Quitting smoking is very hard to do. If you succeed the short and long term rewards include improved lung capacity, circulation, greater sense of smell and taste, reduced risk of coronary artery disease, stroke and lung cancer.

BlueCross BlueShield of Central New York and the New York State Smokers Quitline offer seven steps smokers can take in their quest to quit.

Visualize success. Studies of successful quitters show that one of the most important ways to succeed is to believe that they can quit smoking.

Make a plan. Create a daily plan to follow that includes:

• Times when you want to smoke most and things you can do instead of smoking when you have a craving.
• Names of friends and family you can call for support.
• A reward for yourself when you have achieved your goal of being smoke free.

If you are trying to ward off cancer by making a change in your smoking habits, cutting back isn't enough. Cutting out cigarettes altogether is the only way to really protect your health.

Think about this tidbit I found in the March 2007 issue of Woman's Day Magazine.

A 20-year-study of more than 50,000 people in Norway recently revealed that patients who smoked fewer cigarettes -- even those who cut back by half -- were just as likely as heavy smokers to suffer from early death due to cardiovascular disease, cancer, and other tobacco-related problems.

Research published in the international medical journal Addiction showed that moderate exercise, such as walking, significantly reduced the intensity of smokers' nicotine withdrawal symptoms. Just five minutes of exercise can get the smokers past that need for a nicotine fix.

Nearly anything that distracts people from smoking is thought to help, but scientists have long suspected that exercise might have a more potent effect. Exercise could produce a mood-enhancing hormone dopamine, which could, in turn, reduce the smokers' nicotine dependence.

When you're dying for a cigarette, try some exercises or a walk to get past the craving. Remember, if you are trying to quit, a craving will only last about three minutes!

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.

The American Journal of Preventive Medicine issued a report that stated American cigarette warning labels are the smallest and have the least detail printed, making them the least effective.

Other countries such as Canada, Australia, and Britain have warnings that are much larger and include more health information appearing on both sides of the packages. Some countries even have very graphic warning labels printed on their cigarettes.

A study was conducted to see if these larger, more informed labels could make a difference. The study included 15,000 adult smokers in the U.S., U.K, Canada, and Australia to test the effectiveness of the warning labels used in those four countries between 2002 - 2005.

The research did suggest that U.S. smokers might benefit from large graphic warnings on the packages. The U.S. smokers were least likely to notice their American labeling. The researchers also concluded that the U.S. warnings are poor compared to those in other countries.

It is suggested that the U.S. labels need a makeover and putting quit-smoking resources on cigarette packages might also help.

Its never too late to quit smoking, says a new study conducted by researchers at the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston. Its even beneficial if you have already been diagnosed with lung cancer.

The research showed that those who quit smoking after being diagnosed became less severely impaired by the disease than those that continued to smoke. The ability for the person to care for themselves and handle daily routines was increased when they gave up the habit.

Even though the study did not show an increased survival benefit for those that quit, they noted that continued smoking may deteriorate a lung cancer patient's quality of life by starving their tissues of oxygen, which worsens outcomes from chemotherapy and radiation.

Don't ever think its pointless to quit!

When I was first diagnosed with breast cancer almost two years ago, my greatest fear was losing my hair. The fear was consuming, painful, over-the-top. That was long ago -- and I survived. I can look back now and realize that the panic about losing my hair was such a small-scale fear -- compared to what I fear now. Now I fear a recurrence of cancer. And it's a whole lot more disabling than a little worry about being bald.

I have a few techniques for settling my fears when they get out of control. Sometimes I take deep breaths. Sometimes I distract myself and occupy my mind with something more pleasant than anxiety -- like writing, exercising, playing with my little boys. And sometimes I read about others who have come before me and have handled the same distress I sometimes feel about cancer taking up residence in my body again. Mostly I learn from stories of other women who have survived breast cancer. And I learn that I can handle the fear, that I can handle cancer if it does come back. And the women I find most inspiring are those who have had a recurrence -- or two or three -- and who still manage to happily tackle the life they have in front of them. They give me hope that if a recurrence comes my way, I too can conquer it. And here are seven snippets of hope from the book Hope Lives! The After Breast Cancer Treatment Survival Handbook -- from women who keep on surviving breast cancer.