This article was originally published in the op-ed section of The Jerusalem Post on 10 July 2024: https://www.jpost.com/opinion/article-809655
(I dedicate this article in memory of Dr. John McDougall who passed away this past month. He was a luminary and one of the great pioneers of lifestyle medicine. He taught us that potatoes are our friends and not our enemies. More importantly, he saved thousands of lives with diet and lifestyle. Thank you for all you have taught us, and you will be missed.)
It’s hard to believe that we still need to discuss smoking tobacco. It has been 60 years. The year was 1964, when the Surgeon General of the United States, Dr. Luther Terry, made the announcement that changed everything: smoking is hazardous to your health. He announced that it was directly related to lung cancer, bronchitis, and probably coronary heart disease. At that time, roughly 50% of adult Americans were smoking. Doctors were even recommending certain brands over others to aid in digestion, and they were certainly smoking plenty themselves.
That day, a process began that eventually became one of the greatest public health victories of all time. More and more research and studies determined just how bad tobacco is for us and just how addictive nicotine, a main cigarette, is. This began a series of public health measures which, over decades, has reduced the rate of smoking in the adult population from 50% in 1964 to 11.5%. Less would be better but what a difference!
Recent news reports have mentioned that in Israel roughly 20% of adults are smoking. In certain demographics, that number reaches as high as 50%! We are going backwards.
Government involvement
After 1964, government, on both the national and local level, stepped in. Advertising was taken off television and then eventually out of magazines, newspapers, and billboards. It became socially unacceptable to smoke. Smoking was only allowed in the back of the airplane and no smoking in the restrooms. Next, restaurants prohibited smoking and eventually, if you wanted to smoke in the workplace, you had to go outside to a designated area.
Everyone knows, including those who still smoke, that it is a highly reckless and dangerous habit. Smoking shortens your life and causes untold suffering and disability.
The harm of tobacco
What happens when you use tobacco? Smoking increases your chance of heart disease and stroke up to 4 times. It also increases chances of lung cancer by 25 times, and puts one at risk for 12 other cancers. However, that isn’t all. You also increase your chances of lung diseases like COPD (chronic bronchitis and emphysema) and asthma.
Smoking causes fertility problems, pre-term births, various eye diseases, and it increases your chance of diabetes by up to 40%. Additionally, smoking is a cause of rheumatoid arthritis and general adverse effects on the body, including inflammation and decreased immune function. I think you get the point.
The bottom line
We must begin to change our mindsets and start taking responsibility for our health.
Experts knew as early as 1950 that cigarettes cause harm to our health. Yet no active measures occurred until 7,000 papers, studies, and reports all concluded that tobacco is harmful. This goes beyond cigarettes!
We know today, from thousands studies, about the absolute harm and damage done by eating ultra-processed foods. So where are the warnings and heavy taxes on highly processed foods like hot dogs, pastrami, and salami which are just as dangerous?
Being responsible
Here in Israel, we have red circles warning us about excess salt, excess sugar, and excess fat. For the average person, that doesn’t always translate to “this food is unhealthy for you.” It all comes down to personal responsibility.
When you go to put gasoline (petrol) in your automobile, you are feeding it the proper fuel. You wouldn’t think of putting diesel fuel in it—even though it might run cheaper, because it will destroy your engine. You also wouldn’t put in the cheapest motor oil. Sadly, when it comes to our bodies, we pollute ourselves without thinking about the damage we are doing.
The doctor will fix it
Many will we continue smoking, eating terrible food, being sedentary, and not sleeping and just figure the doctor will fix it. Is that going to work?
When we continually put harmful products in our bodies, by the time a doctor comes into play, there’s a fire needing to be extinguished. It is YOU who must prevent bad health outcomes as much as possible. It is YOU to who must make sure that that the fire remains extinguished.
There is no pill or supplement that will magically do the trick.
Better results
What can we do? The obvious first step is to quit smoking – and vaping. Contrary to popular belief, vaping is as dangerous as cigarettes. Change to a plant-predominant, whole-foods diet, and get more active.
After years and years of research, we’re aware that for most people, the best way to quit smoking is “cold turkey.” For most people, as uncomfortable as it might be for a few days or weeks, absolutely abstaining from an addictive behavior is the best route to overcome addictive behaviors.
In the case of food addiction, one will substitute non-addictive, real foods in abundance instead of the food-like items (junk food), or fat and cholesterol laced animal products.
No one can do this for you. Coaches and people like myself can help you get on track with various motivational tools. Your doctor can try to come to the rescue after the fact. Ultimately, it is YOU, who has the greatest opportunity to “add hours to your day, days to your year and years to your life.”
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