What will you become after quitting smoking

September 4, 2015

What will you become after quitting smoking: A non-smoker or an ex-smoker?

What will you become after quitting smoking? You will certainly regain your health and become more resistant to some of these complications that are associated with smoking.

What will you become after quitting smoking is full of great expectations and many at times our expectations often fail to materialize and we feel disappointed. While some of these “disappointments” are expected since the journey of recovery is never a smooth one, it normally doesn’t erase those expectations we once had. Therefore for a better understanding of this topic of discussion, we employ the expert services of professionals from AWAREmed Health and Wellness Resource Center. This is an addiction treatment facility that was founded by doctor Dalal Akoury (MD) a well-respected addiction experts of more than two decades now. Together with her team of experts, she is going to help us understand more about this for a couple of articles that we are going to be posting on this platform. Doctor Akoury says that in order to appreciate what you will become after quitting smoking, it is first very important that we understand how to handle withdrawal symptoms and trigger when one decides to quit smoking in its entirely. And to do that, let us progress into the discussion by responding to the following questions:

What will you become after quitting smoking: Withdrawal symptoms which are associated with quitting smoking?

Like I had mentioned before, when one desires to start the journey of quitting smoking, such a person must be very committed, dedicated and make certain sacrifices because it will not be a smooth sailing. Being addictive the challenges will be many and difficult depending on the intensity and duration of usage. Therefore doctor Akoury registers that quitting smoking may cause certain short-term problems, especially for those who have smoked heavily for many years. These temporary changes can result in withdrawal symptoms and the following are some of the common withdrawal symptoms which are associated with quitting cigarette smoking:

Nicotine cravings (nicotine is the substance in tobacco that causes addiction).
Anger, frustration, and irritability.
Anxiety
Depression
Weight gain.

Cigarette and smoking of other substance is something which has been under serious and intensive studies for a very long time now. From the various studies conducted professionally, it has been established that about half of the population of smokers report experiencing at least four withdrawal symptoms (such as anger, anxiety, or depression) when they quit. Besides these, other people have also reported other symptoms like dizziness, increased dreaming, and headaches. These are just but a few of the challenges that you are likely to meet from time to time. However doctor Akoury says that the good news is that there is much one can do to reduce cravings and manage common withdrawal symptoms. She adds that in the process of recovery even without medication, it is important to note that the withdrawal symptoms and other problems will often subside over time. It may also help to know that withdrawal symptoms are usually worst during the first week after quitting. From that point on, the intensity usually drops over the few weeks. However having said that, it is also very important to appreciate the diversity of people in responding to treatment, for sure everyone is different and unique meaning that some people may have withdrawal symptoms for several months after quitting and not just for a few weeks.

What will you become after quitting smoking: What are some of the triggers for smoking?

In addition to nicotine cravings, reminders in your daily life of times when you used to smoke may trigger you to smoke. Triggers many include different elements including the moods, feelings, places, or things you do in your daily life that turn on your desire to smoke. The following is a sample of some triggers that you need to be careful about:

Being around and hung out with smokers.
Starting the day.
Feeling stressed.
Being in a car.
Drinking coffee or tea.
Enjoying a meal.
Drinking an alcoholic beverage.
Feeling bored.

Knowing your triggers helps you stay in control because you can choose to avoid them or keep your mind distracted and busy when you cannot avoid them.

What will you become after quitting smoking: What can I do about nicotine cravings?

As a smoker, you get used to having a certain level of nicotine in your body. You can bring to control that level of nicotine by how much quantity of cigarette you smoke, how deeply you inhale the smoke, and the kind (or brand) of tobacco you use. Therefore when you quit, cravings develop the moment your body begins demanding for the missing units of nicotine since the body system is no longer getting the supply as it used to. Ordinarily this will take some time to break free from nicotine addiction and during this duration, a lot of determination and patient will be highly required of you. Also, when you see people smoking or are around other triggers, you may get nicotine cravings. Cravings are real. They are not just in your imagination. At the same time, your mood may change, and your heart rate and blood pressure may go up as well.

The urge to smoke will come and go. Cravings usually last only a very brief period of time. Cravings usually begin within an hour or two after you have your last cigarette, peak for several days, and may last several weeks. As the days pass, the cravings will get farther apart. Occasional mild cravings may last for 6 months. Finally the following are some tips you can apply in the management of cravings:

Always remind yourself that they will pass.
Keep distance and avoid situations and activities that you used to associate with smoking.
As a substitute for smoking, try chewing on carrots, pickles, apples, celery, sugarless gum, or hard candy. Keeping your mouth busy may stop the psychological need to smoke.
Try taking simple exercises like for instance you may take a deep breath through your nose and blow out slowly through your mouth. Do this repeated at least 10 times daily or whenever you crave for the stick.
Always consult with your doctor about nicotine replacement products or other medications. This is very important because in order to defeat all these challenges, professional input from the doctors will be very necessary and if you have no one to consult you can schedule foe an appointment with doctor Dalal Akoury today and she will be of great help to you.

What will you become after quitting smoking: A non-smoker or an ex-smoker?

Cancer Risk: Sugar and Insulin

January 1, 2015

Cancer Risk: Sugar and Insulin

Diabetes is a sugar disease. It is a disease in which the body does not produce insulin or make proper use of it. Insulin is useful in the body in utilization of blood glucose. It allows glucose to be absorbed in the cells to enhance the production of energy. In the condition of diabetes, insulin is not effective which results in the blood being saturated with glucose. This leads to high glucose levels in the blood.

Obesity is the major cause of diabetes. It induces the resistance of the body to insulin. When this happens, the body is not able to break down glucose into energy. This causes glucose to accumulate in the blood.

To make do with this insulin resistance, the pancreas ends up producing more insulin. This leads to a rise in insulin in the blood. This insulin production can go on for years but it is not indefinite. Eventually insulin production will wear out and this will result in blood sugar increase. When this happens, it is then that an individual is diagnosed with diabetes.

There are different kinds of diabetes in the world today. There is type 1 diabetes which results from the inability of the blood to produce the insulin hormone. Type 2 diabetes on the other hand comes about when the body is unable to properly utilize the hormone. Another type of diabetes is pre-diabetes. This results when the blood glucose levels in the blood are higher than normal although not high enough to become type 2 diabetes. The fact is that over 79 million Americans today are pre-diabetic.

Insulin and cancer

Diabetes and cancer

As is a link between sugar and cancer, there’s the same between diabetes and cancer. Diabetes has been linked to pancreatic cancer. It is in most cases a symptom of pancreatic cancer or a risk factor. Studies have shown pancreatic cancer can occur to patients who have heard diabetes for over five years. The research done on pancreatic patients who have had diabetes for less than five years was unclear if diabetes was in itself the cause of the cancer.

As a symptom for pancreatic cancer, studies have shown that onset diabetes in people who are over 50 years of age may be in itself a symptom. Abrupt changes in the levels of sugar in the blood in diabetics who had controlled sugar level is also a symptom of pancreatic cancer.

Insulin Resistance Link to Cancer

This link may be related to the high level of insulin compensation. Obesity causes the body to resists insulin and this causes the pancreas to produce more insulin. This leads to increase in insulin levels in the blood. Insulin contributes greatly to the growth of body tissues. It increases with increase in essential nutrients and reduces when the body is derived of these nutrients.

Insulin may cause cells to rapidly increase. This occurs when insulin causes an increase in insulin-like growth factors (IGF). It could also cause cells to become more sensitive to other factors of growth. One characteristic of cancer cells is their ability to uncontrollably grow and become resistance to agents of cell death.

Growth factors play a major part in the growth of cancer cells as well as their progression. Past studies have shown that people with high levels of insulin-like growth are in more risk of developing, breast, colon or prostate cancer.

Resistance to insulin is characterized by the cells losing their sensitivity to the effects of insulin to aid in the absorption of glucose into the cells. Although this is so, it continues to promote the growth of cells in the body. Only the ability of insulin to transport glucose is affected.

The resistant state of insulin promoted by diabetes may in this case promote the development of cancerous cells. As the amount of insulin increases in the blood, so does its ability to induce cell growth. When this happens it leads to a cancer characteristic of uncontrollable growth of cells. As the pancreas continues producing insulin an individual may not get diabetes but he/she increases the rate of getting cancer.

sugar and cancer

Sugar and Cancer

When most of us hear about sugar we instantly think about the white substance we take in our beverages. Sugar has been linked to causing cancer. So what do most of us do? We cut out the sugar in our body including those that are essential. We cut out eating fruits such as oranges that have natural sugars.

You end up depriving your body of essential nutrients such as fibers found in fruits. However, sugar does not necessarily mean what you take in your tea or in fruits or soft drinks. It is widely used to describe those sugars in our body. Sugar also called glucose is very necessary for a healthy you. It is broken down into energy hence you are able to do those daily task.

High blood levels in the blood cause diabetes. This results in the insulin not being produced or appropriately used. When this happens a person is said to be diabetic. Sugar goes back to the case of diabetes and as seen it can increase a person’s risk of cancer.

Dr. Dr. Dalal Akoury has had years of experience with patients with cancer as well as diabetes. She has vast knowledge about sugar and insulin and their link to cancer. Just visit www.awaremednetwork.com for more expert opinion on this topic and more health tips.

Cancer Risk: Sugar and Insulin

Stress and Obesity the Missing Link!!!

February 13, 2014

Stress and Obesity-Not a Union

Research has found that stress leads to specific reactions in the body that cause induced cravings and lead to obesity

Obesity is a burgeoning problem in the developed world, and certain behaviors, such as increased portion sizes and reduced physical activity, can help explain why the obesity epidemic is spreading. Job strain might also contribute to the prevalence of obesity, and the current study addresses this issue in a cohort of civil servants followed over time. Obesity continues to be one of the largest public health concerns of the developed world. Analysis of data from the 2001-2002 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) found that the prevalence rates of overweight and obesity among US adults were 31.5% and 30.5%, respectively. The prevalence of overweight in children was 16.5%. Compared to the previous NHANES survey (1988-1994), the body mass index (BMI) greater than 30 among adults had doubled. (Of note, the prevalence of overweight and obesity were fairly stable between the 1999-2000 and 2001-2002 examination periods.)

Stress and Obesity-Understanding obesity

While the problem of obesity has been well publicized, clinicians should also understand that societal factors play a prominent role in obesity. In research sponsored by the World Health Organization involving 26 different populations worldwide, surveys of over 30,000 subjects found an inverse trend between BMI and highest educational level attained. Women with lower educational attainment were significantly more likely to be obese compared with men with similar educational backgrounds, although lower educational levels in both sexes were associated with higher obesity. Moreover, the negative association between educational attainment and obesity increased over the 10-year study period, indicating that the obesity gap between well-educated and poorly educated individuals was increasing. To reinforce these data, another study limited to developed countries found that increased income disparity was associated with not only higher rates of obesity, but also diabetes mortality as well among subjects at the lower end of the income scale. Other societal trends can affect obesity as well. In the United States, more individuals are choosing to eat at restaurants than at home, and the easiest and least expensive option in dining is often preferred. Such choices can increase the risk of developing obesity. Ecological research from 21 developed countries found that girls who ate fast food at least twice a week were more likely to become obese compared with those who ate fast food less frequently. Unfortunately, the assimilation of other cultures into American society may not help improve the obesity problem. In one study, while regularly eating at fast food restaurants increased the risk of overweight in adults and children in Mexican-American families by a factor of 2.2, the risk of overweight associated with eating at buffet-style restaurants was slightly worse (odds ratio = 2.8). Families who ate food at Mexican restaurants, however, were less likely to be overweight.

Stress and Obesity-The Environment

The work environment can contribute to obesity as well. In a study of 208 male workers in Japan, obesity was associated with psychological tension and anxiety, much of which was derived from high demands and poor decision latitude at work. The authors also found that higher degrees of stress negatively affected subjects’ diets, which contributed to higher rates of obesity. The current study examined the 10,308 civil servants from the Whitehall II study, all of whom were between the ages of 35 and 55. Work stress was assessed by the Job Strain Questionnaire and defined by poor work social support, high job demands, and low job control. Overall, work strain was associated with increased risk of BMI obesity by a maximum odds ratio of 1.73, and of waist obesity by a maximum odds ratio of 1.61. There was a dose-response relationship between the number of reports of stress and obesity. There were some interesting nuances related to the study’s main finding. Men were more likely than women to suffer the negative effects of job strain in terms of obesity, to the point that women did not experience a significant increase in waist obesity with stress. Overall, poor social support at work was the most important singular factor of job strain in increasing the risk of obesity in this study. The study was strengthened by analyzing individuals prospectively over time and employing repeated measures of job stress as participants advanced through their careers. However, the study was limited by examining a very specific group of employees — civil servants — in a first-world country.

Stress and Obesity-Health Risk

Obesity may just be a part of the overall increased health risk associated with work stress, with the sum of these risks being an increased prevalence of cardiovascular disease. In a study of nearly 7000 individuals, the prevalence of smoking was elevated among subjects with greater job strain, while men with low degrees of decision latitude were also more likely to be sedentary. However, no job environment factor in this study was independently related to increase BMI. A case-control analysis of 609 workers in France found that job strain increased the risk of developing hypertension. The odds ratios for hypertension associated with job strain were 3.20 in women and 2.60 in men. Low social support at work was not related to hypertension, and, moreover, higher levels of social support did not mitigate the effects of job strain on hypertension. Another study of female nurses and male factory workers generally corroborated these results. Researchers found that increased duration of shifts during work was associated with increased systolic blood pressure among men over age 30. Both BMI and waist-to-hip ratio increased with increasing shift duration among nurses. The study of nurses and factory workers failed to find an association between blood glucose levels and the duration of shift work. In another analysis of the Nurses’ Health Study II cohort, working overtime was associated with an increased risk of developing type 2 diabetes, while women who worked less than 20 hours per week had a lower risk of diabetes. There is also evidence that serum markers associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular disease may increase with job stress. A study of adults in Sweden found that men reporting high effort and low reward at work had increased levels of total cholesterol and the total cholesterol/high-density lipoprotein cholesterol ratio after adjustment for possible confounders. Women whose jobs required more effort had higher levels of low-density lipoprotein cholesterol. The association between stress at work and cardiovascular risk factors such as BMI, hypertension, and lipid levels points to a possible larger relationship between work stress and cardiovascular disease. The researchers of the Whitehall study have previously examined this issue in their study cohort. They demonstrated that the hazard ratio for coronary heart disease was increased with low decision latitude among men (adjusted hazard ratio 1.43), but low decision latitude did not significantly increase the risk of coronary heart disease among women. However, both men and women experienced increased risks of coronary heart disease with higher demands at work. This increased risk of coronary heart disease was increased with job stress at all employment grades in the organization. This research echoed previous studies in that greater social support at work failed to improve cardiovascular outcomes associated with significant job stress.

Stress and Obesity-Effects

The harmful health effects of stress-induced obesity.

The effects of stress at work constitute a major public health issue. As clinicians, the best we can do is counsel patients about the potential cardiovascular and metabolic events associated with high levels of stress and encourage healthy life choices for patients at risk. While it may be unrealistic to ask employers to reduce job stress at all levels in our competitive economy, these same employers should understand that their employees’ health is critical to their success. There is a dearth of data regarding stress reduction programs at work and cardiovascular outcomes, and future researchers should address this issue. The phenomenon of obesity being among chronic diseases makes Dr. Akoury of AWAREmed Health and Wellness Resource Center very resourceful for you. She will help you achieve optimal weight loss, the Dr. Focus on Neuroendocrine Restoration (NER) to reinstate normality through realization of the oneness of Spirit, Mind, and Body, Unifying the threesome into ONE. With the help of Dr. Akoury your problem is sorted out for good.