Steps to quit smoking

Hello all! Long time since I last posted something! So here I am! Back!

My first article since months is going to be about a very sensitive subject: Smoking!
After some research here are the steps to do so... Read carefully and enjoy!

Want to die? Quit reading. Want to live? Then continue reading. According to the American Heart Association, approximately 26.2 million men and 20.9 million women in the United States are smokers. Smoking is well known for its damaging effects to the lungs, skin, heart and brain. The steps to quite are setting a program, joining a support team and for extreme cases Medical therapy

The first step to quit smoking is setting a program. There are many ways to do this, for example one can each month smoke one cigarette less than the last month. This is a long and smooth transition to quit smoking and to feel less frustrated by the desire to smoke. Another way of setting a program is to do activities with family and friends that will keep your mind away from cigarette. Indeed the less you think about cigarette, the less the desire to smoke one will cross your mind. Plus family will always be there to help you because they care about your health. Including family in your program is a big plus in order to stop smoking the death stick. And finally you should include major dietary adjustments. Cleaning up the diet can be a helpful tactic. Often times, smoking is done in conjunction with the consumption of fatty foods and alcohol. Replacing these foods with more nutrient-dense options like fruits and vegetables will help avert you away from smoking.

The next step is to join a support team. When joining a support team you can have access to precious advices from ex-smokers, they will tell you that it is a difficult and long way but they are the proof that it is still possible thus giving you some hope. Also in support team you are in company of people who are in phase of quitting. So that you will know that you are not the only one trying to escape from the evil grip of the cigarette. This is more a psychological effect that helps you and your ego greatly, especially when you feel the urge to smoke. Finally if you are about to have a nervous breakdown and have a cigarette you can always ask someone to take cigarettes away from you so that you won’t be able to give in to temptation.

The final step is a Medical therapy; and it is used for heavy smokers. It could be Acupuncture. In fact acupuncture is one of the oldest known medical techniques, and it is believed to work by triggering the release of endorphins (natural pain relievers) that allow the body to relax. As a smoking cessation aid, acupuncture can be helpful in managing smoking withdrawal symptoms. Another aspect of medical therapy is Nicotine Replacement therapy. This involves "replacing" cigarettes with other nicotine substitutes, such as nicotine gum or a nicotine patch. It works by delivering small and steady doses of nicotine into the body to relieve some of the withdrawal symptoms without the tars and poisonous gases found in cigarettes. This type of treatment helps smokers focus on breaking their psychological addiction and makes it easier to concentrate on learning new behaviors and coping skills. Finally the medical therapy could be a Non-nicotine Medication. This therapy consist of using (absorbing) a substance that will fool your nervous system. There are 2 substances recommended by Doctors. One is called bupropion, it has an effect on the nicotine receptors in your brain through a chemical associated with the pleasure of smoking cigarettes. The other is called varenicline, this medication acts like nicotine and fools the receptors in the brain into believing they’ve already had their dose of nicotine.

Smoking is bad for your health as it takes away years from your lifespan, one should quit smoking by setting a program, joining a support team or by using a medical therapy.

About Hygien

Lebanese restaurant are well known for their unhygienic food and atmosphere:

About the food: Restaurants goal in Lebanon is to make a maximum of profit by any possible mean by serving you (for example) non-fresh meat stocked in the freezer for more than a month  with other “things” that shouldn’t be with meat. I ate twice sea food platter in different restaurant in Lebanon and each time I got sick! That’s not a coincidence because when we look at Lebanese shores (in which I’ll write about at a later time),  I consider myself lucky to even be alive!!!! In July, Marcel Ghanem (from kalam el nass, a Lebanese TV show) discussed this matter with the minister of agriculture; and they showed us some SHOCKING images. Legumes watered by SEWER water. River polluted to the highest degree possible, meat transported in a OPEN truck etc… And also they showed us some famous and well known restaurant who’s kitchen looks more like a pigsty…. No wonder I got sick so many times….

About the atmosphere: Between the cigarette, cigar and chicha (Arguileh) I can say that my poor lungs are in a pretty bad state. How can they even authorize such a poison in a closed space resulting in a toxin depot in your dishes instead of food? Don’t they have any sense of respect toward the customer? Recently, a “Zaatar W Zeit” branch in Achrafieh decided to ban indoor smoking resulting in a violent reactions from “smokers?”. This is the core of the problem, people smokes and they don’t even notice that they are doing something wrong! A Lebanese newspaper asked a couple of smokers about this decision, majority of people were ok with this, stating that they weren’t bothered at all; but what was outraging was that person who said “If they are disturbed by smoke they can go outside, why do I need to bother myself for them?”

What can I say? There is no word capable of describing such an arrogant statement…

Nightmare of public transport [Part 1]

Today on my way back from university, I had to take public transport from Jounieh to Tripoli and there the nightmare begun.

Cigarette!

Yes the nightmare on Lebanese public transport is Cigarette. Everybody Smokes and no one complains. Smokers just light their cigarette on without asking anyone anything. If you make the mistake to stare at them while they lit their death stick, they won’t feel like they do something wrong, on the contrary they would feel that we are seeing them as “cool” and “awesome” people and they feel so “awesome” that they want to share their “awesomeness” by proposing you a cigarette. I mean what the hell! If I’m staring angrily at you does it mean that I approve what you are doing? Or that I think that you are “cool”?

Why are they smoking in a crowded closed place like buses? 2 theories:

The first one is that they know that they are going to die out of smoking and they want to take a maximum of people with them

The second one is that they are unconscious of their behavior like smoking is perfectly natural to them and no one  disagrees.

What really angered me is that I opened the window so I can breath everybody complained: ‘it’s cold”, “please close the window”. I mean come on people you are bothered by wind and not by the cigarette smoke???

The worst part is that there was a “No Smoking” sign and that smokers Noticed it but they just laughed and lit their cigarette

Poor Lebanon and poor Lebanese