That’s the last cigarette I ever smoked, which happened five years ago today.

I’m happy to say the cravings don’t happen any more, but there is the occasional moment where I’m aware that I would have headed outside back in the day. Also, every once in a while, I find myself reaching toward my pocket for a Zippo lighter that hasn’t been there since 2003. Given that I smoked some 17 years, it probably will take a while longer for that to fade. :)

I don’t miss smoking, something that is proved every day when I don’t wheeze my lungs out going up stairs or on long walks or bicycle rides. Oxygen is good. Carbon monoxide, not so much.

The 600 other ingredients and harmful health effects, not so much either.

More deaths are caused each year by tobacco use than by all deaths from human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), illegal drug use, alcohol use, motor vehicle injuries, suicides, and murders combined. (CDC)

From Laurel on Health Food comes “14 Foods that Lower Cholesterol”.

1. Whole grain and oats
2. Blueberries
3. Pistachios
4. Walnuts
5. Almonds
6. Avocados
7. Olives
8. Olive oil
9. Flaxseed oil
10. 100% cranberry-grape juice
11. Fish and fish oil
12. Black soybeans
13. Pomegranate juice
14. Yogurt with live active cultures (probiotics)

Check out if any of the foods above also made the “Eight foods to eat daily” list.

Compare with the verboten foods of the Paleolithic Diet — no grains, no beans, no dairy, etc. — as well as the items all three of these have in common. Somewhere in the middle, the truth lies.

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