Healthy Choices to Avoid Diseases

As a cigarette smoker I was dreading this unit. Despite already knowing how bad cigarettes are, reading these chapters made me feel incredibly guilty. I am going to try to use the information I learned in this unit to inspire me to actively try to quit smoking. The information about the dangers of smoking was nothing new to me. The difference was not being able to tune it out. When those horribly depressing "Tips from a Former Smoker" commercials comes on I change the channel. I have often thought about the reason why it is so difficult for people to quit smoking. Aside from the nicotine withdrawal I think that the other problem is lack of positive reinforcement. I've known several people who lost 50+ pounds through modifying their diet and increasing exercise. I noticed throughout they were constantly congratulated and given compliments as they made progress losing weight. If cigarette smokers received the same amount of praise for gradually reducing the amount of cigarettes they smoke there would be added incentive to quit. I've tried several times in the past with no success. Honestly, I'm smoking cigarettes as I write this now. Which is the other problem with quitting smoking, it becomes associated with too many activities. When I get in the car, I light a cigarette. After a meal, I light a cigarette. Sit down at the computer, I light a cigarette. If I get angry, nervous, depressed, or happy, I light a cigarette. My plan to overcome these obstacles is to try to recruit a friend or coworker to quit with me, hopefully having someone else going through the experience will help us keep the other motivated.

The thing that I learned that most interested me was the fact that some alternative medicines were found to have some actual medical benefits. I always assumed that the majority of any positives affects were psychosomatic. In my genetics course we learned about the placebo effect and I assumed most of the alternative medicine practices were just that. It does make sense to me that acupuncture seems to have the most scientific credence as the physical act of piercing the skin should cause a response from the body. I had one experience with acupuncture.........

This is a picture of my cat receiving feline acupuncture. (I'm not making this up.) I adopted a very obese cat from a friend and towards the end her kidneys and liver began to fail. She stopped eating, which is odd for a 28 lbs. cat, and the acupuncture was intended to stimulate her appetite It was not really effective but she was very ill to begin with. According to my veterinarian it is only effective on about 3/4 of patients. I suppose this lends more credence to acupuncture as the placebo effect is not relevant with animals. For the record the needle was in for about ten minutes and the cat did not even seem to notice it. During all this I was also taught how to administer intravenous fluids to the cat as she was severely dehydrated from the renal disease. 

As the course is coming to an end I find that once again I have been lackadaisical in my discussions participation. I find the discussion aspect the hardest part of online courses and getting motivated is difficult. In the next units I am going to try to improve my participation scores for the discussions by posting more frequently and devoting more time to developing my posts. I rush through the postings too quickly and could improve there content drastically by spending more time finding  references to support my ideas. 

This is what a 28 lbs. cat looks like, there were legs somewhere in that amorphous blob of furry flabbiness. So if you don't  want to end up diabetic and in renal failure, don't be like Shelby the tubby cat and maintain a healthy weight and exercise.