I write a lot about exercise. That's because it's clear the practice prevents all sorts of illness and disease, including cancer, and I think you should know all about it. I also write so much about the topic so the health lessons pertaining to physical fitness sink deep into my brain because I, like everyone else, need a reminder now and then about how importance it is to stay fit. So, here I am, back with another morsel about this noble endeavor we call exercise.

Think about this:

Making a habit out of exercise may help you stick with a routine you find hard to keep. It can be hard -- to create a ritual in an already-hectic schedule -- but it's possible. Experts suggest piggybacking any desired behavior, like exercise, with already firmly-established tasks. Perhaps you can forgo a shower until you have exercised for the day or watch TV only after you've mastered some endurance training on the treadmill. How about turning a nightly stroll with your dog into a brisk power walk -- this workout will benefit not only yourself, but your pet too. Maybe huff and puff a bit every evening before dinner. Reward yourself with a refreshing fruit salad after every strenuous workout. You get the drill. Now get those tennis shoes on and give it a go!

Source: Canyon Ranch Connection, Spring 2007

According to the American Cancer Society, smoking damages most organs in the human body and is linked to at least 10 different cancers. Smoking accounts for nearly 30 percent of all cancer deaths. Yet one in four Americans still lights up. So how many days are you taking away from the longevity of your life every time you light up.

According to studies on smokers, if you smoke 1 pack of cigarettes a day for 10 years you lose 2 years of your life. If you smoke 2 packs in 10 years time you lose 4 years. If you have smoked one pack of cigarettes a day for 20 years you lose 4 years off of your life and if you smoke 2 packs a day in 20 years you lose 9 years off of your life.

You are just as much at risk if you are breathing second hand smoke. Make the commitment today to quit smoking and live longer or help someone you love give up the habit that strips away years of their lives.

Blogger Kristina Collins wrote on February 11 about three great steps for reducing the risk of cancer. Her suggestions -- eat well, get fit, and stop smoking -- are such good tips and could certainly account for major health changes in those who heed this advice.

Each one of these recommended lifestyle alterations is a major undertaking. And if you're like me and find big, swift, sweeping changes a sure recipe for defeat, then this short to-do list may seem a bit intimidating. So I'd like to offer a bit of my own advice for accomplishing these health feats -- take baby steps.

Kristina has taken baby steps. She first quit smoking -- I'm not sure there's anything small about this success, however -- and now she's taking on membership at a gym. Cutting down on red wine comes next, she says, as she pursues a life driven by health.

I have just recently taken a baby step myself. I stopped drinking soda -- or pop as I called it before relocating from Ohio to Florida. I'd known for some time I wanted to rid myself of the sugar that comes packaged in my favorite drinks -- Dr. Pepper and root beer -- but for some reason, I was dragging my feet when it came to giving up this vice. Yet I did it. I stopped drinking soda, replaced it with water, and now have no desire for sugary drinks of any kind.

I am a creature of habit. I know this because I spent years drinking only water. But when cancer struck, I turned to the carbonation of soft drinks to settle my upset stomach. With time, my stomach stopped bothering me. But I didn't stop drinking soda. I kept drinking it for no other reason than pure habit. And when I convinced myself this practice was not necessary in my life, I cut it out.

Perhaps I'll tackle chocolate next. Or exercising more. Who knows. I'm just happy I accomplished one small task. And I hope you'll consider taking baby steps in your pursuits for better health. Just remember, we didn't hop up one day and start sprinting in infancy. It took years to fine-tune our ability to run on our own. And it may take years to carve out a healthful way of living.

I first discovered Outta Body Mommy Deborah when we were both blogging in the AOL Journals community. I was in the middle of redecorating our home and she was in the middle of building a brand new home. Deborah had posted so you want to build a new home? some of the tips I learned when building a house, and before I got to tip twenty I was reduced into tears of laughter. Here was a woman who understood the intricacies and monumental frustration of remodeling/building a dream home and could take it all, wrap it up in a blog post, and make it all seem easier to handle. She has a way of taking the daily -- the mundane -- the foibles of being imperfectly human living in an imperfect world -- and transform life with her unique perspective into something you can laugh at, understand and finally accept. You claim and wholly own the frayed and tattered edges of how things really are as opposed to how you wish or imagine. When Outta Body Mommy moved to Blogger, I followed the thirty-something mother of three as she enrolled as a full-time college student.

Deborah and her blog have moved again, settling in over at Meredith Vieira's Club Mom, where she has been hired to blog her effort to quit smoking. She knows it's bad for her health and sets a bad example for her children. But in the usual Outta Body Mommy blog style, she is tackling smoking with the same personal voice in writing she has applied to every other aspect of her life. It won't be politically correct, it won't be sugar-coated, she won't write to gain the approval of anyone, and as a result, it will be real. Outta Body Mommy Deborah begins with meet me in the garage.

Several facts about mouth and upper digestive tract cancers have led researchers to develop a specially-designed chewing gum that might eliminate the cause of these cancers. The facts are these: 80 percent of mouth and throat cancers are linked to smoking and drinking; smoking and drinking raises the level of acetaldehyde; acetaldehyde is linked to a greater risk of mouth and upper digestive tract cancers; and amino acid l-cysteine can bind effectively to acetaldehyde to block it from causing harm. From these facts, University of Helsinki and Helsinki University Hospital researchers created l-cysteine-containing and acetaldehyde-eliminating tablets. The first commercial product based on this patented method is l-cysteine containing chewing gum.

"We know that with this chewing gum it is possible to eliminate acetaldehyde totally from the saliva during smoking. We do hope that this will in the future turn out to be a novel method for the prevention of alcohol and tobacco smoking associated oral cancers," states Mikko Salaspuro, professor at the University of Helsinki and Helsinki University Hospital.

The ban to not allowing smokers to smoke in public places is taking hold on a global scale. Finding a place to smoke is becoming increasing difficult, and as Georgina Pattinson of BBC News reports, there is an alternative to smoking cigarettes that appears to be gaining in popularity. Snuff. Like Pattinson, I knew nothing about snuff, so it is was with great interest that I followed her in her feature article to learn more about the resurgence in popularity of this everything old is new again nicotine habit. According to snuff merchants, the sale of snuff is on the rise, with more and more young people giving it a try. It seems snuff delivers far more of a nicotine hit than cigarettes do. Who knew? Not me.

So, what is snuff, and how does one use snuff? Pattinson explains. Snuff is tobacco ground into a fine powder. It can be scented with natural oils, including smells such as attar of roses, cinnamon and mint -- or with more exotic flavors such as whisky, wild mint and camphor. How do you partake of snuff? You insert a pinch up your nose and snort. Like cocaine users do. Oh, you have seen it done in the movies. Pattinson the reporter became part of the story when she gave snuff a try. She observed that sticking a wad of tobacco up your nose is hardly glamorous. But she predicts this snuff activity could catch on. Oh -- I hope not. Here is Pattinson's full reporting of snuffing out the smoking ban.