Health tips for former smokers

If you've kicked the habit, you are to be congratulated and admired. Breaking an addiction to the nicotine in tobacco isn't easy. With each smoke-free year that passes, you lower your odds for heart disease, serious breathing problems and cancers of the lungs, mouth, throat, esophagus, bladder and possibly the pancreas, too. But you may not be in the clear yet. Your heart and lungs are still at a higher risk for disease than those of a nonsmoker for up to 20 years after you quit.

You'll see immediate health improvements shortly after quitting, but the full benefits of quitting take years to reap.

1. Your heart disease risk drops by 50 percent within a year after you kick the habit
2. Your risk for heart disease and stroke fall to the level of someone who's never smoked after 15 years of not smoking.
3. As for lung cancer: after 10 smoke-free years, your risk is about one-third to one-half that of continuing smokers; it falls to nearly that of someone who's never smoked within 20 years.
4. Your skin will look younger and less wrinkled than someone who continues to smoke.
5. You're saving money (cigarettes can be expensive!)
6. Life's little pleasures — the taste of good food, the smell of spring flowers, the sensation of taking in a big lungful of fresh, rain-washed air — are yours to enjoy again.
7. And then there's the big one: lowered risk of most life-threatening diseases.

If you take additional steps to improve your health beyond staying smoke-free, you can accelerate the recovery and end up even more immune to the diseases most linked to smoking.

Tips for keeping this habit at bay:

Be vigilant. Habits and addictions do not die easily. Even if you've been smoke-free for years, it might take just one weak moment to restart your habit.  Always be mindful of the benefits of not smoking and the self-respect you've earned in kicking the habit, and do not let yourself be tempted.

Passive smoking nearly doubles your odds for a heart attack — and may be even more risky for former smokers whose lungs and cardiovascular systems are still recovering from past insults. According to Harvard Medical School expert,  avoiding smoke at home, at work and when you're out socializing is the biggest preventive step a former smoker can take,

These natural foods are packed with cell-shielding antioxidants that further protect against heart disease, stroke and several forms of cancer. Bonus: You get extra vitamins and cholesterol-lowering fibre.

Stay up-to-date with blood pressure and cholesterol checks. Make regular appointments with your doctor in advance, so you don't forget.

Stay alert for signs of lung problems, such as persistent coughing, shortness of breath and chest pain. Tell your doctor right away if you have these.