Life After Cigarettes - by Cynthia S Pomerleau (Paperback)

About the Book

Women started smoking in huge numbers in the mid-20th century, thanks to massive campaigns by the tobacco industry. The result has been generations of smokers whose health has been compromised and whose lives have been shortened. This book helps women understand why they smoke, how to quit, and how to make sure they don't start again. Smoking cessation expert Cynthia Pomerleau emphasizes proven strategies that demystify this most potent and pervasive of drugs. She explains the effects of quitting, how to do so without gaining weight, and the use of support systems and the latest drug therapies. Featuring photographs and illustrations, the book is divided into four sections: What Every Woman Who Ever Smoked Should know (covering the why); Managing Weight and Looking Great (personal transformation after kicking the habit); Special Concerns (dealing with relationships, depression, and other causes for concern); and A Lifetime Perspective (inspirational tips for maintaining a smoke-free life). Additional readings and resources help keep readers on track.

Book Synopsis

Women started smoking in huge numbers in the mid-20th century, thanks to massive campaigns by the tobacco industry. The result has been generations of smokers whose health has been compromised and whose lives have been shortened. This book helps women understand why they smoke, how to quit, and how to make sure they don't start again. Smoking cessation expert Cynthia Pomerleau emphasizes proven strategies that demystify this most potent and pervasive of drugs. She explains the effects of quitting, how to do so without gaining weight, and the use of support systems and the latest drug therapies. Featuring photographs and illustrations, the book is divided into four sections: What Every Woman Who Ever Smoked Should know (covering the why); Managing Weight and Looking Great (personal transformation after kicking the habit); Special Concerns (dealing with relationships, depression, and other causes for concern); and A Lifetime Perspective (inspirational tips for maintaining a smoke-free life). Additional readings and resources help keep readers on track.

From the Back Cover

You can live -and live well- without cigarettes

You want to do it. You know you should do it. But especially if you're a woman, you also know how hard quitting cigarettes can be. If you've tried to quit before and experienced weight gain, sadness, or other distressing symptoms, you may have decided to quit quitting.

Or maybe you're already a former smoker, but you're not quite satisfied with the way you look and feel. You wish you could somehow go back and get it right.

After two decades of research with women smokers and former smokers, Dr. Cynthia S. Pomerleau knows about the unique, multilayered nature of women's relationship to cigarettes. Here, with real world understanding and comprehensive knowledge of current scientific findings, she offers the insights, tools and hope you'll need to make that crucial transition.

Pomerleau wants every woman who smokes to become -and remain- a nonsmoker who feels good and looks great, but she also knows that one-size-fits-all prescriptions, scare tactics and "Just stop!" lectures don't work for most women. Instead, she empowers you to
manage your weight and mood without cigarettes
replace the comfort of cigarettes with true self-care
create your own personal quitting style
look better and feel more confident than ever before

You'll also find stories of other women who've been there, tips for handling partner and family relationships as you change, and information on how medications can help you reach your goal. Pomerleau proves that there is life after cigarettes -and that you can live it.

Review Quotes

"...Smoking cessation has been the subject of many books, but few if any have addressed women's special concerns so well. Highly recommended." —Library Journal

About the Author

Cynthia S. Pomerleau, Ph.D., worked in the University of Michigan Department of Psychiatry from 1985 to 2009 as a research professor and as director of the Nicotine Research Laboratory, where much of her research focused on the impact of smoking on women (e.g., menstrual cycle effects, postcessation weight gain, depression). She is the author of more than a hundred articles and book chapters on smoking and a contributor to the 2001 Surgeon General's Report on Women and Smoking. Prior to training in psychology and neuroscience, she had a varied career characterized by a long-standing interest in women's issues. She wrote her doctoral dissertation on autobiographies of English women in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries at the University of Pennsylvania and subsequently directed an Oral History Project on Women Physicians at the Medical College of Pennsylvania. She lives in Ann Arbor and Empire, Michigan, with her husband and collaborator, Ovide Pomerleau.