Andrew B. Chung, MD/PhD

Board-Certified Cardiologist

Smoking tobacco is simply terrible for our hearts. This is because the many toxins that enter into our bodies via tobacco smoke have been proven to cause harm to the arteries of the heart so that they end up becoming blocked. Moreover, there is now evidence that we are even hurting the health of friends and family around us when we smoke.

Yes, we know it is wrong for us to smoke and yet we keep doing it. This is a compulsion because we are doing something that we know to be harmful. Yes, this is also a loss of free will. When there is a loss of free will, we can pretty much forget about using willpower to get out of trouble. Some of us are even using the excuse that if we stop smoking that we will gain weight. This is simply not an acceptable excuse because it is actually our eating more (food tastes better) when we quit smoking that causes weight gain and not the smoking cessation itself.

Please consider using the following script to do homework that will help you overcome the compulsion to smoke tobacco. You have my permission to freely copy this web page without any modification for personal use and to direct others to this page so that they may also receive help.

Smoking friend: "How are you?"

YOU (smiling): "I have this wonderful craving for a cigarette."

Smoking friend (Thinking you are crazy): "Why is craving cigarettes wonderful?"

YOU (earnestly): "Because my heart doctor has taught me that it is only when we crave a cigarette that we can be automatically certain that we are not smoking."

Smoking friend (Convinced that you are not crazy and that indeed craving a cigarette is wonderful): "Wow, craving a cigarette is really wonderful. How do I crave cigarettes?"

YOU (smiling): "By stopping smoking."

Smoking friend (Troubled): "Thank you for teaching me what your heart doctor has taught you. Goodbye."

YOU (after making eye contact and placing a supporting hand on your friend's shoulder): "Be craving those cigarettes."

Smoking friend (smiles and laughs upon realizing the problem resides in his/her heart): "You must teach me how to do what you have just done for me."

Know that the more convinced you become, the more convincing you will be. It is after you become absolutely convinced in your mind that your craving cigarettes is wonderful that the time becomes right for GOD to bless you with a "change of heart" that would make you subsequently able to quit smoking cigarettes forever.

As you become healthier (hungrier) from no longer smoking, you will need to become convinced that hunger is wonderful in order not to become overweight.
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