Feel like a smoke?

FDA reveals bigger, graphic warning labels for cigarette packages

Do images like these work in terms of encouraging you to quit? Or are other factors more important in terms of quitting - say cost, or regulations about where you can/can't smoke?

How is Kimberly healthy? [lady-style]

Little by little every single day I tried something new.

In 2006 I stopped drinking and doing drugs which at the time was necessary in order for me to live a more productive life. 

Let's face it, it was necessary in order for me to live - period. 

I did not realize this at the time, but the result was that I adopted other healthy lifestyle habits as a result.  Once I stopped pouring poison into my body I continued to smoke more than a pack of cigarettes a day. I figured I'd stopped doing something so epic that I needed "a vice." 

Well, I read a story about Raymond Carver, one of America's most celebrated short story authors.  He got sober around the same age as me, but died 10 years later of lung cancer.  It was a real wake up call that spurned my PAINFUL attempt to quit smoking - which was ultimately successful and I've been smoke free since 2007. 

But because I quit smoking, I turned to food. Around the same time I quit smoking, I got a boyfriend and started eating with him, plus I broke my arm really bad and the pounds just piled on. 

One day I couldn't button my fat pants and I don't think anyone would have looked at me and considered me obese. But I was 30+ pounds overweight, couldn't fit into a size 12 and I realized if I didn't make some changes, I was going to have a big problem on my hands.

So slowly - and I do mean slowly - I started eating right and exercising. The weight came off 1/8 of a pound at a time.  It was such a frustrating and emotionally difficult time because I didn't have any of my comforts left at this point - I didn't have alcohol, I couldn't take a magic pill, I couldn't smoke and now I couldn't even treat myself to chocolate chip cookies to soothe myself.  But I stuck with it. 

Little by little every single day I tried something new. If I'd done one pushup the day before, the next day I tried two. If I'd successfully walked 3 miles on the treadmill, I'd add a minute of running - then two - then three. On and on. 

Then I discovered Jillian Michaels and it's like my whole world expanded. By this time I was looking really good and feeling really good and I joined a gym which only continued my fitness quest.  My friends started noticing and asking me for advice on how I did it. 

My good friend Richard showed me how I could get certified as a fitness instructor.  I never even thought at my age - 41 - I could even try something like this!  But I got certified, I auditioned to become an instructor and now I'm an instructor at my gym. 

So not only are these all healthy habits I've formed which are healthy in the traditional sense of me taking care of myself.  But having the courage to try new things, sticking to a disciplined routine and facing my fears has given me confidence in other areas. 

So when I'm hooking up with a guy I'm more careful today and I insist on protection. I made an appointment to get a mammogram. I set boundaries with toxic people who take advantage of my good nature. I try new and more challenging classes at the gym. 

And I just have a healthier self image and better self esteem.  

-- Kimberly (lady, ally)
Chicago






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Smoking is a Huge Problem in the Gay Community - Will these Warnings Help?

 
via the New York Times Times 

Federal drug regulators on Wednesday unveiled 36 proposed warning labels for cigarette packages, including one showing a toe tag on a corpse and another in which a mother blows smoke on her baby.

Designed to cover half the surface area of a pack of cigarettes and a fifth of any advertisements for them, the labels are intended to spur smokers to quit by providing graphic reminders of tobacco’s dangers. The labels are required under a law passed last year that gave the Food and Drug Administration the power to regulate, but not ban, tobacco products for the first time.

Read the rest at NYT

Blowing Big Tobacco

more info on this french, anti-smoking campaign, via towleroad

[maybe for some, an inducement?]

How to Close the LGBT Health Disparities Gap

Negative health outcomes for LGBT people are due to the cumulative and intersecting impact of many different factors, particularly their reduced access to employer-provided health insurance, the social stigma that exists against LGBT people, and a lack of cultural competence in the health care system.

via Center for American Progress, by Jeff Krehely

LGBT health disparities overall

In the past decade lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender, or LGBT, people have made rapid progress in winning and securing equal rights. Fifteen states and Washington, D.C. now give same-sex couples at least some of the same rights afforded to heterosexual married couples. Even more states offer nondiscrimination protections based on sexual orientation, gender identity, or both. Polling data show that the general public has increasingly positive views of LGBT people and are becoming more supportive of their civil and political rights. In short, heterosexual Americans are finally recognizing LGBT people as a legitimate social minority that should have equal access to our society’s basic rights, opportunities, and responsibilities.

Despite this progress, however, members of the LGBT population continue to experience worse health outcomes than their heterosexual counterparts. Due to factors like low rates of health insurance coverage, high rates of stress due to systematic harassment and discrimination, and a lack of cultural competency in the health care system, LGBT people are at a higher risk for cancer, mental illnesses, and other diseases, and are more likely to smoke, drink alcohol, use drugs, and engage in other risky behaviors.

People who are both LGBT and members of a racial or ethnic minority will often face the highest level of health disparities. For example, as the National Coalition for LGBT Health notes, a black gay man faces disparities common to the African-American community as well as those suffered by the LGBT community, and a transgender Spanish-speaking woman, regardless of her sexual orientation, must navigate multiple instances of discrimination based on language, ethnicity, and gender. A companion CAP brief, “How to Close the LGBT Health Disparities Gap: Disparities by Race and Ethnicity,” explores these in more detail.

Health surveys cannot continue to treat populations in isolation: Members of the LGBT community who are members of other populations that are recognized as suffering from health disparities must be allowed to identify themselves fully on surveys, including their sexual orientation and gender identity.

Read the rest.

Are they smoking? Or are they gay?

More satirical treats from The Onion


New Anti-Smoking Ads Warn Teens 'It's Gay To Smoke'

Bitch to Quit - Next Groups Begins April 30

Tired of trying to quit smoking on your own?

Join Chicago's only LGBT smoking cessation program and quit for good!

*7-week smoking cessation program

*Support from a trained smoking cessation counselor

* Sliding scale program fees based on your income

Our next group begins on April 30!

Space is limited, so call today to reserve your place!
773-388-8682

How is Marc Felion healthy?

The best thing I ever did to improve my health was to quit smoking.

I did it three years ago with the help of Allen Carr's Easy way To Stop Smoking.

The best part is that you get to smoke the whole time you read the book, but by the time you finish it, you are done with the butts. The major drawback with quitting smoking is the weight gain. It's not easy to control what you eat but I try to eat lots of whole foods and I limit the amount of canned, frozen or processed foods in my diet. I try to reserve eating sweets for treats outside of the home.

I never, ever eat anything that's on This Is Why You Are Fat Blog. It's fun to look at but it'll give you a heart attack if you eat like that.

-- Marc Felion [Feast of Fools]
Chicago

How are you healthy?
Tell us. Send a pic.
And we'll blog it.
Read past posts.

Smoking is Nasty...

Kick the habit - with Howard Brown - in 2009!

Tired of trying to quit smoking on your own?

Join Chicago's only LGBT smoking cessation program for a New Year's Special and quit for good!

You'll get:
Support from a trained smoking cessation counselor
Free 7-week smoking cessation program
Free nicotine replacement therapy patches
$25 for survey completion

In return we ask that you:
Attend all 7 sessions
Complete program surveys
Groups forming now!

Reserve your space, learn more.

Kick the Habit - with Howard Brown - in 2009!

Tired of trying to quit smoking on your own?

Join Chicago's only LGBT smoking cessation program for a New Year's Special and quit for good!

You'll get:
Support from a trained smoking cessation counselor
Free 7-week snoking cessation program
Free nicotine replacement therapy patches
$25 for survery completion

In return we ask that you:
Attend all 7 sessions
Complete program surveys
Groups forming now!

Reserve your space, learn more.

Chicago's Meth Task Force to move its focus to other substances

By Matt Simonette
Staff writer, Chicago Free Press

Published December 12, 2007

The Chicago Crystal Meth Task Force has decided to reshape its focus and change its name in 2008.

At its Nov. 28 meeting, members decided to implement a change that had been contemplated for many months, adopting a more holistic agenda of mental health, behavioral and environmental factors that contribute to substance use and abuse.

In light of the shift, the task force is changing its name back to Chicago Task Force on LGBT Substance Use and Abuse, according to member Simone Koehlinger.

"We're broadening the focus to any substance that impairs judgment," Koehlinger said, adding that the change does not reflect any lessening of concern about the continuing impact of meth.

But after a year "of us trying to keep the focus on meth, we wondered if we might have been missing a lot of the bigger picture," she said. Meth, according to Koehlinger, "is kind of a red herring. There are other factors at work."

The task force plans to begin to address issues that might lead GLBTs to addictive behaviors. Koehlinger said they would consider how life in the GLBT community often stimulates and perpetuates such use.

She cited just a few questions GLBTs need to ask about themselves about their community and its social venues. "Where do you (usually) go out to meet people? Where do you hang out with friends? Bars," Koehlinger said.

"And how does being discriminated against at work or at home contribute to self-esteem issues which might lead to drug use?" she added.

But the task force is not interested in demonizing drinking, smoking or any other addictive behavior."

We would just like to have a community dialogue about changing some of the norms. It is (for example) normative for us to drink, and to drink a lot," Koehlinger said.

She acknowledged that task force members, given their varied backgrounds, would have to educate one another about the intricacies of various drugs and behaviors. According to Koehlinger, "There's some of us who are experts on smoking, and others who know about a lot about party drugs like ecstacy."

The task force also wants to bring various community leaders into the process. At the meeting attendees discussed training members of the community to facilitate peer-led discussions on substance abuse issues.

"We want to bring some bar owners back into the fold as well. We need to have them be part of this conversation too," Koehlinger added.

The task force's next meeting is in January.

HIV-related symptoms significantly reduced three weeks after quitting smoking

Quitting smoking results in a significantly reduced HIV-related symptom burden after an average of three weeks, according to a study published in the September 2007 edition of the journal, AIDS Patient Care and STDs. The authors conclude that, “along with the decreased risk of numerous adverse health outcomes associated with smoking, cessation may represent an effective way to reduce the daily impact of HIV disease and treatment side-effects.”

Smoking and HIV disease Although previous studies have found that cigarette smoking appears to decrease the effectiveness of HAART, and increase the mortality rate, and public health interventions strongly support the efforts of HIV-positive individuals to quit smoking, few studies have reported on the benefits in terms of symptoms and other quality of life measures of smoking cessation interventions.

Consequently, investigators from Houston, Texas conducted a randomised trial of a smoking cessation intervention, the secondary endpoint of which evaluated the effects of quitting smoking on both HIV-related symptoms and health-related quality of life (HRQOL).

Read the rest on aidsmap.

Men who smoke risk erectile dysfunction

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Otherwise healthy men who smoke risk developing erectile dysfunction -- and the more cigarettes they smoke, the greater the risk of erectile dysfunction, according to a new study.

Erectile dysfunction is the consistent inability to achieve or maintain an erection sufficient for satisfactory sexual performance. In a study of 4,763 Chinese men aged 35 to 74 years who were free of blood vessel disease and who reported that they had been sexually active within the last 6 months, the researchers found a significant statistical link between the number of cigarettes smoked and the likelihood of erectile dysfunction.

"The association between cigarette smoking and erectile dysfunction was found in earlier studies," said first author Dr. Jiang He of Tulane University School of Public Health, New Orleans. "However, most of those studies were conducted in patients with hypertension (high blood pressure), diabetes and cardiovascular disease. What distinguishes this study is that it is the first to find this association among healthy men."

Overall, men who smoked had a 41-percent greater risk of erectile dysfunction than men who did not, the team reports in the American Journal of Epidemiology.

And there was a clear "dose-response" relationship, meaning that the more the men smoked, the higher was their risk of erectile dysfunction. Compared with non-smokers, men who smoked up to 10 cigarettes per day had a 27-percent greater likelihood of erectile dysfunction ; those who smoked 11 to 20 butts a day had a 45-percent greater likelihood of erectile dysfunction; and those who smoked more than 20 cigarettes daily had a-65 percent greater chance of suffering erectile dysfunction.

The investigators estimate that 22.7 percent of erectile all dysfunction cases among healthy Chinese men - or 11.8 million cases -- might be caused by cigarette smoking.

And even when cigarette smokers quit, their risk of developing erectile dysfunction did not decrease. The risk of erectile dysfunction was statistically about the same for former cigarette smokers as for current cigarette smokers, the authors found.

"This study really has a strong message for young men," He said. "It may get their attention if they know that smoking is associated with erectile dysfunction -- even in the healthy population."

"So the message is: Don't start."

SOURCE: American Journal of Epidemiology, October 1, 2007.