Health lecturer Sylvester Graham (1794-1851) was trying to save shattered lives — not just of women, but everybody who suffered from what Graham referred to variously as “venereal excess” or “aching sensibility.” Graham thought intense physical desire, no matter how expressed and regardless of whether you were married or not, was guaranteed to have dire physiological consequences. He went on to study the human body at Amherst College but dropped out because few people liked him. The crackers were marketed and designed as a diet food to help people cut down on their sexual urges. For how bland his food was, Graham was a bit of a food snob.

Courtney Allison at Today I Found Out writes about how the crackers evolved into our sweet treats: Since the days of the Graham Diet, the cracker recipe has evolved significantly. They swore by the diet’s life-changing impact, gushing in letters that it had healed them of everything from nervousness to headaches and depression. Graham attracted a fair number of followers, who opened Graham boardinghouses in New York and Boston where his dietary regimen was observed.

But Graham’s original crackers were pretty awful to eat. He urged the consumption of fresh fruits, vegetables, grains, and seeds. “It irked men in some of these Northeastern communities. Two of these were the Kellogg brothers, who invented Corn Flakes for the same anti-masturbation reasons as Graham made his crackers. When Did the Girl Scouts Start Selling Cookies? The “Graham Diet” was chock full of simply prepared whole-grain breads and starches with little seasoning. He even predicted his home in Northampton, Massachusetts, would be turned into a national shrine. An insta-graham. White bread made with bleached flour caused “a lazy colon,” he claimed.

Do Not Sell My Personal Information, Your California Privacy Rights They wanna make a sweet first impression. What is the origin of the song “There’s a place in France/Where the naked ladies dance?” Are bay leaves poisonous. They may seem like an innocuous treat today, but Graham crackers were once on the front lines to save America’s soul. How were they supposed to work? The man behind the cracker was born in Suffield, Conn., in 1794. Kellogg also launched Corn Flakes — which went on to revolutionize the breakfast-cereal industry — with those same values. Is it true graham crackers were invented to cure the dread fever of lust? After all, the cracker now represents the opposite of everything Graham stood for: sweet, palpable pleasure. Nabisco now sells two types of graham cracker: Nabisco Grahams and Honey Maid Honey Grahams. Graham was sure his theories about food and sex would be proved correct. Subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher and Google Podcasts. Like many highly religious people, Sylvester Graham (yes, the cracker is named after him) thought the world had a problem with immorality.

To help people follow that diet, he created crackers. Experts grade Trump-Biden mess, Sacha Baron Cohen capitalizes on debate with fake ‘Borat’ Trump endorsement, New CA law spurred by alleged photos of Kobe Bryant crash site signed into effect, CNN cans all but four of its NYC-based makeup artists, © 2020 NYP Holdings, Inc. All Rights Reserved, The Vegetarian Crusade: The Rise of an American Reform Movement, 1817-1921, 89-year-old pizza delivery driver surprised with $12K tip, Ulta takes 20 percent off top-selling beauty products during Fall Haul sale, Disney to release Baby Yoda Lego set to mark 'The Mandalorian' Season 2, Amazon Prime Day 2020: The best early deals to shop now, Score a 10-pack of FDA-certified KN95 face masks for $25. None of those have cured sexual impulses either. A note from Cecil Adams about The Straight Dope. Post was not sent - check your email addresses!

Frustrate, nothing. “He was on a strong anti-masturbation crusade. How did some crime fiction come to be described as “hard-boiled”? But even back then, some people had a beef with the veggie-boosting zealot — including a group of furious butchers and bakers who once stormed one of his lectures, claiming he was bad for business. Sylvester Graham hated sex. Despite the name, most brands of “graham cracker” today use refined white flour. The firm added a hefty dose of sugar and cinnamon and changed the recipe significantly over the years. But mostly they were bland.