Like many of the smokers I did take the decision to cease smoking.
And oh boy, do I have reasons for it… I’ll tell you how this got into my mind, it can probably help you and perhaps sparkle the non-smoker part of your brain and allow you to start to think about quitting. Who knows?

The obvious reasons:

• Let’s face it: It stinks.
  Even though I smoked 2 packs of Marlboro a day for 7 years (that’s over 2500 days - about 102,200 cigarettes!) I never liked the smell, neither the taste of it. I didn’t. And probably neither do you. I hate the smell of my office in the morning, and I hated the smell in my car. Actually lately I wouldn’t smoke in my car. But my office was the worst part… I work over 12 hours a day on busy days, so imagine the amount of smoke it would be around the walls… and how smoky it smelled. Did I mention the clothes? OMG. As a non-smoker I can now easily identify a smoker just from the smell of their clothes. It’s incredible. Moving on….

• Health: Lung cancer and all the rest
  All of us know that we are particularly at a higher risk of getting lung cancer then everybody else. And that’s not the only thing, is it? I will just give you some facts from the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention):

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  Tobacco use is the leading preventable cause of death in the United States. Cigarette smoking causes an estimated 438,000 deaths, or about 1 of every 5 deaths, each year. This estimate includes approximately 38,000 deaths from secondhand smoke exposure.
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  Cigarette smoking kills an estimated 259,500 men and 178,000 women in the United States each year.
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  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.
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  On average, adults who smoke cigarettes die 14 years earlier than nonsmokers.
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  Based on current cigarette smoking patterns, an estimated 25 million Americans who are alive today will die prematurely from smoking-related illnesses, including 5 million people younger than 18.
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  How crazy is that?

• You lose the sense of taste, you lose the sense of smell and what not
  Since I stopped smoking, not only my food tastes better but I also got my sense of smell back. Not to mention that smoking can even reduce your libido, hormone production…. your body is much less oxygenated when you smoke. So you cannot deny these facts.
• Social Stigma
  Nowadays smokers are starting to be regarded as sick people, which is true. If you smoke, you’re not normal. I wasn’t, and I still am not (I’m still recovering). It’s a PITA to get out of a non-smoking bar to go outside and have a smoke. It’s serious.

I’m sure you’ll even have more reasons than those but those are the ones on top of my head now.

So how did I decide to quit?
I was watching TV with my girlfriend (my pseudo-wife) just before going to bed, and we started to talk about Smoking. I don’t even remember how the conversation got there actually. But what I remember is what made me quit on that minute. After discussing with her how bad smoking is (she followed my lead and quit too by the way), I paused for like 2 or 3 minutes. I started to ask myself one simple question, which was: “Why do I smoke?”

You guessed it, I couldn’t find a good answer. I could say “Oh yeah I started as a teenager and then the addiction got in” but even that was not a valid reason for me at that time (still isn’t). I also started to think about how better I could be if I didn’t smoke. I mean, how could my general health state improve if I decided to quit? I surfed a little on the internet trying to find those answers and most former smokers say that you start to feel the benefits of not smoking within the first 48 hours. Those are: stamina increase, senses of smell and taste. Those are actually the only ones you’ll feel right away. You’ll have more, but they will take a lot longer to appear.

Well… so far so good. My fear, and biggest fear of all the smokers I know is: Nicotine withdrawal. How could I cope with it, and what could I expect from it?

This is what I gathered at the time:

- Excessive coughing
- Fatigue
- Frustration
- Increased appetite
- Irritability
- Strong urges to smoke
- Tightness in chest
- Headaches

None of those scared me. Perhaps the “Strong urges to smoke” was the worst one, but well… I still decided to carry on.

Compare those withdrawal symptoms to the health issues you can get from cigarette smoking and do the math. What’s better for you?

References: http://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/data_statistics/Factsheets/tobacco_related_mortality.htm

So you’re already avoiding gluten and feel no improvements?
Try cutting down Lactose and Fructose.

Many Celiac Disease patients are unable to digest other proteins, such as Lactose and Fructose (most common). Remember that your small intestine’s villi is partially damaged, so it does make sense for it not to absorb all the nutrients correctly as it should.

I personally recommend everyone to avoid Fructose and Lactose altogether for immediate symptom relief (so you do not have to chase down the intolerance). Those proteins are VERY difficult to digest by an already damaged intestine. Give your body a break.

Ingredients/Items to eliminate (I said eliminate, not to cut down) on a low-fructose diet:

• Apple
• Dried Apple
• Pineapple
• Applesauce
• Aubergine
• Avocado
• Artichoke
• Pear
• Blackberry
• China Kohl (can be tolerated by some)
• Pea
• Strawberry
• Barley (of course)
• Grapefruit
• Green Cabbage
• Honey
• Kiwifruit
• Lettuce
• Beans of all kinds
• Mango
• Orange
• Carrot (can be tolerated by some)
• Asparagus
• Tomato
• Lemon
• Zucchini
• Onion

As I previously said, you should also try to avoid Lactose if eliminating Fructose does not work. On the worst scenario, you may need to eliminate Lactose and Fructose to obtain symptom relief.

Never went out of battery? One day you probably will. And if you have lost the radio code, you’ll be in trouble - no more radio for you! I unfortunately got myself into this situation with my 1.6 101cv Vectra.

Replacing it was not an option for me. 2 Reasons for it:

- Original is original (blends in much better then all the others)
- Steering Wheel radio controls (you won’t have it with a non-original one neither)
- Car Computer Led (oh yeah, I’d lose that too, for a smaller radio panel - not interested)

Anyways, I tried to look for the Radio code and couldn’t find it anywhere. I was stuck! Luckily, I found a reliable online unlocking service with instant delivery (meaning, you pay and you get the code right there, like 30 seconds after your payment). Surprisingly, it worked!

(I paid $14.95 for my code. It beats going to Opel and ask them to decode it. They’d charge at least twice as much, at least here in Europe.)

Here’s the site I used and strongly recommend:
http://www.car-audio-accessories.co.uk

And no, I’m in no way affiliated with them. But hell, it worked so it was worth to share with you. They do most brands there, so if you get stuck like I did, give them a try!