Knowra Sylvester Graham Sylvester Graham Sylvester Graham (1794–1851) was an American Presbyterian minister and dietary reformer who promoted vegetarianism, whole grains, and sexual restraint. His teachings inspired the graham cracker.
Second Great Awakening : A wave of Protestant religious revivals and reform movements in the United States from the late eighteenth century into the mid-nineteenth century. Its emphasis on moral self-discipline helped shape Graham’s reformist message.
Graham diet : A dietary regimen emphasizing whole-grain bread, vegetables, fruit, and abstention from meat, spices, and stimulants. This regimen put Graham’s ideas about health and restraint into daily practice.
Graham cracker : A mildly sweet cracker made with graham flour, named after Sylvester Graham’s dietary movement. The cracker became the most enduring commercial product associated with Graham.
William Alcott : An American physician, educator, and health reformer who promoted vegetarianism and hygienic living. Alcott shared Graham’s reform milieu and helped organize American vegetarian advocacy.
Grahamism : A nineteenth-century health-reform movement based on Sylvester Graham’s dietary and moral teachings. The movement brought Graham’s prescriptions together as a public program.
American temperance movement : A social movement that sought to reduce or prohibit alcohol consumption in the United States. Temperance reformers shared Graham’s belief that disciplined habits could improve individual and social life.
Graham flour : A coarse whole-wheat flour made by recombining wheat bran, germ, and finely ground endosperm. Graham promoted this minimally refined flour as a staple of his recommended diet.
Graham bread : A bread made with graham flour, associated with nineteenth-century whole-grain dietary reform. It was a practical way to make Graham’s preferred flour part of ordinary meals.
Mary Gove Nichols : An American health reformer, lecturer, and writer who advocated vegetarianism and women’s health education. Nichols carried related dietary and health-reform ideas to broader audiences.
Battle Creek Sanitarium : A health institution in Battle Creek, Michigan, led by John Harvey Kellogg and known for dietary and lifestyle regimens. Its later health-reform program illustrates the institutional afterlife of dietary reform.
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