The Waterbury Democrat., 1935-08-06
GOOD BYE TO THE DEFICIENT
 SMOOTH DIET

SMOOTH DIET
 "I could find diets for almost every disease" wrote Dr. Olvarez, but authorities did not always a. gree, and could seldom learn why they approved one food and for bade another. Sometimes a patient would show me several diet slips given him by as many physicians, and as I read the widely different instructions wondered how he, still could retain confidence in the pro- fession. In my perplexity began to examine hundreds of stools to see for myself what substances commonly escaped digestion, and I found that many of the patients who were complaining of flatulence and abdominal discomfort were bringing stools full of coarse, un- digested material consisting mainly of celluloss Vegetable fibre) .. :"
 And so the so-called bland or smooth diet came into popularity though as Dr. Alvarez remarks, the vitues of a smooth diet had been known in the past to many physicians, including Hippokrates. The smooth diet excludes all foods with fibre, skins, seeds or gristle, salads with celery, cucumbers and pineapple, many of the green veg tables, raisins, berries, jams con- taining seeds, nuts, many raw fruits beans, cabbage, onions, peppers, melons, cucumbers, peanuts, sugar, candy, syrups, coarse breakfast foods, shredded wheat, bran, whole wheat bread, pork, smoked fish. Permitted items are orange juice or grapefruit without the fiber in compartments, coffee, chocolate, cocoa or tea, eggs with bacon or ham, white bread, toast, zwiebach with butter, smooth mush such as corn meal, cream-of-wheat, farina, rolled oats, broths, bouillon, cream soups, chowder, purees, meat, fish, chicken, eggs, oysters, crab and lob- ster if you know shellfish agree, bread and butter, hot biscuit if small and crusty, baked, mashed, hashed-bro or French fried po- tatoes, rice sweet potatoes, hominy. stewed strained to matoes thicken- ed with cracker or breadcrumbs. asparagus tips, beets, turnips, cream ed spinach, noodles, macaroni, spaghetti. No salad. Custard,. ice cream, stewed or canned fruits, jello, plain cake, cottage cheese, fill- ing of apple, peach or lemon cream pie may be eaten.
 Such diet has its value in the control of certain acute or passing troubles, but should not be follow- ed indefinitely or for a prolonged time, for it does not provide ade- quate vitamins. If it is necessary to adhere to the smooth diet for considerable time, certainly the diet should be supplemented by a regular daily ration of all the es- sential vitamins in some form suitable for the condition of the patient. Indeed, 1t may well be that m optimal vitamin ration will correct or cure the very condition for which the smooth diet is pre- scribed, for we know that vitamin deficiency of the ordinary refined diet is a factor of many chronic, obstinate astro-intestinal trou- bles.
 quebtlOH IHe SOuHuHcSS OL DTs Alvarcz's observations, Of course there is always considerable "coarse, undigested material in the residue in the intestine, and since that is normal state you can't fairly ascribe flatulence or abdominal discomfort to it. be- lieve the peculiar prejudice of Dr. Alvarez and many other excellent physicians against the use of such natural foods as wheat, particular ly the bran of wheat, is based on flimsy morbid conjecture. Probab- ly most people who try to avoid bran would be greatly benefited If they were removed from the in- fluence of the Alxarez school and required to eat plain wheat and various delightful dishes made fro init in the home.
 QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
 Physiology in High School
 We plan to teach course in High School Physiology next year. We wrote to twenty of the leading publishers and sixteen of them do not publish Physiology textbooks. Can you recommend a suitable text for this course. to be offered