Is It Better To be Overweight Or To Smoke?

I met someone today who is losing weight. She has tried very hard and is being quite successful. She is committed to it (at the moment). She smokes, however, and won"t give up.

I talked to her about this situation. She has tried to give up smoking but found that she put on several pounds in weight when she did so. This is normal for quitting smokers and I tried to tell her this. She rejected my remarks and stated that she would rather smoke than be overweight (assuming that she can"t sort out both issues). Her words were "if anything is going to clog up my arteries, I would rather smoke."

It is commendable that she is losing weight, but I fear it is for cosmetic rather than health reasons. She looks better and feels better. And undoubtedly she will have reduced some of her heath issues such as developing diabetes and arthritis. But what is the point if, at the age of 50, she has a heart attack or a stroke because of her smoking? Is there any point being thin and looking nice when at the age of 60 she could be languishing in bed as a respiratory cripple with COPD or, worse, dead from lung cancer?

Her methods are sound but her judgments are not. She is in love with the idea of losing weight and looking fab. She does what she does for reasons of attractions rather then health, in the same way that she attends to her appearance in other ways.

Smoking is a far bigger killer than obesity ever has been. It is best to attend to both.

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