The NO SMOKE EXCUSE BLASTER

The NO SMOKE Excuse Blaster screen has one goal: to eradicate any possible justification the smoker has for smoking. Typical smoker excuses are presented. But it's not enough to just answer the excuse in words (as we do in this non-animated simulation). In the actual program the smoker blasts the excuses to bits using animated characters -- jet planes, helicopters, wizards, tanks, guns, and a pterodactyl.

In addition to the pre-programmed excuses and answers such as samples shown here, the user can program in up to ten of his or her own sets of excuses and answers, then "zap" them again and again and again.

The goal is one brick in the emotional and psychological foundation for freeing the smoker from the habit. Below are a few of NO SMOKE's typical smoker's excuses with answers:

Excuse ---- "I really like to smoke."
Zap Excuse ---- "You think you really like to smoke, but what you really like is the temporary freedom smoking gives you from the craving for highly addictive nicotine. You're trying to quit because you want that enjoyable feeling permanently."

Excuse ---- "I inhale so much air pollution anyway, so the cigarettes don't matter."
Zap Excuse ---- "The dirt you suck into your lungs from smoking is 100 times more lethal than the worst air pollution. The combination of the two is particularly deadly. Just breathe out some cigarette smoke through a handkerchief and you'll get the idea."

Excuse ---- "It's the only "bad" thing I do to myself."
Zap Excuse ---- "Smoking may be the only bad habit you have, but it's worse than all others combined. It is an indulgence that comes at a high price."

Excuse ---- "I enjoy the taste of cigarettes."
Zap Excuse ---- "You only think you enjoy the taste of cigarettes because you are hooked. Even if you enjoy the flavor from time to time, is taste really a motivator for the cigarette after cigarette you smoke every day?"

Excuse ---- "I need to smoke to calm my nerves."
Zap Excuse ---- "You need to smoke to calm your nerves because your smoking habit makes you need to smoke to calm your nerves. Quitting smoking (after you've done it; not during the difficult process) not only breaks this cycle, but puts you into a more calm lifestyle. Smoking in itself is something of a nervous habit."

Excuse ---- "My cigarettes are my friends."
Zap Excuse ---- "With friends like these, who needs enemies. Would a friend get you hooked, damage your health, make you smell awful, control your behavior every day of your life?"

Excuse ---- "If I quit smoking, I'll gain weight."
Zap Excuse ---- "Some people gain weight after quitting smoking, but it's not automatic. Part of a rational approach to quitting smoking is not substituting unhealthy food behavior for the smoking. This program has a special interactive section on avoiding weight gain."

Excuse ---- "I'm a smoker and that's that. It's part of my lifestyle."
Zap Excuse ---- "This is the toughest excuse of them all to refute. But are you that much a slave to cigarettes that you need to devote your whole life to them? Think about it."

Excuse ---- "I can quit any time I feel like it."
Zap Excuse ---- "Many smokers are convinced they can quit any time they wish, but they do not realize how physically and psychologically addictive the smoking habit is. The answer is that they can quit, but only with a methodical system and a lot of support."

Excuse ---- "Low tar and nicotine cigarettes aren't so bad."
Zap Excuse ---- "Low tar and nicotine cigarettes lead you to smoke more, inhale more dangerous chemicals, and spend much more money than regular cigarettes to get the same nicotine "fix" you crave. The false feeling of "safety" you get from these brands can keep you smoking long after you should have quit. It's all a (very profitable) gimmick."

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The NO SMOKE VILLAINS STOMPER

• "The tobacco industry breaks its own code by placing billboards within 500 feet of schools and playgrounds."
• "Smoking advertising persists in linking smoking to economic success and sex appeal."
• "Cigarette advertising only shows healthy, energetic people. When's the last time you saw a healthy, energetic smoker?"
• "The cigarette makers hook 60% of their customers before they are 14 years old."
• "The cigarette industry uses its "efforts" to keep kids from smoking to present smoking to kids as the "adult" thing to do. This promotes smoking among young people."
• "The tobacco industry does virtually nothing to prevent retailers from selling cigarettes to minors. They say it's the retailers' responsibility to comply with the law."
• "Smoking by teenagers has risen 10% since the camel cartoon character came on the scene."
• "The tobacco industry loses 5000 customers a day. 3500 quit, the other 1500 die. They spend huge amounts of money trying to make up for these losses."
• "Each year, American cigarette companies spend $11 million on advertising and promotion."
• "Cigarette companies are getting people in third world countries hooked by linking smoking to the glamorous "American" life style."
• "Young women in cowgirl outfits hand out free cigarettes to teenagers at rock concerts and discos in Eastern Europe and give out free gifts to the kids who accept the cigarettes."
• "At a high school in Buenos Aires, a woman wearing khaki safari gear hands out free cigarettes to 15- and 16-year-olds on their lunch recess."
• "Cigarette companies sponsor rock concerts and sporting events (with large audiences of young people) to get around broadcast advertising bans."
• "Tobacco companies increase demand and brand exposure by selling clothing and other fashionable products, mostly to young people."
• "Children all over the third world are given clothing imprinted with cigarette brand logos."
• "Every day in the USA, more than 3,000 teenagers start smoking regularly, and more girls than boys are starting."
• "Four out of five teenagers admit to buying cigarettes as a result of tobacco company promotions."
• "Per capita cigarette consumption in the developing world has risen on average by more than 70% during the last 25 years due to tobacco industry campaigns."
• "After American tobacco companies came on the scene, smoking rates among male Korean teenagers rose from 18% to 30% in just one year. The rate in teenaged girls increased from less than 2% to nearly 9%."
• "Tobacco lobbies have used "free trade issues" to force the American government to open up foreign markets all over the world to American cigarettes."
• "Can you believe it? The tobacco industry still DENIES the connection between smoking and illness. They tell us "the facts aren't all in."
• "Studies have found that the more cigarette advertising a magazine carries, the less likely it is to publish anti-smoking articles. And cigarette advertising is still the #2 generator of magazine ad revenues."

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The NO SMOKE DON'T GAIN WEIGHT Screen

Here are the first half dozen of the many tips:

• Don't look at your decision to quit smoking in isolation. It should be part of your campaign to create a better, healthier you. As part of your plan to quit, you'll plan activities to enhance your general health. This will include sensible eating. A sensible eating plan will help protect you from accidentally slipping into poor eating habits when you quit smoking, and that's what puts on the weight.
• In addition to sensible eating, add exercise into your daily routine. Don't overdo it. Start small but be consistent. The exercise will help reduce stress, which may cause you either to eat too much or to start smoking again. Exercise also helps even out the metabolism, which helps you keep your weight down and makes it easier to quit smoking as well.
• While you should make sure your diet is healthy, don't try too hard to lose weight at the same time you're quitting smoking. Focus your mind, your plans and activities on quitting smoking without gaining weight. You can go on that diet once you leave cigarettes behind for good.
• Take in plenty of water or other non-fattening liquids. Water fills you up and cuts down on both the need to smoke and the need (from nervousness) to eat.
• Make sure your meals are satisfying and well prepared. Spend more money on your food if necessary (you'll save by not buying cigarettes). Make a point out of having regular meals and not eating on the run. Use good silverware, cloth napkins, etc. Make a ritual out of eating and refuse to eat unless the requirements of the ritual can be fulfilled.
• THINK before you eat. Do you really want that sticky cake any more than you thought you wanted cigarettes? You can wait out your craving for something fattening just as you can wait out your craving for a cigarette. The crisis will last five minutes; ten at the most. Keep a diary of all the food you eat. Those fattening items can easily slip in if you don't watch it. Keeping the diary will also make your eating more of a planned event, less spontaneous.

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The NO SMOKE PANIC BUTTON

Here are examples of a few of the suggestions:

-----When you get the craving for a cigarette, remember that the worst will be over in just a few minutes. So get involved with something else. Do a necessary and time-consuming chore like sorting your files or even cleaning your home. Once you get through the first 5-10 minutes, tell yourself you're a hero! Never feel sorry for yourself. You can do it!

-----Put something else in your mouth, preferably something that doesn't make you fat. A pencil, a finger. If you occupy yourself with bill paying and check writing, you'll get some oral interaction from licking the envelopes and stamps. Or buy wind instrument (flute, saxophone, recorder, harmonica) and learn how to express yourself through it. You get a lot of oral satisfaction from playing the harmonica, it's easy, and you can buy one for practically nothing. You can do it!

-----Here's a good breathing exercise the really helps for those panic moments. It takes some practice so be patient. Relax your body. Go limp. Inhale slowly and deeply, Breath in as much as you can. Hold for a brief moment and then let the air out very slowly. Push out the last bits of air then hold for a moment. Repeat a few times. Practice getting the exercise right, concentrating on smooth breathing at all times. You can do it!

-----Instead of smoking, write down plans for quitting smoking (even if you have already written down plans). Write down plans for some other goal. Write down a shopping list. Take out a pen or pencil (it will occupy your hands and you can also chew on it) and write down something purposeful. Poetry, a letter, anything. You can do it!

-----DISTRACT yourself with ANYTHING when you get the urge. It will pass in a few minutes. You might get the urge to smoke again but don't worry about that now. Get through each urge one at a time. Each time you get the urge think back to previous times you successfully resisted the urge. If you succeeded once, you can succeed twice. If you succeeded twice...well, you get the idea. You'll come to like the process of getting the urge and then getting through it. You get stronger each time. You can do it!

-----Have an imaginary conversation with people who know you about how successful you were at quitting. Get into it and make it as elaborate as possible. Imagine the questions they will ask you and rehearse your answers word for word. Imagine telling everyone how good you feel now that you have quit. Remember: word for word. Choose descriptive adjectives that truly reflect the joy you feel at "growing clean." Try this technique over and over until you become superbly articulate on the subject of quitting. You can do it!

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The NO SMOKE "WHY YOU SMOKE" Screen

WHY YOU SMOKE gives you a screen with thirty pre-set categories (though you can change any or all of the categories to suit your own analysis needs). You'll use scroll bars to give a score from 1 to 10 for each category, then press a calucation key. The computer will then give you a score and show you what's important and what's not so important. You end up zeroing in on the major reasons why you smoke. This is an essential step if you want to quit. And the results may surprise you.

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The NO SMOKE MONEY FACTOR Screen

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The NO SMOKE SMOKE ZAPPER Screen

1. I take responsibility for my own health.
   
2. I make my own decisions; I breathe free.
   
3. I am calm, healthy and happy.
   
4. I can make myself relax on my own.
   
5. I breathe clean air in, clean air out.
   
6. I am worthwhile, aware and wonderful.
   
7. I love myself and I love my body.
   
8. I take a moment and think before I act.
   
9. I am comfortable with myself and my body.
   
10. I live a life of health and love.

The object of SMOKE ZAPPER is to shoot down the evil flying cigarettes without being destroyed by the cigarette butt smart bombs they drop. Each time you zap the two flying cigarettes you gain more points but the game gets harder. To protect yourself from the dangerous cigarette butt bombs, you can bring up an ashtray that protects you for ten seconds. When you yourself get zapped, you lose ammunition. When you run out of ammunition the game ends.

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The NO SMOKE DAILY CYCLE Screen

The cycle runs (it loops, actually) at whatever speed you choose. It's essential to understand Joe Smoker's cycle to understand your own. Once you recognize the cycle, you can take steps to break it. Here's the complete cycle

1. The day begins with that first cigarette, often before Joe Smoker is even awake. He's addicted, so he needs that nicotine hit to get himself going first thing in the morning.
2. Joe now has to wash up and get himself ready for work. He can't do it without his "buddy," so he lights up and tries to shave without getting the cigarette wet (it's tough).
3. Now it's breakfast time. Joe eats a quick breakfast, and then, to "finish it off," he has a cigarette. Or else he skips breakfast and the cigarette itself is the breakfast.
4. Joe gets into his car to drive to work, but before he starts the car, he lights a cigarette. In fact, he lights a cigarette at every transition during the day.
5. When Joe gets to the office, the first thing he does is go to the bathroom, smoking on the way since it's the only way he knows to promote "regularity." After he's finished he has another cigarette to "cap off" the transition.
6. Back at his desk before he can get started with his work, Joe Smoker has a cigarette to calm his nerves.
7. Several times during the day, Joe will light up a cigarette to help him concentrate.
8. When the telephone rings, Joe will light up a cigarette before answering to give him strength and concentration.
9. When Joe has to meet with other workers, especially in difficult situations, he'll bring along his "buddy" and light up.
10. If Joe has his head handed to him by his boss, he'll light up to relieve the tension afterwards. If his boss loves Joe's ideas, Joe will light up to celebrate.
11. When Joe takes a coffee break, or whenever he drinks coffee during the day, it is never complete without that accompanying cigarette.
12. On the way to lunch, as a transition, Joe has a cigarette. He has another after he finishes lunch, and a third on his way back.
13. For a late afternoon pick-me-up, Joe has several cups of coffee in a row, each with a cigarette.
14. Back in his car, Joe repeats his morning routine, lighting up before he can get the car going.
15. Returning home, Joe relaxes with a cigarette and a drink. He'll have another cigarette right before dinner and a third with his coffee afterwards.
16. Joe watches TV for several hours before bed, consuming several cigarettes in the process.
17. Joe has a cigarette right before bed, goes to sleep, but wakes up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom and has another cigarette.
18. Joe and his "buddy" have now been together through a full day of automatic behavior responses. We can now start the cycle all over again.

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The NO SMOKE GROWING CLEAN Screen

• When you stop smoking, the nicotine leaves your system within several days. But there's more to the smoking addiction than nicotine.

The individual sections in this program -- like EXCUSES, PROGRAMMING and WHY YOU SMOKE -- give you the backbone and motivation to get cigarettes out of your life. Building this foundation really IS ITSELF the method for quitting for good.

The screens that follow will give you many hints on quit smoking methods that build onto the foundation NO SMOKE creates for you. Use the method of your choice, but keep working with NO SMOKE at the same time to keep yourself going in the right direction. YOU CAN DO IT!

• You have a choice of many methods to quit, but one of the most critical things you have to decide first is whether to choose a method that gradually reduces the number of cigarettes you smoke (tapering off), or one with which you immediately stop smoking (cold turkey).

Tapering off might seem easier at first. It works for some people. But with cigarettes, matches and ashtrays around, you might be tempted to go back to your old ways during periods of difficulty or stress.

On the other hand, cold turkey can be too difficult for some people.

Think carefully about the method that is best for you. In either case, you need to pay attention to what you're doing. Quitting is rarely automatic.

• If you are thinking about using smokeless tobacco in order to quit cigarettes, forget it. You're just trading one poison for another. The same goes for cigar and pipe smoking. They all have their own dangers and they're also offensive to the people around you.
• Nicotine gum alone will not make you quit smoking, but it can help if you're determined to quit, lay the foundation for quitting, and use the gum properly. Nicotine gum gives you your dose of nicotine from the gum rather than from a cigarette. You're still addicted to the nicotine, but you're getting it in a less harmful way.

Before starting the gum, you stop cold turkey -- no cigarettes at all. Your physical addiction to the nicotine is only part of the cigarette habit. So with the nicotine gum, you are free to work on the psychological and emotional sides to your habit without the unpleasant physical effects of nicotine withdrawal. The gum also may work as an appetite suppressant, to prevent weight gain during the first critical days of your quitting program. Later, when you're in better shape, you'll taper off.

• Switching to low tar and nicotine cigarettes in an attempt to taper off nicotine simply does not work as a quitting method.

First, many of these cigarettes are falsely labeled. Tar and nicotine counting methods are unreliable at best.

Second, smokers who crave nicotine, when they switch to low tar and nicotine brands soon begin to smoke more to get that nicotine. Guess what? The tobacco companies sell more cigarettes.

You can't win with the low tar and nicotine scam, no matter how attractive and healthy the people in the advertisements are, and even though they're not cowboys. You know better than to fall for it.

• If you're going cold turkey, rid your home of every sign of smoking: matches, ashtrays, lighters, cigarettes, even smoker's toothpaste. If you must use matches for other purposes, keep them hidden, and completely avoid match books with cigarette advertising on them.

If you're tapering off, keep the above items out of sight. Take what's needed out when you smoke, then put it back after you finish each cigarette.

• Don't ignore cigarette advertising! Do the opposite: pay attention to it. Read every ad, analyze every billboard, very carefully, then take them apart and make fun of their ridiculous attempts to link smoking with desirable people and lifestyles. Make jokes by twisting cigarette brand names and slogans.

Also, refuse to patronize sports and entertainment events sponsored by tobacco companies; these are hidden ways they advertise.

Advertising is a sophisticated industry, and you cannot take cigarette advertising lightly. By keeping your mind consciously tuned to the advertising, you can fight it, and see it for the ridiculous and dangerous thing that it is. If you don't consciously do this, the advertising gets through your defenses and into your subconscious mind where it can hurt you and make you do things you really don't want to do.

• Tapering off cigarettes is a quit method fraught with peril. But if you want to try it, make sure to do it in a controlled, intelligent way. Here are some tapering off strategies that might (and put stress on the might) cause you to smoke less.

---Actually make a schedule as to how many cigarettes you will smoke in a day, and when and where you will smoke them. Write it down, photocopy it, and check off the smoking occasions. If you feel like smoking between occasions, wait until the proper time comes. Be realistic in setting your schedule.

---Don't smoke in comfortable situations, like in bed or while you watch TV. Have the cigarette, but smoke it standing up, outdoors, in the winter cold or summer heat.

---Even if you don't hide your cigarettes, don't keep them too handy. Make sure that you will need to get up and at least go to a drawer for your cigarettes, matches, lighter or ashtray, instead of having them in your pocket or purse. This technique helps you recognize and eliminate some of your automatic "reach for a cigarette" responses.

• Here are some more tapering off techniques:

---Buy cigarettes by the pack, so that each time you need a pack you have to go out to buy it. This helps cut the automatic response pattern.

---Change to a brand of cigarettes you really don't like very much.

---Put your cigarettes out sooner. If you wish, draw a line past which you will put the cigarette out rather than continue smoking it.

---When you feel like smoking, stop and think. Do you really want a cigarette? Couldn't you wait until after you've made that call (without smoking through it) or done a certain (smoke free) chore? Get into the habit of short-circuiting that automatic response and inserting time intervals between the desire for the cigarette and the time you actually smoke it. Keep stretching this period and getting better at going longer without cigarettes. You might still smoke, but you'll be freeing yourself of some bad automatic behavior patterns.

• Try this technique while you are trying to quit:

Ask some of your non-smoking friends or relatives to make a video or audio tape of how they feel about your smoking habit. Ask them to be frank and honest about how disgusting and offensive your smoking is to them, and then add in how worried they are about your health. They can say how they feel into a tape recorder for you to play right before you go to bed.

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The NO SMOKE Your Own History Screen

Some of your answers might surprise you, but all of your answers will help you to look at yourself and your motivations clearly, so you can build a foundation for growing free of the cigarette habit.

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The NO SMOKE Programming Screen

After you zap the robot and fly free to the sky, you will use the "ZAP PROGRAMMING" key to destroy all the automatic reasons why you smoke, one at a time. And of course, you should repeat this section often, to grind it into yourself deeply that you will not put up with being a slave to this programming.

Here are a few examples of the programming you will free yourself from:

• You smoke because you saw adult role models smoking when you were younger.
• You smoke because it once made you feel independent of authority.
• You smoke because cigarette advertising gives you a good feeling.
• You smoke because you relate to the image of people who smoke in movies and on television.
• You smoke because you think it's sexy.
• You smoke because you are too weak to quit.
• You smoke because it makes you feel like an individual.
• You smoke because you relate positively to sports events or concerts sponsored by tobacco companies.

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The NO SMOKE Stressed Out Screen

While the stress relief suggestions are great, the PROCESS of dragging the icon onto the squares is itself a stress relief mechanism. Try it for five minutes!

Here are a few of the methods:

• Method 1 -- Decide on something that really bugs you in life that you can do without. Get rid of it. Perhaps you've taken on annoying social or community responsibilities. Free yourself of the drain.
• Method 2 -- Start a program of light but regular physical exercise. Do five minutes of simple exercises whenever you feel stressed. If you're ready for strenuous exercise, that helps also.
• Method 3 -- Reward yourself with something constructive, better than a cigarette, like a nice hot bath. Get into the habit of looking forward to this kind of reward, dreaming about the reward, then actually giving yourself the reward. Spend money if you have to. Just avoid fattening foods.
• Method 4 -- Eat a balanced diet: protein, fats, carbohydrates. Watch for added sugar. Moderate that coffee, tea or cola habit. Cut out alcohol too. Try to eat mainly natural or organic foods. Cut out additives. Work on carefully planning your intake.
• Method 5 -- Do a yoga relaxation exercise. Lie down and get comfortable. Start tensing your individual muscles, one at a time, then letting them relax. Start with the face, end with the toes.
• Method 6 -- Make a list of everything that worries or bothers you. Keep working on it, perfecting it, revising it. Writing things down helps relieve stress as you write, but also helps resolve the issues you write about. Keep at it and you'll get somewhere!

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