Word: weightness
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...cigarettes is generally something to celebrate, but for many ex- smokers there is a weighty price to pay on the scale. Last week a study by the Centers for Disease Control confirmed what many former smokers have learned from experience: people who swear off smoking can expect to gain weight -- an average of 3.8 kg (8 lbs.) for women, 2.8 kg (6 lbs.) for men. More disturbing is the finding that 1 in 8 women who quit -- and 1 in 10 male quitters -- add a hefty 13 kg (29 lbs.) or more, while continuing smokers tend to gain much less...
...beats a minute, compared with 72 beats for a nonsmoker. When smoking stops, metabolism slows down, food is burned more slowly and the pounds can start piling on. Research by psychologist Richard Keesey at the University of Wisconsin suggests the added pounds represent a return to a more normal weight. Smoking, he says, "artificially lowers the body weight...
...causes insulin levels to rise, prompting greater consumption of sweets. This sweet-tooth effect is far more pronounced in female animals than in males, which may explain the difference found between the two sexes in the CDC study. But researchers are baffled by the increased vulnerability of blacks to weight gain. Says Williamson: "More work needs to be done...
...contributing to the high rate of smoking among teenage girls, who tend to take up the habit at a younger age than boys. Just this month the American Journal of Public Health reported that more than twice as many adolescent girls as boys said they were worried about gaining weight if they quit smoking. In years past, cigarette companies capitalized on such fears. Lucky Strike ads in the 1920s encouraged women to "Reach for the Lucky Strike Instead of a Sweet." Unfortunately, doctors note, even modest weight gains can loom large for women: a gain of 8 lbs., for instance...
Specialists offer a host of recommendations for warding off the weight. "Just making people aware that nicotine withdrawal may lead to an increase in their appetite is often enough to prevent them from putting on the pounds," says Chicago internist Robert Gluckman, an obesity specialist. Chewing nicotine gum to cut down the physical withdrawal from the addiction is also often advised, as is engaging in some form of aerobic exercise to help push up the metabolic rate. To satisfy the craving for sweets, Grunberg suggests, quitters should sprinkle everything, from meat to poultry to fruit, with a sugar substitute...