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Doctor Sylvester Graham July 5, 1820 – September 11, 1851 A minister and a physician, Graham was interested in the dietary and moral status of the country. He aimed to steer America toward spiritual purity through the use of struct diets and cleanliness. His greatest criticism was being to zealous, often causing women to faint during his lectures on sexuality. His Graham dietary system focused on whole wheat, hard mattresses, fresh fruits and vegetables, pure drinking water, and open windows. Graham believed that a pure diet was the essential aspect in having a pure soul. Graham was especially opposed to the consumption of alcohol and masturbation. In a lecture he gave titled, //Lectures to Young Men on Chastity,// he stated that masturbation “led to insanity” and gave examples of how instituting a diet free of preservatives, spices, alcohol, and other “stimulating and depraving propensities,” could allow a young man to develop his moral sense before his sexual and animal sense. Graham spoke throughout the country bashing white bread, taverns, and red meat. Through his lectures he gained a mass of followers called Grahamites that instituted his diet in organizations and colleges. In a society plagued with disease, the cleanliness required by the Graham system would have helped the masses remain healthy and illness free. Another issue that plagued the times were laborers being ineffective at work because of alcohol. If the government would mandate temperance through prohibition, the country’s economy and productiveness would increase. Also government funding toward the harvesting and milling of whole wheat bread would help eliminate the monopoly of white bread which is filled with harmful preservatives. Finally if more schools and colleges adopted the graham diet, sexual urges could be kept to a minimum and academic performance would increase. His followers, the "Grahamites," found advocates in the revivalist Charles Finney, Transcendentalist Henry David Thoreau, and Mormon founder Joseph Smith. Flannery, Michael A. "Diets and Dieting." //Dictionary of American History//. Ed. Stanley I. Kutler. 3rd ed. Vol. 3. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 2003. 24. //Student Resources In Context//. Web. 28 Feb. 2013. Graham, Sylvester. //Lectures to Young Men on Chastity//. N.p.: n.p., n.d. Print "Silvester Gram." //Silvester Gram//. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Feb. 2013.
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