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As i was pleasantly surprised at the amount of stwers who abstain from alcohol what about the fags ?I'm constantly amazed at people who set fire to money , huddle up in freezing weather to get a fix and can't afford proper fags so resort to roll ups when they say they can't stand them .I suppose if you have never smoked (not even one ) then it's hard to understand .But i have my neighbour when i was growing up to thank .Her early morning death cough before the first one of the day did it for me !Then seeing your mum having her legs amputated at 50 because of blocked arteries then dying shortly after was the final straw .
I know non smoker , light drinker ,never taken drugs what a boring bastard am i !Oh and New Year doesn't interest me neither . I'll finish on an upbeat note .Prefer long days in the saddle ,glorious vistas , riding in foreign lands , and a new thing for me group riding .Bring on 2010 and more of the same .Plus a little matter of Summer in Whistler !!!! 😀
never smoked in my life. i just never felt any attraction to it, ever. both my parents smoked when i was young, but they both quit by the time i was 10.
ha, non-smoker, never taken recreational drugs (except caffeine i suppose!), haven't drank alcohol in over 20 years... if those things make me boring in peoples' eyes, then i guess there's not much i can do about that. i'm also not @rsed if that's the case though!
Oldfart I know what you mean I have never smoked since borrowing my dads pipe at the age of 7 and being very sick .
so I guess it was a good thing in the long run 😛
we lost both my parents and one of the wifes to cancer all of them smoked
and now my bloody stupid daughters (18 & 22 ) both smoke I hate it but what can you do .
Encouraging start !Thinking if i had over the years A)What state would i be in health wise now ? and B) Wouldn't have the money to do the things i'm doing or the the bikes i've got .
i smoked for about a month when i was 15, just coz it was the thing to do, realized i didn't like it and stopped.my parents used to send me (aged 6) to get their fags from the shop but they both gave up when i develped asthma.i drink very little alcohol compared to my peers and have never done any drugs.
ex-smoker here - gave up 7 years ago, it's drug addiction pure and simple and as a user it's very hard to convince yourself of that.
Good luck to anyone who is trying to give up!
well health-wise, almost 6 years ago after probably several years of undiagnosed high blood pressure i ended up with hypertensive cardiomyopathy and was told pretty much outright by the consultant cardiologist that had i been a smoker, or drank a lot of alcohol (or eaten a poor diet; i'm vegan and take a lot of care over nutrition etc), i would NOT have survived the episode.
it was also the kick up the @rse i needed to start riding again after a 10+ year layoff, and also to lose a lot of weight (5 stone gone since the brush with death)...
I too smoked to be cool when I was 15, huddling in a school toilet trying to take as much Malbro into your lungs as possible put me off for life. Thinking about it now makes me feel queezy.
So no drinking no smoking that must make Pigface a dull boy 😉
As a teenager I couldn't afford petrol (motorbike) and fags so the bike won (most of my friends smoked), as a working young 20ish (so 30 years ago) I was a 'social/weekend' smoker (only waccy stuff), as I got a bit more into drugs I stunningly remember a conversation in a pub - with a bloke who'd done drugs all his life - he was so ***ked that he could start a sentence and forget what he was talking about after about 5 words. I gave up drugs the next day.
gave up 4 years ago. I was never a big smoker but would never go back to it.
Also had my 1st alcohol free new year last night!
Happy new year to you all!! 🙂
never smoked in my life, parents did when I was younger, but when I got to around 11 or so, they asked me why I spent my life in the bedroom, when I replied because I can't stand the smell of them smoking, they promptly gave up the following day, and have never smoked since.
Non smoker here! never have, my other half does she blames it on work stress then wonders why she has no lung capacity when we go biking, half way up a hill she splutters and falls over (normally) she does give up for about a month every year but it doesn't last long. She always moans she has no money but finds money for her habit.
For me, i never thought about it, never wanted to try so never did, i do drink but just now and then, i like to have a clear head for sunday morning biking.
A self inflicted wound. Period.
No sympathy should ever be extended to smokers when the inevitable happens. The ones I save the most intense loathing for are the pregnant mothers-to-be who choose tobacco and nicotene for their unborn children.
I apply complete and utter intolerence to the drug (& those who choose it as their life-style) & I have nothing but loathing for the habit.
Do you know a single smoker who has tried & thus failed to quit? Ergo: what else in their lives do they so monumentally, so publically and so humiliatingly fail at so readily?
Everyone I know who has been told by a Dr to give up, did so that day without incident that day.
I'm also T total as of last year.
New Year? What's that?
Pass me the Humbugs please.
I gave up smoking nearly 30 years ago. I'm so pleased I did. I hate smoking now, the smell makes me feel sick. I am pleased that pubs are smoke free, I hated coming home smelling of smoke.
Drug-free since 1999. Haven't had a chest infection since (I caught Bronchitis as a kid).
People who work for tobacco companies are comparable to Paedophiles seeing as an average of 20% of under 20's take up the habit.
Disgusting habit and glad I never started.
Really, why would you?
Alcohol on the other hand is my job.
Oldfart, you're not my real day are you? I've never even thought once that smoking might be something to do. Always repelled me as a kid (both parents smoked) and never wanted to date a girl who smokes.
Very very light drinker. About 10 units a year off teetotal, never crossed my mind to try drugs.
Much prefer the stimulants you mentioned. Long rides is warm foreign places.
I'm not percy perfect though hence my entry into fatclub 2010! I have a weakness for cake, biscuits, sweets, food!
Stopped smoking a few years back, still have the occasional joint/stupid fag when drunk. Much happier with that than 20-30 a day though. Do wish I hadn't started, but hey, I'm human and I make mistakes. Unlike Ti29er, obviously.
No sympathy should ever be extended to smokers when the inevitable happens.
Why not? Are you extending your lack of empathy to, for example, people who die in car crashes? It would probably be good for you to separate your hatred of smoking and your hatred of smokers. Hating such a large group of people indiscriminately does you no favours.
Do you know a single smoker who has tried & thus failed to quit? Ergo: what else in their lives do they so monumentally, so publically and so humiliatingly fail at so readily?
Yes, I know loads who've tried and failed. Like most people they fail at some things. Given some of them are earning 7 figures in the city, it's not work they are failing at! I think it's an issue with the social circle - the people I've seen succeed mostly have left that for a while.
None smoker here. have had smokers around me all my life up until now.cant get away from it. it stinks..and the folk around you dont know how bad it is for a non smoker.
my dad died of lung cancer and he was a heavy smoker and his doctor told me that in 34 years he had never come across a patient with lung cancer who was a smoker! i remember when i was a kid and i used to go to the local pub to tell my dad his tea was ready and when i walked it was that misty with smoke it resembled the swiss alps on an early morning! also the chair and table legs were coated with what resembled a brown filthy disgusting sticky substance, it was tar from the cig smoke so imagine what a smokers lungs must be like!
Cake and bacon/egg sandwiches are my addictions. Like Onzadog I have rejoined fat club. Now off for a ride!
No smoke here....what little money i have feeds my other addicition 😈 (bikes 😀 )
his doctor told me that in 34 years he had never come across a patient with lung cancer who was a smoker
manwells, Surely you've made a typo here. According to Cancer Research UK: [url= http://www.cancerhelp.org.uk/type/lung-cancer/about/lung-cancer-risks-and-causes ]"In most people, lung cancer is related to cigarette smoking. Although some people who have never smoked get lung cancer, smoking causes 9 out of 10 cases."[/url]
I've never smoked, not even tried it. As a kid my whole family smoked and my mother worked at Player's factory - but I just found it a disgusting habit. About 6 years ago my Auntie died of complications from lung cancer and both my parents, who were both in their 60s and had smoked all their lives, just gave it up - I was very sceptical, but they have never gone back to it and I feel quite pleased that they managed it.
Cancer sticks; no thanks.
Never have, never will.
Both my parents did when I was a child, but I've never seen the attraction; being asthmatic doesn't help.
My dad got throat cancer 25 years after stopping, which the Dr's said was directly attributable to smoking.
ex smoker... I think I smoked to keep me away from people like Ti29er.
Father almost died from smoking when he was in his late 20s, 3 months in hospital. I have tried it but would never smoke.
Never smoked, never will, I cough my guts up enough climbing a hill on a bike as it is, I don't need anything to make it harder! 😉
Seriously though, it's a disgusting habit, we all know it is, even the smokers! It's just that whilst they're embarrassed about it, no matter what they say about "being able to give up when I want", it is an addiction, hence they do it readily in public still.
we lost both my parents and one of the wifes to cancer all of them smoked
and now my bloody stupid daughters (18 & 22 ) both smoke I hate it but what can you do .
All I can say is Trout, I don't envy you! For your daughters to smoke when they've lost 3 of their grandparents to Cancer shows nothing but a total lack of respect to you and your wife IMO. But possibly the worst thing is that the smoking ban, if anything, has made smoking amongst young girls even worse...
Since the smoking ban, I see loads less blokes smoking than I used to, I know a lot of my male mates that smoked have given up, mainly citing that they can't be bothered with the hassle! Conversely, because smoking is now less socially acceptable and more of a taboo, it's as if this makes it even cooler to young girls! Go into most bars or clubs these days and they're a sausage fest inside... Why? Cos go outside and find all the girls huddling round each other, freezing their asses off, power sucking the life out of a fag as if their own life depended on it!
Which when you're a single non smoking bloke still in his 20's is kind of depressing!
RichPenny.
You chose tobacco. This is something you voluntarily paid for and carried out.
Most here on this thread made a conscious decision not / never to, quite often against the grain, away from that which surrounded them, parents, friends, loved ones who did smoke. That takes a level of self realisation, courage, will power, whatever applies most perhaps to not smoke, so please, less of the Victim tripe "I think it's an issue with the social circle".
Give me a break! I don't care what the social circle is, I don't care what the income might be.
You seem to suggest somehow this group is special in some way, that they can’t not smoke because of these factors and being part of this special circle they’re part of (and certainly no one here, outside this circle ) has ever had any pressures or factors in their own decisions in their own lives not to use tobacco.
You thought it a good thing to have tobacco in your life, so please, don't expect any quarter.
Please, don’t make such weak inept excuses for the use of tobacco (20-30 a day!), many of us have never, nor would we ever use tobacco. This seems to surprise you. I personally made this decision (as did many on this post by the look of things), so don't even begin to dilute this.
“separate your hatred of smoking and your hatred of smokers”
I hate smoking, tobacco and similarly related products. Not smokers. The caveat to that is expectant mothers who chose tobacco for their unborn children. That, in 2010, IMHO is wholly unacceptable in our supposedly educated, knowledgeable, developed society.
You should have a fag and relax a bit
Should probably add right now that I used to be as hardline about smoking as Ti29er is... He makes some good points (albeit very bluntly), but also misses out the part that I used to miss out too...
Some of us deal with peer pressure, temptation and breaking habits a lot better than others do. Does that make us better people? Not at all... We're all different. When I was young I used to look down my nose at smokers (as Ti29er obviously does), that emotion changed to pity over time, before I finally grew up and realised that perhaps I'm just lucky that I'm strong willed and never felt the peer pressure when I was a kid. And also that I have my own ways and means of dealing with stress (my housemate KEEPS giving up, then he has a stressful day and he's straigh back on the fags, it's his way of dealing with it sadly!).
So I no longer dislike or even pity smokers, I'm totally indifferent to them to be fair (unless smoking round kids, but that is totally irresponsible and a different story altogether)... Still doesn't stop me wishing more attractive girls in their 20's would give the fags up though, cos seems I can't meet one that doesn't smoke!
ti29er and maverick boy i totally agree with all you have said.
only ever smoked to keep mosquitoes away, and also for a bit of hash sampling
if alcohol stank like smoke i wouldn't drink
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I pinched one of my parents Embassy Reds when I was about 11, as soon as I took the first drag i was put off for life & have always hated smoking. My parents both packed in eventually but Mum died of lung cancer about 20 years after quitting & Dad died of 88yearoldness. My partner used to be on 20 a day (before we met)but due to my constant nagging she now only has one on the way to work & one on the way back, which puts her on about 6 a week. (& she never smokes when I'm around)
Fag breath.....(shudders)
I drink FAR too much though.
How many non-suger eaters????
I find eating sugar of any kind as disgusting as smoking TBH.
I hate the way that people feel it is socially acceptable to give sugar products as gifts to my kids.
It's poison and as addictive as nicotine.
Sugar...the silent white killer.
ex smoker here. quit 12 years ago cold turkey - I simply didn't want to do it any more. Never had one since & hate the smell on people that have just had one. especially if they sit/stand opposite me & breathe out or talk...
alcohol - in moderation, and never before 8pm. Can't remember the last time I was drunk, not even on a NYE
So do you avoid eating anything with sugar in in the same way I avoid any products with tobacco in, FC?
I certainly do aracer.
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never have smoked, its one of the ways I justify what I spend on my bikes.
Love that junkyard!!
I smoke rollies in the Summer when camping. I enjoy it. I stop when we return home. I accept full responsibility for my actions. 2 of my grandparents were heavy smokers, that was there choice. One died of emphysema.
My Dad died aged 54 of bowel cancer as a result of eating rubbish all his life. His own father died 10 months before him, aged 84, a heavy smoker and drinker.
I struggle with the fact that smoking is seen to be so terrible, but being addicted to sugar and over-eating seems perfectly OK. I have allowed sugar back into my diet over the last 3 weeks and am now really suffering as a result.
Do what the hell you want, but take responsibility for it. No-one has the excuse for not knowing in this day and age.
We should all think a lot more about what we choose to put in our bodies and the effect it has.
I certainly do aracer.
Really? Must make for a kind of difficult diet. No bread. No fruit. No lots of other things.
FC - do you avoid fruit then? Or is the sugar in fruit somehow "different"?
Sugar...the silent white killer.
Same with sliced bread. Kills 3 people a year when the pallets tip over and the unsuspecting victim is crushed by wholemeal.
I don't eat fruit(apart from tomatoes) or bread.
It's not a difficult diet at all.
It's fantastic.
Fructose is quite different to refined sucrose.
FoxyChick, you are wierd. Almost as 'bad' as those bloody Vegans 😉
FC - do you avoid fruit then? Or is the sugar in fruit somehow "different"?
It hasn't been refined and processed
Any processed, refined food is bad for you. It is not what our bodies are designed to eat.
Hora..I'm well aware I'm weird! 8)
I find it much easier to stop smoking rollies after 3 weeks in the Summer than stop eating sugar over the xmas hols.
I choose not to eat fruit because I'm very sensitive to the sugar in it, refined or not.
Anyway, off track....all I was trying to point out that there are many dangerous substances we choose to put in our bodies.
Well i'm heartened by virtually 100% support .Seems STW is inhabited by a large group of boring (but fairly fit ) buggers ! 😀
Bluddy 'ell oldfart, you are easily pleased.
52 posts, and about 12 of those argueing with me!!
100% of what?? 8)
hora - MemberFoxyChick, you are wierd. Almost as 'bad' as those bloody Vegans 😉
and you're [i]sure[/i] you want me to come on more rides with you? haha!
anyway, i figured that FC was referring to refined sugar rather than naturally occuring or raw cane sugar. in which case, what she's saying makes perfect sense and is a very good idea (and one that i try to follow too)...
You wait 'til you get to my age FC then you will be easily pleased !I meant most responders either haven't ever or have given up !
Anyway, off track....all I was trying to point out that there are many dangerous substances we choose to put in our bodies.
Of course 100% of people who eat lettuce die. Putting too much water in your body is also dangerous. However substances vary in their level of danger - it's possible to ingest some without doing yourself any harm at all provided you limit the quantities to reasonable levels, eg sugar. Some substances do you good if you keep the amount you consume low enough, eg red wine. Some substances are harmful however little you take, eg tobacco smoke.
anyway, i figured that FC was referring to refined sugar rather than naturally occuring or raw cane sugar.
Please explain how how refining the sugar makes a difference to what it does to your body (compared to raw cane sugar which is exactly the same chemical).
FoxyChick.
Am I correct in saying that tomatoes are out to kill you? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solanaceae?
This is why you must avoid potatoes when they go green (thanks to elevated levels of solanene)- they're poisonous too!
Today I have had unrefined sugar in my tea and ate some bacon (plus the ubiquitous Heinz Tomato sauce). I will die.
Incidentally, I know 2 people, who, within 2 weeks of ceasing tobacco, saw their lung capacity improve 15% in both cases.
I struggle with the fact that smoking is seen to be so terrible, but being addicted to sugar and over-eating seems perfectly OK.
Wouldn't exactly say that being addicted to sugar or eating way too much to the point of being obese is seen as "perfectly ok" myself! 😕
I eat more than the average person myself, quite a bit more actually, but then I'm blessed/cursed with a fast metabolism so my body burns calories way quicker than most people's. This is getting better/slower as I'm aging, but on long bike rides has been a constant cause of grief in the past for lack of energy. But should my body start to require less food, less food is what I'll eat. I'm still "underweight" for my height right now, so I'd have a long way to go to be obese anyway, but I appreciate that it can happen all too quickly if you're not careful. Obesity is not good as obviously it can prove just as fateful as smoking!
Sugar, the silent white killer? Not so sure I agree on this one... OK, it's far from perfect, but a little in moderation surely doesn't harm? I used to consume way too much of the stuff I know, particularly when I was at University, then made a conscious decision to vastly decrease my sugar intake. I felt better for it, mainly because I suffered less with mood swings, but I like Chocolate, Biscuits, Ice Cream and way too many other things to remove it from my diet completely. I don't indulge like I used to, but I probably have something with sugar in at least once a day I'm sure... Will admit that I wince when I see people putting 2 or more sugars in a coffee/tea, and then drinking 6 or 8 cups of the stuff a day!
HOWEVER... Eating too much or eating refined foodstuffs DOES NOT potentially impact on the health and lifestyles of others. Smoking does! I eat something sugary, nobody else is affected. You smoke a fag in close proximity to others, they all have to breathe in your 2nd hand smoke!
aracer... I totally agree with you...but many people find it impossible to limit the quantities to reasonable levels BECAUSE SOME SUBSTANCES LIKE SUGAR, ALCOHOL AND NICOTINE ARE ADDICTIVE!!
Blimey, I'm a terrible person 😳
Started smoking, drinking in pubs and going out with men (not boys) at the age of 14. Well, that's Londoners for you cos you grow up a bit quicker. Smoked for 20 years then quit. Alcohol - I love it, ain't giving that up.
My adult son is really anti-smoking, he's never had one. Adult daughter, on the other hand, smokes roll-ups and won't give up in case she gets fat 🙄
Wait til your kids ask whether you have ever smoked a joint. Look them in the eye and tell the truth.
Nothing wrong with my moral compass, just had lots of "life experiences". Get off your high horse people!
bloody hell ti29er i have just eaten and drank the same thing as you today does that mean we are blood brothers? lol
PMSL at maverickboy!!
You are addicted to sugar! FACT.
You "like it too much to remove it from your diet completely"!!
8)
manwells.
Man-love!
You and I can maybe share the same harp and cloud?
PS - Drug free, i.e. no dope or anything stronger. Now don't do alcohol either. (Searches for halo. Polishes halo)
Same with sliced bread. Kills 3 people a year when the pallets tip over and the unsuspecting victim is crushed by wholemeal.
It's not a difficult diet at all.
Of course 100% of people who eat lettuce die.
Am I correct in saying that tomatoes are out to kill you?
Today I have had unrefined sugar in my tea and ate some bacon (plus the ubiquitous Heinz Tomato sauce).
Sorry, but PMSL here! 😆
On the same note, news just in... Exercise is bad for you! Of a sample of 1000 people taken who exercised every day for an hour or more, scientists were shocked to discover that they still all died in the end! 😉
Oh, and to redress the balance...I personally think that women who choose to smoke and drink while pregnant should have their babies taken off them and then be sterilised.
There are indeed levels of badness, and choosing to potentially damage your unborn child is a crime IMO.
PMSL at maverickboy!!You are addicted to sugar! FACT.
You "like it too much to remove it from your diet completely"!!
LOL
Yeah maybe, I enjoy it too much... I'm not hurting anyone when I eat some chocolate though am I! It's also one of those things, as mentioned above, that doesn't do any damage if consumed in small amounts. One single fag is causing damage! And in me eating some chocolate, am I hurting anyone else?
Also, I had no intention of removing it completely. I had become aware that my diet was far from balanced (hell, it could still be a lot better now) and that I was eating a lot of sugar. So I actively cut down, probably removed 70% or more from my diet almost instantly a few years ago. And I did feel better as a result yeah! But I also feel a whole lot better when I've just munched a nice bar of Cadbury's Caramel 😉
Oh, and to redress the balance...I personally think that women who choose to smoke and drink while pregnant should have their babies taken off them and then be sterilised.There are indeed levels of badness, and choosing to potentially damage your unborn child is a crime IMO.
Agreed!
Ti29er...I eat bacon nearly every day.
Not really sure what your point is TBH.
Ignorance is bliss it would seem.
Ti29er...I eat bacon nearly every day.
With ketchup?
PS - Drug free, i.e. no dope or anything stronger. Now don't do alcohol either. (Searches for halo. Polishes halo)
PMSL again
No Drugs, no booze, no fags here either... Got WAAAAAAY too many other vices to ensure I ain't getting into heaven... (Searches for Axe. Polishes Axe) 😉
aracer...I think you already know the answer to that!! 🙄
8)
Can I ask you to listen to this?
[url= http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00pg4xj/Case_Notes_29_12_2009/ ]http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00pg4xj/Case_Notes_29_12_2009/[/url]
Absolutely fascinating.
Bacon is highly processed meat!
FC - tell you knew this.
Always eaten with TomSauce.
*licks lips*
Let's see if FC is suffering ADD/ADHD.
Ti29er...I managed for about 2 minutes.
What was the point raised?
My deli bacon is fantastic.
Ah well it was worth a try. I'm sure there must be something you eat that has sugar in... Hmm, what do you eat for breakfast?
FoxyChick - Member
My deli bacon is fantastic.
Must resist, must not think ru..de thoughts..
Right guys...off now...thanks for the laughs. 8)
Ah, frosties for breakfast must be the secret vice!
I hate smoking, tobacco and similarly related products. Not smokers.
But you wouldn't extend any sympathy to smokers when they die. I can't comprehend that tbh. It just doesn't sit easily with my moral compass. What about soldiers? They knowingly place themselves in danger. Any sympathy for them?
Give me a break! I don't care what the social circle is, I don't care what the income might be.
Well, you seemed to imply that people who had failed at stopping smoking were likely to be failures in other areas of life. Just pointing out that this isn't always the case. For some reason you seem to think I'm pro smoking! I'm not. Do I regret smoking for the best part of 10 years? Of course I do! Stupid. But lots of behaviours are stupid, and very few would draw from me the negativity I feel from you.
My comment about the social circle was intended to give a bit of insight. If you're not interested in that, fair enough.
I was merely pointing out that within the group of people I socialise with, the only ones who sucessfully stopped smoking were those who distanced themselves from the group (and the expectant mothers, obviously). I have not implied that the situation refers to any experiences other than my own, so stop that rubbish please.
Mark's comments sit closer to my own opinions. I do pity those who smoke, because they are weak. But I am weak in many ways, and would hope for the empathy of others when I needed it.