Q. I need to lose about 50 pounds. I also need to quit smoking. I have found it difficult to do either, and impossible to do both at the same time. So should I lose weight first, or should I quit smoking first? – Eileen, Yarmouth, Mass.
A. Toss the butts first! Not only is tobacco use is the leading cause of preventable death in the U.S. — expected to kill 1 billion people worldwide this century — it’s also the single most important thing you can do to make yourself younger fast.
And if you use our program to stop smoking, you’ll have a leg up on weight loss. Before you quit, you need to walk for at least 30 minutes a day, every day, for 30 days. Why? You need a good habit to replace the bad one you’re shedding. When you get yourself moving every day of the week, you’re in better physical shape and have more discipline, so crushing out that last butt on your quit date won’t be so tough. Neither will weight loss when you tackle that.
Other keys to nixing the cigarettes for good: After promising to quit and setting a quit date, you’ll taper on to quitting (cold turkey is only good the day after Thanksgiving) by cutting back, dumping your matches or lighter, deliberately misplacing your cigs, breaking the nicotine habit with helpful tools including patches and pills (these inhibit cravings for sugar, salt and saturated fat, helping you lose weight as well), and pairing up with a buddy. Get all the details at realage.com. And look what happened to DJ Enuff on “The Dr. Oz Show.” He quit cigs and is getting to be a fraction of his former self.
Q. Dr. Oz has talked about eating grapefruit to burn fat. I have erosive esophagitis, so eating grapefruit sets my insides on fire. What is the best way for me to get the benefits from grapefruit without eating it? – Linda, Safford, Ariz.
A. Citrus fruit has been found to help people shed pounds, possibly by reducing insulin, which helps control fat metabolism. And its scent may inhibit appetite, too. But this fruit is certainly not the only way to achieve fat burn. In fact, grapefruit doesn’t hold a candle to exercise for melting off the pudge off, especially if you do it in strategic ways:
Rev it up. Do heart-pumping exercises — walking, jogging, biking, even dancing — before you train with weights. This allows you to go longer, since you won’t be tired out by weight training. Aim for at least 30 minutes of cardiovascular exercise every day.
Pump it up. Adding lean muscle through strength training helps you burn fat and reduce your waist size, since muscle is a primary energy consumer (read: calorie burner) for your body.
Q. I am 53 and continue to have adult acne. I do drink about five cups of coffee a day. I would hate to give up coffee for clear skin, but I would consider it. Do I have to? – Carol, via e-mail
A. While there’s no scientific evidence that coffee causes acne, there is a link between hot caffeinated drinks and the pimples that occur with rosacea, an inflammatory skin disease characterized by facial redness and breakouts that often are mistakenly described as “adult acne.” Interestingly, the caffeine may or may not be to blame. It also could be the saturated fat in the milk or cream many people use in those drinks. Or, it could be the heat. One study found that coffee served at 140 degrees F caused facial inflammation while a cup of 68 degree F coffee didn’t. So it might help if you cool it down before you toss it back (or toss it out altogether). Stress is a known trigger for rosacea breakouts. If all that caffeine is giving you the jitters, it could very well be the source of your complexion problems. And see your dermatologist. If you do have rosacea, it won’t go away by itself. There are medications and lifestyle changes that will help you feel rosy without looking rosy.

A federal judge in Seattle has ordered a 60-year-old Reno, Nev., man to serve nine months in prison and pay $20 million in restitution to the state Internal Revenue Service for failing to pay taxes on cigarettes.
U.S. District Judge James Robart said Robert Stuber, who owned Cowlitz Candy and Tobacco Co., was overcome by greed. Stuber pleaded guilty to conspiracy and money-laundering charges last February. He admitted that he sold more than a million cartons of cigarettes to the Blue Stilly Smoke Shop near Arlington without paying taxes on them.
In March 2009, three Stillaguamish Tribal members, who owned and operated Blue Stilly, were sentenced to prison for selling contraband cigarettes and avoiding $25 million in taxes. Between January 2005 and May 2007, Cowlitz Candy & Tobacco Co., was the primary supplier of cigarettes to the shop.

A plan to make the new police station on Indian Trail tobacco-free has hit some resistance from aldermen.
The proposal, suggested by the Police Department, would ban not only smoking but all forms of tobacco from the entire 25-acre campus, inside and out. The department expects to be operating out of the new $108 million station by Jan. 11.
The statewide smoking ban already prohibits smoking inside and within 15 feet of the new station. But the new ordinance would expand that to include every aspect of the campus, including the interiors of cars.
The recommendation for a complete smoking ban came from the Police Department and is intended to make the new station more friendly to the public, as well as the environment, according to Cmdr. Joe Groom.
But some aldermen feel there should be at least one designated smoking area for employees. Alderman Stephanie Kifowit, 3rd Ward, said working as a 911 call center operator, for example, is a “very stressful job,” and smokers might need a place to unwind after a tough call.
Alderman Richard Irvin, at-large, agreed, saying that smoking is legal, and “there are folks who have smoked for years and will continue to. It’s a part of their lives.”
But Alderman Lynda Elmore, 10th Ward, jokingly suggested the smoking area should be “in the middle of the detention pond,” and said smoking does not fit with the idea of a green building. The police station was built to strict environmental standards, and Elmore said it should be protected from “smoke and the residue of smokers.”
Alderman Juany Garza, 2nd Ward, was more direct: “Provide nicotine patches,” she said. “They’ll quit.”
Human Resources Director Alex Alexandrou said the city provides programs to help employees quit, and those who smoke or chew tobacco can go to the sidewalk in front of the building or to the park across the street.
Police Chief Greg Thomas said he sent notices to the entire department months ago, informing employees of the smoke-free ordinance. However, as Alexandrou pointed out, the ordinance is more for the public than the police, since Thomas could simply order his employees not to smoke on the new campus.
The City Council will vote on the proposal on Tuesday.

COPS are linking a raid on a Co-op store in Kingswinford with a similar attack two weeks ago.
The latest robbery took place at about 8.30pm on Sunday December 13 in Albion Parade when two offenders wearing balaclavas walked into the store, emptied the cigarette display behind the counter into plastic bins and made off.
This raid is believed to be linked to a robbery at a Spar in Lapwood Avenue at around 9.55pm on Monday November 30.
During that incident two men stole a large quantity of cigarettes from behind the counter. A third man, armed with the axe, stayed outside the doors of the premises, no one was hurt during either robbery.
Detective Inspector William O’Connor, from Halesowen CID, said: “We are working hard to track down these offenders, and are keen to speak to any witnesses who may have been in seen anything from either offence.”

Argentina tops the list of countries that smoke the most in Latin America, consuming 1,014 cigarettes annually for every inhabitant over age 15, the press reported Sunday, citing a World Lung Foundation study. Argentina is followed on the list by Paraguay, with annual consumption of 968 cigarettes, and Chile, with 909, while Peru has the lowest cigarette consumption in the region at 129 annually per inhabitant. European countries, however, are the leaders in cigarette consumption, with Greece consuming 3,017 cigarettes annually for every inhabitant over age 15, followed by Slovenia, with 2,537, and Ukraine, with 2,526. Argentina is the only Latin American country that did not sign the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control launched by the World Health Organization at the start of this decade, an agreement signed by only 16 countries around the world. Signatories agreed to ban tobacco advertising, increase taxes on tobacco products and promote smoke-free environments. Some 33 percent of the adult population, according to a Health Ministry study, smokes in Argentina, where 40,000 people die each year from smoking-related diseases.

Cindy Naugle, a 61 year old garage manager in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, won a $300 million lawsuit against Philip Morris. This was one of the largest tobacco verdicts in the U.S. Ms. Naugle suffers from emphysema and also needs a lung transplant. She had been smoking Benson & Hedges cigarettes since she was 20 years old and finally quit when she was 45 years old. Philip Morris marketed the brand of cigarettes to women stating that it would make them look more sophisticated and grown- up. That is why Ms. Naugle started smoking this brand because she wanted to experience this feeling.
The lawyers for Cindy Naugle said that Philip Morris had committed fraud, knowing that the cigarettes were harmful and were detrimental for your health. Ms. Naugle said that if she had known then about nicotine being an addictive drug, she would have never taken that first puff. Philip Morris did not admit to any wrongdoing in this matter.
In 2006, the Florida Supreme Court ruled that each of these cases must be dealt on an individual basis. This opened the door for thousands of lawsuits against the tobacco companies. The juries for these court proceedings said that the tobacco companies knew that tobacco products were harmful, but promoted them anyway, hiding the risks involved, from the public.