Sylvester Graham

Christian minister Sylvester Graham was an early health-food guru who is best known for the flatbread he created called "Graham bread", although his original recipe bears little resemblance to the kindergarten cookies that carry his name today. He wrote and spoke publicly about the benefit of temperance and vegetarianism, and was a co-founder of the American Vegetarian Society in 1850, the first American organization of its kind. The preferred "Grahamite" lifestyle as practiced by Graham and his followers included a diet with no meat or spices and plenty of unsifted, coarsely ground wheat, no white bread, nothing but cold water to drink, meals at exactly the same time every day, sleeping on hard mattresses, and sex only for procreation.

Books by this Author