No butts about it: Readers vent on smoking, exercise

A small selection of the letters:

I am an ex-smoker and think it's awful how smokers are treated. We ought to be thanking them! I don't want to pick up the [cigarette] tax tab should they all wake up one day and decide to quit. What other segment of our population is it acceptable to openly berate? I'll bet most smokers are in better physical shape and will live longer than me (I'm 30 pounds overweight and CHOOSE to do nothing about it).

— Michele Oestreicher, Spokane

I used to smoke, drink and do drugs. I quit the dope and booze 18 years ago and although I'd always exercised, quitting drinking and getting high allowed me to make big gains in my level of fitness. Unfortunately, I wasn't ready to quit smoking until 1999. I smoked like half a pack a day and considered myself a "light" smoker. I'd set all kinds of parameters — no smoking before noon, etc. It was all B.S., though, and I knew it.

For me, quitting smoking was much more difficult than quitting drinking. Nevertheless, you know that sooner or later, you're going to have to quit. You can do it on your own terms, or a medical condition will force you to quit. I chose the former.

I'm 55 now, and I can't believe the difference quitting smoking has made. I gained about 10 percent of my body weight after stopping smoking — this is pretty normal — but I've been able to shed most of that by working out harder. I've recently taken up surfing and can swim a mile with ease.

Almost anyone who smokes who's seriously into exercise knows that even a small amount of smoking is just as bad for you as someone who smokes a pack a day. "Rewarding" yourself with a smoke after a long run is something I'm familiar with and it's the height of folly. It is real evidence of what addiction is all about.

— Tim Withee, Auburn

I've been a recreational smoker since high school and am going on 40 now. One of the things that amuses me is when someone can sit in front of me with a bag of French fries and a double cheeseburger and say that I'm harming myself by lighting up. Don't we all have our vices? Is it fair for any of us to judge another on their vice of choice? I don't light up in public places, parks or where I might offend with my secondhand smoke. I light up privately in my back yard while enjoying a quiet moment.

I'm actually what some would consider a walking contradiction because of my love of yoga and running and because I like to eat organically grown foods and avoid pesticides. Believe me, there are many of us out there.

— Anonymous

My mom was in great shape, walked miles every day, gardened acres of land, ate a healthy diet ... and smoked. With her overall excellent health, she should have lived another 20 years, but she died of lung cancer a couple of years ago — diagnosed at 61, dead at 62. Yep, Mom was healthy all right — right up until the cancer invaded her lungs, abdomen and brain.

The morons in your article need to realize that exercise is not an inoculation against cancer. If they're sucking on cancer sticks, they will have health problems later on, up to and including an early death. The people quoted in this article were ages 37 to 42. How would they feel if they knew that their lives may already be half over because of their own actions?

— K. Winjum, Seattle

I smoke and work out two to three times per week. I smoke only when I have cocktails, but I do not feel guilty smoking if I was on the elliptical for 50 minutes earlier in the day. I am 35, have been a smoker for 18 years and I know I need to quit! At least I went from a pack a day habit to one pack a week.

— Jenny Benz, Durango, Colo.

This is the first time in my life that I have responded to an article. I am a 38-year-old woman who has been exercising regularly for most of my life and am currently in my second season of doing triathlons. Smoking cigarettes has always been a pleasure to me (three a day on average), but I have always had tremendous guilt and shame accompanied with it due to my image as a healthy woman in good physical shape.

The smokes are a monkey on my back, mostly because I would be SO humiliated if my athletic friends found out. Your article just made me want to jump for joy because it validated that I am not alone in the world of exercising fiends who feel they deserve a cig. Here's to clearing the air.

— A fit mom (smoking in the closet)

Whatever happened to enjoying moderation in all things? I bike to work and school, eat well and shop locally, and (not "yet," or "in spite of") I also enjoy sipping a nice wine and leisurely smoking a cigarette.

I'm not aiming to live to be 100, and I'd rather enjoy my time on this planet with a healthy balance of virtue and vice. I certainly don't need health advice from the ultimate health hypocrites — mainstream Americans — nor do I deserve your condescending glances from inside your Subaru as I ride my bike downhill, cigarette pursed between my lips.

— Mary Cornwell, Bellingham

I am an ACE certified personal trainer and group fitness instructor at ProRobics in Seattle. I read your article with interest and an "Oh come ON!" smirk on my face. I used to smoke — quit three years ago. I also used to drink a fifth a day (seven years sober) and had a several-year stint with cocaine, both crack and powder.

In the '80s, I was able to pull this off. When I hit my late 30s, it began to catch up with me. My habits took precedence over something I loved doing, and I was booted out of the fitness profession. By the time I was 40, I was on the verge of death. I finally got rid of all my nasty addictions, smoking being the last to go. I have never felt better in my life.

All of you out there still smoking? The only person you are fooling is yourself. Smoking gets in the way of how well you perform, ages you and will eventually knock you right off of the pedestal you are kidding yourselves into standing on.

— Nancy Jerominski, Seattle

I am surprised that in "Blowing Smoke," there is no mention of the original definition of a "healthy smoker." It's called a "citizen of Europe."

— Volker Schlanze, Bothell