Borrowing inspiration?

Graham was also inspired by the temperance movement and preached that a vegetarian diet was a cure for alcoholism, and, more importantly, sexual urges. The main thrust of his teachings was to curb lust. While alcohol had useful medicinal qualities, it should never be abused by social drinking. For Graham, an unhealthy diet stimulated excessive sexual desire which irritated the body and caused disease. 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 spices were among the proscribed ingredients in his diet. As a result his dietary recommendations were inevitably bland, which led to the Grahamites consuming large quantities of Graham crackers, Graham's own invention.

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Graham believed that adhering to the diet would prevent people from having impure thoughts and in turn would stop masturbation (thought by Graham to be a catalyst for blindness) among other things. He was a prolific writer and speaker for his cause, which was sternly opposed to "bad habits" of the body and mind. During the 1830s, the diet had a moderate response from the mostly puritanical faction of the American public, so much so that at one point it was strictly imposed on students of Oberlin College by David Campbell (a disciple of Graham's). During the period in which it was enforced, some rebellious students ate off-campus, and at one point a professor was fired for refusing to stop bringing his own pepper for use with his meals.

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Before 1700, medical references to the harmful effects of masturbation were scarce. In the eighteenth century, two works--Ononia: Or the Heinous Sin of Self-Pollution, and all its Frightful Consequences... (by an anonymous author) and Samual Tissot's Treatise on the Diseases Produced by Onanism--introduced concepts that Graham adopted and help popularize (for example, Tissot's idea that loss of sperm under any condition made one sick). Graham's Lecture to Young Men (1834) was the first of its kind and launched a whole genre of medical tracts on masturbation, known then as "self abuse" or "self pollution."

It was here that Sister Ellen White of the Seventh Day Adventists visited on the advice of an angel. And it was here that she received a message from above instructing her to duplicate the Dansville setup and open a two-meal-a-day facility for Adventists. Thus was born the Western Health Reform Institute in Battle Creek, Michigan.

At the time, Battle Creek was the world headquarters for Seventh Day Adventists, a fundamentalist "society of the faithful." Convinced vegetarians, the Adventists followed Genesis literally where it says, "Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed...to you it shall be meat." Known later as the Kellogg Sanitarium or just The San, the Institute was to play a key roll in revolutionizing the American breakfast, making Battle Creek the international Cereal City.

Sister White was a health reform pro when she opened the Sanitarium. Inspired by Graham and Jackson, she had published a book on masturbation in 1864, called An Appeal to Mothers: The Great Cause of the Physical, Mental and Moral Ruin of Many of the Children of Our Time.

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VictorC said:

This would be a good place for Willy to mention heads caving in from self abuse...

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