Laural's Success Story

Laural had tried everything to quit smoking, He had chronic health concerns and couldn't really afford to be risking his health by continuing his habit.

He was still grieving his wife Martha, who died earlier in the year, and becoming quite isolated and lonely living by himself. Laural's daughter, Julie, would visit when she could but lived qute a distance away and had a full-time job and family to take care of, so sporadic visits meant she wasn't able to take care of Laural as much as she would like.

Julie suggested Laural should get some support to quit smoking since he was struggling to do it by himself and it would be better for his health.  Laural was also overweight and was recently diagnosed as being a type 1 diabetic. He was worried that if he quit smoking, he would be bored and have nothing to do. Julie was worried he may start eating more as that happened to her when she quit smoking, and it may increase his weight and trigger more severe insulin resistance and his self-care being affected.

Laural didn't have very many strategies for managing weight. Being a long term smoker meant food wasn't his go to thing when he was stressed. Food can be a comfort as can cigarettes, and right now, Laural was using his cigarettes as a comfort tool to manage his stress and upset of losing martha. 

Having recently lost his wife and put on extra weight, feeling somewhat depressed and anxious about his future, and feeling isolated & lonely, his confidence had dropped considerably. Laural realised he was using cigarettes to maintain a habit in a world where everything was changing for him and needed some sense of comfort and stability.

Before addressing his smoking habit, Laural needed to be resourced to be confident he could manage his weight, eating and appetite okay. Developing some behavioural strategies for managing weight and appetite meant Laural could be empowered with some easy to implement go to ways to avoid unhealthy behaviours and promote healthier ones.

For example,  Laural was not good at cooking or shopping as that was Martha's domain so he asked Julie to help him find a local supplier to have healthy meals delivered on a daily basis which he could pop in the microwave and simply heat up when he was hungry. Then he created an If-Then plan that after eating his meal he would venture out into the local community and take a stroll. 

Laural was supported to make several If-Then plans around areas he thought he would struggle and started to implement these alongside his reduction in using cigarettes. Before long Laural was engaging more with his community as he would meet people on his walks and joined a local walking group so he was developing friendships to walk him each day rather than walking by himself. 

Others in the walking groups would introducing him to other classes at the local community centre and he was spending more time iaway from home which meant his cigarette habit lost its appeal and he soon quit his habit by himself.

Laural lost weight, felt fitter, got his diabetes in check and found he had reversed his risk with his blood sugar, cholsterol and blood pressure levels all returning to near normal for someone of his age.