When smoke gets in your eyes – and your food

My girl friend and I went to Carpaccio Restaurant on Yakal for lunch. Both of us are super allergic to smoke. We asked to be seated in a non-smoking area and the waitress graciously gave us a nice table near the bar area. Halfway during our meal, we smelled and saw smoke coming from a few feet away from us. The culprits were two Caucasian males seated by the bar in front of us. We called the waitress and asked if we were seated in a non-smoking area and she said yes. We asked her why they allowed these two men to smoke in a non-smoking area and she said they were not allowed so she called the manager. The manager went to talk to them and came back to us and had us transferred to another table. I was so incensed that I told him that if he couldn’t enforce the non-smoking rule in a non-smoking area, he had no right to be a manager. We were in the middle of our meal and he had the gall to move us just because those two inconsiderate white men living in our country refused to follow the rules of the restaurant. They must have seen how mad I was because one of them put out his cigarette and looked at me and said, "Bon Appetit!" After the other finished his cigarette, they both left, and I almost shouted, "Good riddance!" But why should I stoop to their level? I kept my cool even if I was fuming mad. Then the manager went back to us and apologized and offered us dessert which we refused because at that point, we swore never to go back to that restaurant, so why should we even accept his apology or his dessert? The owners of that restaurant should enforce their non-smoking rule in the non-smoking area or not have one at all so non-smokers won’t bother to go to their restaurant. And smokers shouldn’t go to a non-smoking area and bother non-smokers with their toxic smoke. Don’t you think I am right? – Pria

You are indeed right in your sentiments. Smoke is so offensive to non-smokers and super allergic individuals have all the right to get upset with smokers for several reasons: a) they can get sick with asthma, emphysema or cancer as second-hand smoke is worse than first-hand smoke; b) they go to a restaurant to enjoy their meal in a nice no- smoking atmosphere and not get aggravated by rude, ill-mannered and inconsiderate smokers; c) just like the smokers, they pay good money for their meal and for smokers to intrude in the non-smoking area is an invasion of their right to guard their health!

The owners of this restaurant should review this situation and do something so this doesn’t happen again. Lawmakers should pass a law against smoking in non-smoking places. In some countries, this is a major offense and punishable by law. We should do the same in our country.

* * * A Heavy Problem

I was plump as a child, fat as a teenager and obese as an adult. I weighed at least 250 lbs. at five feet and six inches. I belong to a well-to-do family but what good is that if I can’t even stand to look at myself. Because nobody is attracted to me, I take out my frustration on food, food and more food. Which, of course, doesn’t do me any good. I am a talented artist but because of my weight and my preoccupation with my ugliness, I have no incentive to do anything. My parents are frustrated with me, I know that. Somebody told me that there’s hope for obese people like me. That there’s a kind of surgery in the States that makes obese people lose weight and keep it off because they cut the stomach. Do you know anything about this?

Based on research, in the United States, there’s what they call bariatric surgery, or gastroplasty, or gastric bypass. The procedure involves stapling the stomach, as well as circumventing a few feet of the intestines to reduce caloric absorption. It is reputedly safe, reports show that more people die of obesity than from this surgery. These are the dangers of obesity: sleep apnea, heart disease, diabetes, incontinence, uterine and breast cancer, arthritis, gallstones, infertility, poor quality of life, job discrimination. It is advisable that you look into this surgery if money is not an issue with you. It will definitely make you lose weight and not make you gain it back because your stomach can only take in so much food. The doctor also prepares you psychologically and explains how the brain responds to such a surgery. There are so many success stories on this surgery and most doctors and psychologists advise obese people to go for it as the end result is a healthier, better-looking person. If you go into the Internet, you’d find the names of doctors who perform this kind of surgery so you could choose to go where it is most convenient for you. There’s a Filipino doctor in Texas who does it with a lot of success. I read of a doctor in Ramsey, New Jersey, by the name of Rafael Capella, who has done more than 3,000 bariatric surgeries with a very high rate of success. It could be worth your while to check him out on the Internet. He performed surgery on a woman who weighed 350 lbs. and is now down to 137. With this weight loss, she had to undergo cosmetic surgery to take out all that excess skin but it was worth all the pain and expense. With her new body, she is now glowing with self-confidence, has found a job she truly enjoys, and is surrounded by a string of admirers to boot!