisons in small amounts and on a temporary basis. This makes us adaptive and is useful for our survival as a species, but make no mistake about it, if you keep introducing these poisons into your body long enough, they will kill you.

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But I Could Be Run Over by a Truck Tomorrow!

Yes, you could but what on earth is the relevance of that belief. You may wish to question beliefs which harm you. If I told you that I was going to run in front of trucks wearing a blindfold and gave my reasoning as 'Well I could die from smoking related disease tomorrow', you would be excused for thinking that was rather foolish.

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After Effects of Quitting Smoking

After stopping smoking, you're blood pressure and blood quality will improve. Your body will start to shed toxins. You will be able to breathe more easily and your health will receive a boost. You will have more money in your pocket every day. Often, the most significant benefit reported by ex-smokers is the sense of being back in control - no longer at the mercy of a habitA which gives absolutely nothing in returnAfter stopping smoking, you-re blood pressure and blood quality will improve. Your body will start to shed toxins. You will be able to breathe more easily and your health will receive a boost. You will have more money in your pocket every day. Often, the most significant benefit reported by ex-smokers is the sense of being back in control - no longer at the mercy of a habitA which gives absolutely nothing in return.

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A New Generation of Smokers - Breaking the Cycle

Smoking is becoming less acceptable in Western culture and so this means that less children are taking it up. The best way to minimise the chances of your children taking up smoking is to stop yourself. Research shows that children are far more likely to smoke if their parents do so. By stopping you are potentially stopping the cycle. This is probably the greatest benefit of quitting smoking. Think about it, children learn from others. And children don't much like being told 'I'm doing something but you mustn't do it.' To a child, that makes it challenging and exciting.

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Your Next Cigarette will Cost You £50 000

This is what you need to remember as a non-smoker. When you first started smoking, you could be excused for believing that you would only smoke for a week or two and perhaps you didn't even pay for them then. 'I won't buy any myself, that way I'm not a proper smoker!' But that first cigarette was led to all the others and all the relative cost, financial and otherwise. Luckily, you won't have that excuse again. Just one cigarette is impossible. As soon as you smoke one you start the whole process again. If you ever think about lighting that first one, just remember your affirmation and your wonderful future.

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How to Quit Smoking - Emotion Versus Logic

Talking of that first cigarette you ever smoked, I'm sure it wasn't a logical decision. I bet you didn't sit down with a piece of paper and weigh up the pros and cons of smoking. Of course not, it was an emotional decision 'It felt right!' You probably felt cool, or part of the crowd. This is another serious flaw with willpower and determination. It is a logical approach to stopping. It is basically saying 'I'm stupid, smoking is stupid therefore I'm going to stop (even though I don't really want to)'Using the approach outlined in this book, you are finding your own way to stop. Because it wasn't a logical choice to start then it won't be a logical choice to stop - It will just feel right!

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Stop Smoking Tips - Get Angry

Get angry at the fact that Governments make many billions from smoking tax and then spend a few million on scary adverts supposedly to make you stop. Get angry with tobacco companies for spending billions on highly effective marketing campaigns to start people smoking and to keep them smoking. Get angry about people saying you should be at the back of the cue for hospital treatment when your smoking tax has paid for that hospital. When you've finished being angry, just stop smoking, then you don't need to be angry any more. These things won't concern you. You can just think about your positive and healthy future.

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'Quit Cigarette Smoking Today'

We hope you have enjoyed reading this book and found it a positive help. It is our sincere hope that you have not found it patronising or negative in any way. We have tried simply to put across facts and helpful ideas. Smoking has killed more people than any war or famine, probably all of them put together. We think putting an end to that is worth getting passionate about. We with you all the best for your future as a happy and healthy non-smoker and all that means to you.

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