Diets: Graham

Yes, as in Graham crackers. But it's not quite what you think.

A little bit of background on this: The early 19th century was a time of temperance and Protestant reform in the U.S. In the 1830s, Reverend Sylvester Graham (aka Dr. Sawdust) publicly preached abstinence from coffee, tea, tobacco, and opium while advocating for a healthy diet.* He recommended whole grains, fruits and vegetables, water, and fresh air.

Sounds reasonable enough, right? Well... Graham also preached that spices and stimulants (including meat) lead to gluttony, sexual excess, immorality, and chaos. What??!

His regimen included a limited amount of salt and no pepper. He was also anti-mustard. (I know mustard is divisive, but I love it.) No spices were to be used on animal products, and animal products were typically avoided. He wanted followers to avoid store-bought goods (they may have fillers such as chalk, and that's a fair point).

We often hear that food was better and less processed in the past, but the good old days were not necessarily as innocent as we'd like to believe, and people in the U.S. were just as worried about the food supply and what was provided in stores as we are today.

No beef or pork was allowed on the Graham diet. Yeast breads were problematic. Bran or coarse whole grains were good, but no buttered bread.

Graham also held some interesting beliefs: Only women (specifically, loving wives and mothers, not domestic help) could make healthy bread, and we would never suffer from ailments if our diets were completely natural, i.e., uncooked.

The Graham diet led to weight loss, but that wasn't the goal of this mostly vegetarian - and bordering on vegan - diet. Graham’s focus was on mitigating indigestion (understandable) and promoting temperance (as restraint rather than moderation). Gluttony wasn't about fatness, but greediness. Individuals following Graham's regimen lost weight, but the goals were improved health (mainly gastrointestinal) and what he considered appropriate behavior.

Graham experienced indigestion and poor health himself, and I can understand his search for a different way of eating to feel better. He was a preacher, so I'm not surprised he looked at his diet through a religious lens - and while many religions have dietary restrictions, there is no specific Protestant diet.

The Graham diet is considered vegetarian. Vegetarian diets are generally not problematic and can be beneficial to health (which I'll discuss in a later post on vegetarian diets). However, the Graham diet was restrictive. Restrictive diets can become problematic and are linked to eating disorders, which is why I'm cautious with restrictive diets. Asenath Nicholson ran a Graham boarding house and wrote Nature's Own Book, which includes the typical diet served there. The diet is more liberal than Graham's exacting standards, but it gives you a picture of the restrictiveness of being a Grahamite.

The positives: High fiber with emphasis on whole grains, fruits, and vegetables.

The negatives: Restrictive, which could lead to malnutrition, such as deficiencies in vitamins B12 and D, calcium, iron, zinc, and omega-3 fatty acids.

Would I recommend this diet to a client? I would not recommend the Graham diet. Other diets are less restrictive and can increase fiber, fruit, and vegetable consumption.

P.S. The Graham cracker we know and love today would probably make Reverend Graham roll in his grave!

P.P.S. While it's a laborious read, it's clear that Rev. Graham was very studious but opinionated. I have linked Sylvester Graham's book, "Graham's Lectures on the Science of Human Life," here.

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*References

1. Cratzer, W. (2006). Terrors of the Table. The Curious History of Nutrition. New York: Oxford University Press.

2. Graham, S. (1839). Lectures on the Science of Human Life. Boston: Marsh, Capen, Lyon, and Webb.

3. Graham, S. (1837). A Treatise on Bread, and Bread-making. Boston: Light& Stearns. https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/66331

4. Graham, S. (1837). A Lecture to Young Men on Chastity. Boston, Lights & Stearns: Crocker & Brewster. https://collections.nlm.nih.gov/ext/mhl/7704062/PDF/7704062.pdf

5. Raphael, Rina (2022). The Gospel of Wellness: Gyms, Gurus, Goop, and the False Promise of Self-Care.

6. Schwartz, H. (1986). Never Satisfied: A Cultural History of Diets, Fantasies and Fats. New York, The Free Press.

7. Strings, S. (2019). Fearing the Black Body: The Racial Origins of Fat Phobia. NYU Press. http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctv335kw2p