Addiction's a bitch. Then you die.

I was perusing the ol' Times-Pic this morning, and saw a story about a liver patient who can't get a transplant b/c he used medical marijuanna. Whether this is fair or not is open to debate, but it got me thinking on another chain of thought.

I once worked with a woman who had a lung transplant several years before I met her. Now, during the time I knew her, this woman smoked at probably 2 packs of cigarettes a day. Mores to be exact. The most vile-smelling ciggies they ever made. Her fingers were stained nicotene brown and her teeth matched. How she managed to get a lung transplant I'll never know.
But here's the thing: She used to bitch about fat people and how they moan and whine about how hard it is to diet. "Just stop eating so much food," she'd say, "how hard is that?" I would just ignore her. Hypocrite much?

In a perfect world it's easier to quit cigarettes or alcohol because you don't need them to live. Food, however, you can't just quit cold turkey. You have to eat to live. And that's where it gets tricky, making the right choices and portion sizes. I know we don't live in a perfect world. Let me stop right here and say I know it's VERY difficult to stop smoking or drinking. Some would say almost impossible. And I understand because I've seen firsthand the trials and tribulations of family and friends trying to quit. And what's funny (not really) is that the first thing that happens for most smokers trying to quit is that they gain weight. It's like trading one addiction for another.

I'm sure I'm going to get a lot of flack for this blog, but I am not saying it's easy to quit any addiction, whether it be smoking, drinking, drugs, or whatever. I guess it doesn't matter what you're addicted to, the addiction itself is a powerful thing.