One of the earliest "grown-up" movies I remember seeing in the cinema was a comedy called Cold Turkey, starring Dick Van Dyke. The premise was that a small town would win what, for them, was an obscenely large amount of money if everybody in the entire town could stop smoking, "cold turkey" — that is, suddenly, as if the "off" button had been pressed and the power disconnected — for an entire month. The lengths the town fathers went to, to win, and the lengths the tobacco company went to, to ensure they didn't, made for laughter and hijinks that were accessible to even middle-school children.

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(continued from Part I)

Myth 6.

"If you take insulin, or more than one type of insulin -- or you wear an insulin pump -- or you have to take pills and not-eat certain foods -- you have the 'bad kind' of diabetes."

• Fact: There is no good kind of diabetes. Each type of diabetes has its challenges in maintaining relatively normal blood glucose levels. Each type of diabetes, left unchecked, can cause complications and death.
• Fact: The really, really bad kinds of diabetes are diabetes that has not been diagnosed and diabetes that is not actively managed, whether by pills, insulin, and/or diet, and that is not well-monitored (by home glucose testing).
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mzacha

Part of the holiday spirit is helping one another. I believe the online community of those affected by diabetes is amazing. Never have I felt so alone. Never have I felt so apart of something. Never have I had access to so many who are ready to support me.

Times when I am down and feeling bad there is always someone to encourage me. When I lost some weight I had many cheers sent my way and when I gained that weight back I received many, “You can do! Don’t give up” messages that not only helped motivate but made me feel cared for. (READ MORE)

It's already 3 days into the new year and I am still not "with it." In my defense I have battling a cold so my brain is a little foggy.


I used to make new year resolutions but is it just me or do we all seem to make the same ones each year? I always say that I am going to eat better, exercise more, yadda yadda yadda. I hear myself and sound like a broken record.


So this year is about goals. in 2006 my goal was to get on an insulin pump and quit smoking. I accomplished both of those. Last year my big goal was to lose weight and I finally joined Weight Watchers in August of 2007. So far I have lost 36 pounds but still have a way to go. On my personal blog I post my progress every week for all to see which helps a lot. (READ MORE)

19 months ago today I quit smoking. That's about 11,500 cigarettes that I have NOT smoked if I had continued at the same rate. I got a lot of help at QuitNet, another great, supportive, free site.

I still crave them sometimes. My boss hasn't had a cigarette in over 20 years and he still wants one occasionally too. I've accepted I will just have to live with that.

This is the 25th time I quit smoking. I started my quest for freedom from nicotine 1/1/2000. In some ways that thrills me, because I kept working on smoking cessation (albeit not continuously) until it stuck. The "stick-to-it-iveness" my mother always wanted me to have. On the other hand, it's a rather pathetic statistic.

When I realized about a year ago that this was the quit that would stick, I felt like I could accomplish anything. I felt strong, confident and wonderful about my goals. (READ MORE)