One of the perks of writing for That's Fit and The Cardio Blog is that every single day I am reminded of the health consequences of my bad habits. Just hearing -- again, and again, and again -- exactly how carrying extra weight or eating those horribly addictive Oreos that used to sit in my snack cupboard, or skipping my daily walk to watch reruns of The Sopranos effects my health has truly helped me finally quit several bad habits and create healthier new ones.

I'm telling you this because I am going to write yet another post about smoking and how bad it is for you. If you're a smoker, you know smoking is bad for you and hearing that it's bad for you may annoy you or make you skip this post altogether. But I'm telling you from experience that sheer repetition of this fact will eventually break through your denial and get you to finally quit that pack-a-day habit. So even if you think you've heard it all before, please keep reading.

So here it is: smoking hurts your aorta. It causes inflammation, which can lead to hardening of the arteries, which can lead to aneurysms, which can lead to heart attack and death. You need your aorta -- it's the main artery that carries blood to your body, and when you smoke you damage it. Unfortunately, there are also other diseases that can cause this kind of damage, but smoking is something you can control. Talk to your doctor today to get help "butting out" for good.