What effect does smoking have on diabetes?

Smoking is not good for diabetics. Or non-diabetics. Or children, kittens, ducks, and puppies. The list of damage you can get from smoking is appallingly long, not just the lung stuff you think you know about.

Most importantly, consider this: what kills most diabetics?

If you said “diabetes,” you are wrong and now must go sit in the back of the classroom. Heart disease does in most diabetics. As such, we want to really try and control the other risk factors for heart disease like high cholesterol, high blood pressure, and… yep… you guessed it, smoking.

All of that said, if you’ve just been diagnosed with diabetes I don’t think now is the moment to quit. Most likely your doctor told you “you have diabetes, quit smoking, eat healthy, go to the gym, and avoid stress.”

Right…you're thinking... I’ll get right on that.

But seriously, I’m a big believer in baby-step therapy. I like small, doable, sustainable changes. Trying to re-vamp your entire life is stressful and littered with landmines of possible failure. And I want you to succeed and be healthy.

If you are newly diagnosed with diabetes you’ve probably got a lot of questions, much confusion, and some fear. It will all be OK, I promise you. But you don’t need to add the stress of kicking the habit right now.

You can do that next year.

Smoking is not good for diabetics. Or non-diabetics. Or children, kittens, ducks, and puppies. The list of damage you can get from smoking is appallingly long, not just the lung stuff you think you know about.

Most importantly, consider this: what kills most diabetics?

If you said “diabetes,” you are wrong and now must go sit in the back of the classroom. Heart disease does in most diabetics. As such, we want to really try and control the other risk factors for heart disease like high cholesterol, high blood pressure, and… yep… you guessed it, smoking.

All of that said, if you’ve just been diagnosed with diabetes I don’t think now is the moment to quit. Most likely your doctor told you “you have diabetes, quit smoking, eat healthy, go to the gym, and avoid stress.”

Right…you're thinking... I’ll get right on that.

But seriously, I’m a big believer in baby-step therapy. I like small, doable, sustainable changes. Trying to re-vamp your entire life is stressful and littered with landmines of possible failure. And I want you to succeed and be healthy.