Article: Grahamites

Grahamites were the followers of Sylvester Graham (1794-1851), an American dietary reformer and advocate of what would today be called alternative medicine, although the term did not exist in his day.

Grahamites accepted the teaching of their mentor with regard to all aspects of lifestyle. As such, they practiced abstinence from alcohol, frequent bathing, vegetarianism, and a generally sparse lifestyle. Graham also was an advocate of sexual abstinence, especially from masturbation, which he regarded as an evil that inevitably led to insanity. He felt that all excitement was unhealthful, and as a result his dietary recommendations were not only vegetarian but also inevitably bland, which led to the Grahamites consuming large quantities of Graham crackers, of his invention. One bland American food, white bread, was severely condemned by Graham and his followers, however, as being essentially devoid of nutrition, a claim echoed by alternative medicine advocates and nutritionists ever since. Some Grahamites lost faith when their mentor died at the age of fifty-seven. Other than the crackers, the Grahamites major contribution to American culture was probably their insistence on frequent bathing, and to this day Americans, for the most part, bathe far more than any other people. However, Graham's doctrines found later followers in the persons of Dr. John Harvey Kellogg and his brother Will Keith Kellogg. Their invention of corn flakes was a logical extension of the Grahamite approach to nutrition.

Grahamism was a vegan movement. Graham focused on the sexual urges caused by meat and milk. He claimed animal products caused lustful urges; Grahamism thus rejected meat, animal products, and alcohol to create a purer mind and body. Very popular in the 1860s-1880s, this movement rapidly lost momentum and is now remembered mostly for its Graham crackers.