Does smoking help you lose weight?

I have often wondered about this controversial issue. The people who have given up smoking seem to be getting fatter while the smokers are generally thin. The doctors tell us that we should not listen to old wives tales about smoking. The psychoanalysts among us then move on to tell us that the reasons why smokers put on weight when they kick the habit is that they keep wanted to use the habitual motion of putting hand to mouth. Thus in the absence of a cigarette they turn to food which increases their intake and calorie count.

There are some very foolish people who even go as far as suggesting that it is a good idea to start smoking in order to control one’s weight. These are people who really do not understand the meaning of healthy living. Smoking has such a devastating impact on those who take it that it is very irresponsible to even suggest that it could be a solution to your health problems. This is akin to saying that when you have a headache the solution is to cut off the head itself.
This is the kind of irresponsible talk that has led many teenagers into the grips of a serious weight loss problem without a route towards exiting the trap. How some people come up with such theories is beyond me. However I must say that I have not yet found a satisfactory explanation as to why people who smoke tend to gain weight when they stop smoking. Perhaps one of you guys will have an intelligent explanation which I can public in the blog.

This is an issue that affects us all and I would appreciate any feedback or links to the information sources. I think that if they discovered that smoking really helped to lose weight, they would try to work out something to help facilitate the use of smoking without taking on the well known dangers.

I wonder whether the doctors are just afraid of contradicting one another and that is why they are not providing an explanation about smoking and weight control. I know that medical people have the habit of trying to forget issues rather than confronting the difficult issues. Maybe this is one of them. Anyone who has done research in this area please let me know the progress and we would be grateful for any tips on this rather secretive issue so far.