Personal Development for Smart People Forums - View Single Post - What's worse? Smoking, or Poor Diet and No Exercise?

skinnyninja · 11-08-2006, 11:02 PM

I quit smoking a little over a year ago and I am consistently jogging 4 to 6 miles, three times a week.

However, my diet is horrible. I am quite tall and skinny, but I eat mostly red meat, mayonaise, hot pockets, pop tarts, steak, and diet Mt. Dew. I also drink coffee occassionally. Reading Steve's articles on veganism and raw foods and such have me considering a change.

But I did extensive research before I quit smoking, and I try to use the grim statistics to convince my friends to quit smoking. There is conflicting data out there and to some extent it depends on which study you go by.

One such study took into account over ten thousand smokers over a forty year period. It concluded that the average smoker (who continues to smoke and never quits) will die an average of 15 to 20 years early. Other estimates from other studies put that number a bit lower, like 10 to 15 years.

The study also had data that indicated how much you would knock off the early death sentence if you quit, and at various ages. They said that quitting at 60 would almost cut your death sentence in half, on average. Quitting between the ages of 40 and 60 would more than cut it in half, and quitting at 30 or younger showed the same mortality rates as those who had never smoked.

I don't have much knowledge of what poor diet does to mortality rates, but I'm curious as to the difference between poor diet versus poor diet plus obesity. My guess is that one of the biggest reasons for a poor diet being unhealthy is that it leads to obesity which leads to heart problems. At least, this is what I'm hoping because I happen to eat poorly yet I am not obese. Can anyone confirm my thoughts, or am I way off base here?

11-08-2006, 11:02 PM	#2 (permalink)
skinnyninja Senior Member Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Michigan Posts: 132	I quit smoking a little over a year ago and I am consistently jogging 4 to 6 miles, three times a week. However, my diet is horrible. I am quite tall and skinny, but I eat mostly red meat, mayonaise, hot pockets, pop tarts, steak, and diet Mt. Dew. I also drink coffee occassionally. Reading Steve's articles on veganism and raw foods and such have me considering a change. But I did extensive research before I quit smoking, and I try to use the grim statistics to convince my friends to quit smoking. There is conflicting data out there and to some extent it depends on which study you go by. One such study took into account over ten thousand smokers over a forty year period. It concluded that the average smoker (who continues to smoke and never quits) will die an average of 15 to 20 years early. Other estimates from other studies put that number a bit lower, like 10 to 15 years. The study also had data that indicated how much you would knock off the early death sentence if you quit, and at various ages. They said that quitting at 60 would almost cut your death sentence in half, on average. Quitting between the ages of 40 and 60 would more than cut it in half, and quitting at 30 or younger showed the same mortality rates as those who had never smoked. I don't have much knowledge of what poor diet does to mortality rates, but I'm curious as to the difference between poor diet versus poor diet plus obesity. My guess is that one of the biggest reasons for a poor diet being unhealthy is that it leads to obesity which leads to heart problems. At least, this is what I'm hoping because I happen to eat poorly yet I am not obese. Can anyone confirm my thoughts, or am I way off base here?