Many people believe that it is inevitable to gain weight when you quit smoking, but this is not necessarily true. There are several things to do to prevent weight gain, and even if you do gain five or 10 pounds, it can easily be taken off again once you have kicked the smoking habit.

We have all met people who claim that 'quitting smoking is easy.' They usually say this as they are puffing on a cigarette. Sure -- it's easy to quit for an hour or a day, but it's the staying quit part which is difficult.

During the quitting process the urge to smoke will be very strong. At some point, many people succumb to those urges. In fact, most people will have lapses or relapses on the road to smoke-free lives. Rather than viewing these lapses as failures, it is better to view them as learning opportunities to understand why we slipped and how we can prevent it from happening again.

Once you have made the decision to quit smoking, you should choose a method to help you overcome the habit. Each method has advantages and disadvantages, so it's a good idea to examine all of them before deciding.

Smoking is strange behavior. Almost every smoker knows that it's bad for his health, but many smokers continue the habit for decades, each year experiencing a further decline in health and well-being. Looked at rationally, smoking is quite disgusting. It stains the teeth and the fingers, causes bad breath, and creates an unpleasant environment for non-smokers.

There is no doubt that smoking is addictive. It doesn't seem to affect everybody the same way though. Some people have great difficulty quitting smoking, while others give it up with almost no effort.