Front matter

To Jackie, Emily, Harry and Sid, but most of all to the amazing Joyce Carr.

This book is not intended to take the place of advice from a trained medical professional.

ALLEN CARR

Allen Carr was a chain-smoker for over 30 years. In 1983, after countless failed attempts to quit, he went from 60 to 100 cigarettes a day to zero without suffering withdrawal pangs, without using willpower and without putting on weight. He realized that he had discovered what the world had been waiting for – the easy way to stop smoking – and embarked on a mission to help cure the world’s smokers.

As a result of the phenomenal success of his method, he gained an international reputation as the world’s leading expert on stopping smoking and his network of centres now spans the globe. His first book, Allen Carr’s Easy Way to Stop Smoking , has sold over 14 million copies, remains a global bestseller and has been published in more than 40 different languages. Hundreds of thousands of smokers have successfully quit at Allen Carr’s Easyway centres, where it’s guaranteed you’ll find it easy to stop or your money back

Allen Carr’s brilliant Easyway method has been successfully applied to weight control, alcohol, debt, gambling, refined sugar and a host of other addictions and issues.

For more information about Allen Carr’s Easyway, please visit www.allencarr.com

Allen Carr’s Easyway

The key that will set you free

INTRODUCTION

How on earth do you follow up the best-selling quit smoking book of all time? The short answer is ‘with great care’. The rather longer answer is that you apply everything that has been learned and developed over the past 35 years in treating an estimated 30 million smokers in the USA and worldwide – that‘s 30 million smokers set free – and although you might find it hard to believe at the moment, you’re all set to make it 30,000,001.

You have in your hands the most up-to-date, cutting-edge, best-practice version of Allen Carr’s Easyway to Stop Smoking method. This will not only set you free from smoking, vaping/JUULing, chewing tobacco, ‘dip’, ‘snus’ and any other nicotine product but will also ensure that you find it easy and even enjoyable. Allen Carr’s original claim to that effect when he first published The Easy Way to Stop Smoking was met with extreme scepticism, but this special update of the method benefits from the extraordinary track record described in my opening paragraph.

But quitting smoking or vaping is not something that just happens overnight, right? Some people take months or even years and still don’t seem to be completely rid of their desire to smoke or vape. When I was a chain-smoker my attitude was, ‘Sure, quitting would be nice, but I don’t have the time right now and since I’ve tried every quit-smoking method under the sun without any success at all, what’s the point in even trying?’

I led a busy life, I had a successful career, and dealing with the pressures those bring, I felt that cigarettes kept me going as a kind of stimulant, that they were a tool which alleviated stress, helped me to relax, helped me to concentrate and acted as a treat or reward that punctuated my day (as a chain-smoker that was pretty much every 10 minutes!). I was completely convinced that,

in spite of the obvious disadvantages of smoking, I was incapable of living my life without them. Like many smokers who consider themselves ‘hopeless cases’, I’d settled for what I considered to be a short happy life as a smoker rather than what I considered to be a longer miserable life as a non-smoker. My view was, ‘Even if I did manage to quit – what’s the point? Who wants to be miserable for the rest of their life?’

I was very fortunate that somebody did eventually hold the truth up for me to see. Twenty or so years ago, I attended Allen Carr’s original centre in London, England. I was almost defiant in my disbelief that he might be able to help me quit my 80-a-day smoking addiction. I actually attended under duress. I had agreed to go, at the request of my wife, on the understanding that when I walked out of the seminar still a confirmed smoker she would wait at least 12 months before nagging me about quitting again. No one was more surprised or delighted than I (or perhaps my wife) that Allen Carr’s Easyway method set me free.

If I had been more open-minded, I wouldn’t have been surprised at all. By the time I went along, Allen had already helped millions to quit through his seminars and books. The evidence was plain to see, but being a chain-smoker whose entire existence revolved around ‘the next smoke’, I couldn’t see it. I was easily the most hopeless nicotine addict I knew. In hindsight, I can say that part of me didn’t want to see it. It took my own personal life-changing experience to convince me.

For a third of a century, Allen had also chain-smoked 60 to 100 cigarettes a day. With the exception of acupuncture, he’d tried all the conventional and unconventional methods to quit without success. Eventually, like me, he gave up even trying to quit, believing: ‘Once a smoker, always a smoker.’ Then he discovered something that motivated him to try again

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As he described it, ‘I went overnight from 100 cigarettes a day to zero – without any bad temper or sense of loss, void or depression. On the contrary, I actually enjoyed the process. I knew I was already a non-smoker even before I had extinguished my final cigarette and I’ve never had the slightest urge to smoke since.’

It was a revelation to Allen, who immediately realized that he had discovered a method of quitting that would enable any smoker to quit:

Easily, immediately and painlessly

Without using willpower, aids, substitutes or gimmicks

Without suffering anxiety, depression or withdrawal symptoms

Without gaining weight

After using his smoking friends and relatives as guinea pigs, he gave up his profession as a qualified accountant and set up a centre to help other smokers to quit. He called his method EASYWAY, and so successful has it been that there are now Allen Carr’s Easyway centres in more than 150 cities in 50 countries worldwide. Bestselling books based on his method are now translated into more than 40 languages, with more being added each year.

It quickly became clear to Allen that his method could be applied to many other problems. The method has now helped tens of millions of people to quit smoking, stop drinking alcohol, stop taking cocaine and other illicit drugs, and to deal with sugar addiction, overeating and fear of flying, as well as gambling, overspending and digital/tech/social media addiction.

I was so inspired by Allen and what I saw as his miraculous method that I hassled and harangued him and Robin Hayley (now chairman of Allen Carr’s Easyway) to let me get involved in

their quest to cure the world of smoking. Thankfully, I succeeded in convincing them. Being trained by Allen and Robin was one of the most rewarding experiences of my life. To be able to count Allen as not only my coach and mentor but also as my friend was an amazing privilege.

Over the past 20 years, I have personally treated more than 30,000 smokers at Allen’s original centre in London as well as smokers throughout the USA and in every corner of the globe. It’s been my honour to lead the team that has taken his method from New York to Mexico City, from Los Angeles to Moscow, from Milwaukee to Singapore, to Sydney and to Santiago and beyond.

Tasked by Allen with making sure that his legacy achieves its full potential, we’ve taken Allen Carr’s Easyway from videos to DVD, from live seminars to apps, from computer games to audio books, to Online Video Programmes, alway pushing the boundaries to ensure that the method exists in new digital formats as they evolve.

Behind this phenomenal success lies one simple truth – a truth that Allen discovered by chance and passed on to tens of millions of people like me. What connects us all is that none of us expected to be changed in the way that we were. We were all sceptical, all harbouring the same illusions. There is a vast army of smokers and vapers out there still suffering their own private nightmare, believing that they enjoy smoking or vaping, that it provides them with some kind of benefit and that, furthermore, it’s hard or even impossible to quit.

The truth about smoking, vaping or any form of nicotine addiction is kept hidden from most smokers and addicts, and even from many ex-smokers. That’s why some who quit using only their willpower continue to crave cigarettes long after they stub out their final one. They believe they are making a sacrifice, and

are doing without something that provides them with pleasure or support, believing that it helps them to control their weight, to relax, to socialize and to handle stress. Understanding the simple truth and recognizing how it applies to you is the key to escaping the nicotine trap and staying free permanently. But it takes a special method to do that.

ALLEN CARR’S EASYWAY IS THE METHOD THAT WORKS

This book, like all Easyway books, will help you to see the simple truth. It is designed to help busy people who smoke who are already coping with the demands of 21st-century life, and who appreciate clear no-nonsense guidance. It doesn’t rely on guilt, bullying, fear or scare tactics; as you will learn, all those techniques actually make it harder to quit. Allen Carr’s Easy Way to Quit Smoking gives you a structured, easy-to-follow method for quitting quickly, painlessly and permanently.

If you’re someone who vapes/JUULs, uses heat-not-burn products or buys traditional chewing tobacco, ‘snus’, ‘dip’ or any other nicotine product I’ve alluded to already, this book will work for you.

For the most part, in the interests of the flow of text, this book will refer to smoking, so vapers, JUULers, dippers and snusers shouldn’t be put off by the constant references to cigarettes and smoking – virtually every aspect can be related to the use of all nicotine products.

All you need to do is carry on smoking or using nicotine as normal while you read this book. The beauty of Allen Carr’s Easyway is that you don’t quit until you’re absolutely ready to smoke your final cigarette, JUUL, etc

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The responsibility for making sure that our books are faithful to Allen Carr’s original method is mine. It’s been suggested that I describe myself as the author of the books we’ve published since Allen passed away. In my view that would be quite wrong. That’s because every new book is written strictly in accordance with Allen Carr’s brilliant Easyway method. In our new books, we have merely updated and amended the format to bring it up to date and make it relevant for all those who wish to free themselves from addiction today. For example, we now need to provide guidance regarding the use of e-cigarettes, JUUL or the ingesting of nicotine in any form other than by cigarette, cigar or pipe. Nicotine addiction has developed at an alarming pace in the past 35 years.

We also need to cover issues that perhaps weren’t quite as prominent or as well understood when Allen wrote the original book.

Issues such as:

• self-harm

• the impact of smoking on metabolic rate

• how nicotine addiction causes depression and anxiety

• the connection between smoking and weed/grass

• the impact of social media, gaming and streaming channels

are all handled for the first time in this 21st-century version of the method.

Furthermore, issues such as:

• appetite and weight gain

• stress

• habitual smoking/nicotine addiction

• the continued influence of TV and film

s

are all handled in a more contemporary context as well as in more depth and detail than in the original book.

Essentially the method is as pure, as bright, as adaptable and as effective as it’s ever been, allowing us to apply it to a whole host of addictions and issues aside from smoking. Whether it’s alcohol or sugar addiction, gambling or junk spending, fear of flying, mindfulness, digital/social media addiction or even ‘hard drugs’, the method guides those who need help in a simple, relatable, plain-speaking way.

There’s not a word in our books that Allen didn’t write or wouldn’t have written if he were still with us today. For that reason the updates, anecdotes and analogies that are not his own work – that were contemporized or added by me – are written clearly in Allen’s voice to seamlessly complement the original text and method.

I consider myself privileged to have worked intimately with Allen on Easyway books while he was alive, gaining insight into how the method could be applied to every conceivable addiction or issue.

Together, we explored and mapped out the future evolution of the method. I was more than happy to have the responsibility for continuing this vital mission placed on my shoulders by Allen himself. It’s a responsibility I accepted with humility and one I take extremely seriously.

In truth, I didn’t know anything about addiction before I had the good fortune to meet Allen Carr. Not only did he free me from an addiction that would otherwise have killed me a long time ago, but he taught me everything I know about curing addiction: how it works, and how the Easyway method can tackle it, enabling anyone to quit smoking and quit nicotine easily, painlessly and without the need for willpower

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Having worked on Allen’s books for nearly 20 years, I still take pleasure in deflecting all the praise and acclaim straight back to the great man himself: it’s all down to Allen Carr.

I know from happy experience that the benefits of following this method can be life-changing. And now let me pass you into the safest of hands – Allen Carr and his ‘Easyway’.

John Dicey

Global CEO and Senior Therapist, Allen Carr’s Easyway

Co-author Allen Carr’s Easy Way to Quit Smoking

foreword

I was the worst smoker on the planet. Smokers are notorious for burying their heads in the sand. You can continue to do something that you know is harmful and degrading only if you close your mind to the fact. As a result, nicotine addiction becomes a lonely experience. Ironically, for something that is supposed to be a sociable activity, it leaves smokers and vapers feeling they have a problem that is unique to them.

But I can tell you now:

YOU ARE NOT ALONE

As you read this book, thousands of other smokers are doing the same thing – trying to find a cure for their smoking problem.

You have taken the crucial first step of opening your mind to the fact that you want to stop smoking, vaping/JUULing or any other form of nicotine addiction. You have admitted there is something about smoking or nicotine use that makes you unhappy. You may not know exactly what it is yet, but you know it’s serious and you want to find a solution. Whether you stumbled across Easyway or, more likely, were recommended to it by a friend, colleague or unsolicited celebrity endorsement, be reassured: you’re in safe hands, and whether you believe it or not at this point, freedom awaits.

Some people spend their lives trying and failing to quit smoking. Others quit in an instant. If you think that’s because there are different types of smoker, think again. All smokers are caught up in the same trap. I tried and failed on numerous

occasions before I discovered the method that enabled me to quit permanently.

What changed? It was my understanding of the problem. Like most smokers, I believed that cigarettes gave me some sort of pleasure or crutch. I believed this, even though I took no pleasure in smoking and it made me feel miserable. I didn’t realize that I was being fooled; that I’d simply fallen into the most sinister and subtle trap that man and nature have ever combined to devise. A mixture of brainwashing and addiction had led me to believe that smoking provided me with something beneficial or pleasurable.

As soon as I saw through the illusion, my desire to smoke disappeared and I was able to help other nicotine addicts quit easily, immediately and painlessly, without relying on willpower or substitutes, or having to endure any unpleasant withdrawal feelings. I’m going to spend the initial stage of your journey to freedom looking at your understanding of smoking and why you think you do it.

By the end of this stage you will have developed a real understanding of why you smoke, why you’ve been unable to quit until now, how smoking distorts and disrupts your behaviour and what action you need to take to begin your successful bid for freedom.

All you have to do is follow the instructions.

There is no need to stop smoking, vaping or using any other nicotine product or trying to change your smoking pattern before you reach the end of the book. In fact, it’s important that you keep smoking or vaping as usual. Don’t be concerned if the idea of carrying on smoking for the time being makes you happy or if the idea of quitting by the end of the book makes you feel nervous or anxious or miserable

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Trust that this book will answer every single question and resolve any doubt you might have. Trust that it will lead you to a new life as a happy non-smoker. You have nothing to lose from that approach and everything to gain.

Right now, you are still a smoker; so if you feel the urge to smoke a cigarette, go ahead. It’s important that you don’t do anything you might consider to be depriving yourself. I will explain why later on. Likewise, if you haven’t smoked for more than a day or so, but remain hooked on e-cigarettes, nicotine gum or patches, or any other nicotine product, carry on using that product as you have done until now – without attempting to cut down or control your use.

If you quit using nicotine some time ago, there is no need for you to take it up again – just ignore the references to carrying on smoking, and at the end of the book you can confirm that you’ve already had your last dose of nicotine without the need to have a final smoke, vape or chew, etc.

For now, all you need to know is that there is no pain when you quit with Easyway. You don’t need willpower, you just need to follow the instructions and find out how easy it is to get free from nicotine and, more importantly, stay free.

Now, if you’re ready, let’s get started.