Foods For Weight Maintenance
Sneer if you will, but this is the way some smokers think: Smoking helps you remain thin; thin is beautiful; therefore, if you stop smoking, you'll get fat and ugly.
One expert, Dr. Lynn Kozlowski, says it comes up all the time by means of weight gain foods, in his dealings with smokers considering kicking the habit. Advertisers have taken advantage of this fear. In the 1930s, one tobacco campaign urged people to reach for a Lucky instead of a sweet.
Some non-smoking programs recognize that smokers, especially women, are under pressure from a society that values trimness. They hear horror stories of ex-smokers who ballooned 50 kilograms (110 pounds).
As a result, stop-smoking courses are now available that emphasize steps to deal with the problem. Most gain .Kozlowski, a psychologist who heads behavioral research on tobacco use at the Addiction Research Foundation, suspects some smokers cite weight gain as an excuse for continuing their habit. It sounds more socially acceptable than admitting, for example, that you smoke because you're too hooked or too weak to try quitting. Kozlowski says it's generally true that people gain weight when they quit, but in any group there will be individuals who maintain their weight and some who actually lose, he says. The average gain will be in the two- to five-kilogram (four-to 11-pound) range. Some studies indicate the more you smoke, the more likely it is that your weight gain will be higher when you quit. But a spokesman for the Lung Association, which runs five-week smoke-cessation courses across Canada, estimates that up to a third of smokers actually lose weight after they quit. People who decide to quit smoking have made a commitment to take better care of themselves, so they're exercising, they're eating right. While McLeod likes to emphasize that weight gain isn't necessarily large and it can revert to normal after a few weeks, Kozlowski says he thinks it's more constructive for smokers to understand that any weight gain may not be temporary. If they don't understand that, they may use it as an excuse to go back to smoking. Theories vary on why ex-smokers gain weight. There is evidence to suggest that the body's metabolism slows once nicotine is withdrawn, meaning calories are burned more slowly. Nicotine is also an appetite depressant. McLeod also says cigarettes are believed to cause increased urination, and ex-smokers tend to drink more fluids. Kozlowski says smokers tend to have lower body weights than the rest of the population and, when they kick the habit, their weight approaches the norm. Smoking is also an oral gratification and smokers often say they need to replace their habit with snacking. One U.S. study found that when nicotine is withdrawn from the diet, people develop an increased preference for sweet, high-calorie foods. McLeod's association says people who are trying to stop smoking should eat three meals a day. A good breakfast can make you stronger for the day and help you fight the cravings for cigarettes.
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