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Sugar-coated sugar bombs

Posted by Platypus on September 16, 2004

In Reply to: Graham Crackers posted by Bookworm on September 16, 2004

: I got this from an urban legends site and found a few others that claimed the same thing. I might well be true.

: Origins: The Reverend Sylvester Graham, a Presbyterian minister who became a social reformer and a ferocious advocate of healthful living, is the man who put the 'graham' into the treat we now know and love as graham crackers. Sylvester Graham (1794-1851) believed physical lust was harmful to the body and caused such dire maladies in the sexually overheated as pulmonary consumption, spinal diseases, epilepsy, and insanity, as well as such lesser ailments as headaches and indigestion. He also thought too much lust could result in the early death of offspring, who would have been conceived from weakened stock.

: Graham believed a strict vegetarian diet would aid in suppressing carnal urges; to this end, he advocated a regimen devoid of meat and rich in fiber as a way of combating rampant desire. His famed "Graham bread" was fashioned from the coarsely ground wheat flour he espoused and came to bear his name.

It is, of course, no small irony that the once wholesome Graham Cracker became an orgy of sugar, cinnamon, and ultra-refined flour served to millions of american kindergardeners, along with milk adulterated with sugar and imitation chocalate flavoring, each day before nap-time. Do kids still get graham crackers and chocalate milk before nap-time?

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