Suzanne Schlosberg - Quit Smoking for Life: A Simple, Proven 5-Step Plan

The Experts Speak

This book provides smokers with an uncommon resource science-based recommendations presented in a personal, accessible way. Quitting smoking is rarely easy, but Quit Smoking for Life helps make it doable. I recommend it highly.

Michael C. Fiore, MD, MPH, MBA, Professor of Medicine and Director of the Center for Tobacco Research and Intervention, University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health

Thirty million Americans want to quit smoking, and Quit Smoking for Life is just what they need to make and maintain the life-changing decision to end their tobacco dependence, put money back in their pockets, and enjoy good health.

Thomas J. Glynn, PhD, Director of Cancer Science and Trends, American Cancer Society

Quit Smoking for Life is essential for anyone addicted to cigarettes even if you dont feel ready to quit or have tried before. It will give you a fresh perspective on quitting and a realistic plan.

Daniel Eisenberg, MD, FACC, Medical Director of Cardiology, Saint Joseph Medical Center; Associate Clinical Professor of Medicine, Keck USC School of Medicine

Quit Smoking for Life translates the science of tobacco use and quitting into a step-by-step plan that has helped more than two million smokers quit. Its positive, down-to-earth style is based on the real-world experience of the nations leading quit-smoking coaches and thousands of ex-smokers.

C. Tracy Orleans, PhD, former smoker and co-author of the 2008 U.S. Preventive Services Task Force Clinical Practice Guideline for Treating Tobacco Use and Dependence

To all smokers who are trying to quit.

You can do it!

Table of Contents

L ets get right to it because just by reading this sentence youve already taken a step toward quitting smoking.

How does that make you feel? At least a little excited, we hope. But chances are, your excitement is mixed with fear. Surely you must be wondering, how can I cope with stress without cigarettes? How can I imagine a life without cigarettes? How can I give up something I still enjoy? What if I fail and disappoint myself and my family?

Yes, those questions are daunting, but theyre also normal. Theyve been asked and answered by the thousands of smokers we have helped to achieve a cigarette-free life. These nonsmokers have discovered, as you will, that you dont need a cigarette to cope with lifes anxieties. That you can reimagine your life without a cigarette in your hand. That you really can give up something that gives you pleasure. As for failure, its a word that wont be in your vocabulary, because every attempt you make is one step closer to permanent success.

The distance between smoker and nonsmoker may seem an uncharted and fearsome wilderness to you right now, but this book is your roadmap to the other side. You wont find any lectures or judgment here. What you will find is guidance, support, and encouragement and a toolbox chock full of proven strategies that can transform any smoker into a nonsmoker.

Yes, any smoker. On these pages, youll meet a full range of former smokers, including half-pack-a-day folks who were mystified that they couldnt quit and others who smoked two or even three packs a day for 40 years or more and were certain they could never quit. They are college students and retirees, nurses and artists and sales managers, single people and wives and husbands with busy families. Almost all of them tried to quit on their own and experienced crushing disappointment. Then they used the strategies we recommend and finally quit for life. They dont claim quitting was easy, but theyll tell you it was easier than they expected and that quitting changed them in ways that made them never want to go back.

Freedom From Cigarettes

The people who share their stories here are all reaping the rewards that probably motivated you to pick up this book in the first place. They no longer have to endure rude stares or being treated like outcasts. Their friends and families arent harping at them, Why cant you quit smoking? But best of all, theyre breathing easier, living healthier, and treasuring the five, ten, even twenty years that have been added back to their lives. Since theyve become nonsmokers, theyve also realized they are capable of making other positive life changes that they once had only dreamed about.

Note that we said nonsmokers, not ex-smokers. Whats the difference? Ex-smokers may not smoke, but they still long to. They teeter on the edge of being a smoker again and identify more with smoking than feeling healthy. Nonsmokers dont smoke, arent going to smoke, and arent interested in smoking. Nonsmokers watch someone light up and think: I cant believe that used to be me.

Whats In This Book

For far too long, many smokers have subscribed to the mistaken idea that the white-knuckle approach is the only way to quit: Toss those cigarettes and proceed to pull your hair out from the roots. What needs to be tossed is that stereotype. Yes, quitting is hard, but it doesnt have to be unbearable. Thats perhaps one surprise youll find in our common-sense approach to quitting. Among the other discoveries youll make:

How tobacco companies secretly pack an astonishing amount of engineering into what looks like a simple productall with the objective of keeping you addicted

How cigarettes are actually causing you stress, not offering you relief from it

Why your physical addiction to nicotine is only one aspect of your urge to smoke

Why setting a quit date may be the most important decision you make and how you can do it without breaking into a cold sweat

How a no-risk strategy called a mini-quit can be the most manageable and confidence-boosting tactic to prepare you for your big day

How your body will begin repairing itself within twenty minutes after your last cigarette

Why nicotine patches, gum, and lozenges are quite safe, and why they may be among your most helpful allies in your effort to quit

How your life can change in amazing ways that you may not be able to even imagine today

Why Listen to Us?

So who are we, and what do we know about quitting smoking? Were the 200 highly trained smoking-cessation coaches, also known as quit coaches, at Alere Wellbeing, a Seattle-based company that for 25 years has been helping smokers in all 50 states quit smoking with our Quit For Life Program. Many of us used to smoke, so we know what you are facing because weve faced it ourselves. Every day we coach more than 1,000 smokers over the phone, guiding them, with compassion and straight talk, through the process of giving up cigarettes. Our program is backed by the American Cancer Society, and our methods follow the U.S. Clinical Practice Guideline for Treating Tobacco Use and Dependence, produced by a panel of national experts under the auspices of the U.S. Department of Health and you will find more than 850 references to cited studies, many of them involving our methods.