Latest / Fork U with Dr. Terry Simpson / Dr. Kellogg Cereal, Surgery, and Strange Ideas

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Dr. Kellogg Cereal, Surgery, and Strange Ideas · Fork U with Dr. Terry Simpson

• 0:03
  >> Dr. Terry Simpson: Today we're diving into the strange legacy of a man
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  who was by all accounts, including Charlie
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  Mayo himself, you know of the Mayo Clinic, A
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  damn fine surgeon. He was a pioneer of
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  aseptic technique, a skilled operator, but
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  also a man who thought yogurt enemas were a,
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  ah, cure to all your problems. Ladies and
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  gentlemen, meet John Harvey Kellogg.
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  I am your Chief Medical Explanationist, Dr. Terry Simpson. And
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  this is Fork you, Fork University,
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  where we bust a few myths, make sense of the
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  madness and teach you a little bit about food
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  as medicine.
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  Dr. Kellogg ran the Battle Creek
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  Sanitarium in Michigan. This wasn't just
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  a hospital, it was a health mecca for the rich
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  and famous. Presidents came here, Thomas
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  Edison came here, Amelia Earhart and
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  Henry Ford. They all came for Dr.
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  Kellogg's healing regimens. And
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  all of them suffered from overweight like President
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  Taft or dyspepsia. And to
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  be fair, Dr. Kellogg was ahead of his time in some
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  areas. He championed exercise, clean air,
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  bathing. And he was one of the early vegetarians,
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  when most doctors were still prescribing arsenic and
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  leeches. And again by surgical
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  reputation, he was top tier. He'd
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  even trained some at the prestigious
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  clinic in the United Kingdom. He was a
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  classmate of Charlie Mayo. And Charlie Mayo, who was one
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  of the founders of the Mayo Clinic, noted that anytime he saw a
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  scar, he could tell it was Dr. Kellogg's work because it
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  was beautiful, small and complete.
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  In fact, Charlie Mayo said that Kellogg was the best
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  abdominal surgeon he had ever seen.
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  But like a vintage bottle of snake oil,
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  things got weird and fast.
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  Let's talk about colons and their
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  therapy now. Dr. Kellogg was a
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  Seventh Day Adventist, which had a great
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  influence on his thinking.
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  But Dr. Kellogg also believed that 90% of
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  all illnesses began in the colon. Constipation was
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  the root of all things evil. He was the
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  original gut health guy. But instead of probiotics and
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  kombucha, he pushed daily enemas.
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  Yogurt. Enemas, yes,
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  yogurt up the back, sometimes
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  followed by oral yogurt. That's right. He was a
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  two way street kind of a doc. He believed
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  flushing the bowel would rid the body of toxins,
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  increase virility, and his favorite, prevent
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  masturbation. That's right. His
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  war wasn't just against constipation,
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  it was against pleasure.
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  Kellogg wrote extensively, painfully
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  extensively, about the dangers of self
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  pleasure. According to him,
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  masturbation caused everything from epilepsy to
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  acne to poor digestion to early death.
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  All of it one hand in the pants, your
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  Soul was halfway to hell. So he waged a,
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  uh, culinary war on libido.
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  This came from his influence in the Seventh Day Adventist,
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  whose prophet, Mary Baker
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  Eddy, believed that meats inflamed the passions.
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  He believed bland foods could calm the passions. Which is
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  how he got his original invention. Cornflakes.
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  No sugar, no flavor, just
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  bland libido. Crushing cereal.
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  Imagine creating a food so boring, it
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  was meant to extinguish lust. That
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  was his brand. If you think Ozempic
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  is an appetite suppressant, try a bowl of the
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  Kellogg's original flakes. Your hunger,
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  desire and your will to live all
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  disappear by spoonful. 3.
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  Now let's enter his brother. His brother was
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  the younger figure, the bookkeeper of
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  the Kellogg Sanitarium. But
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  his brother was also business savvy and
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  kind of hungry. And his brother, W.K.
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  kellogg, saw potential in the cornflake.
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  But he wanted to sweeten the deal. Literally. What about
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  John Harvey Kellogg? Horrified because sugar was
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  sinful and flavor encouraged moral declay.
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  Well, WK Went rogue. Added sugar,
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  built an empire, and sued his brother to keep the
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  family name on the box. He won. And the
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  rest is breakfast history. Dr.
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  Kellogg's anti pleasure cereal became the sugary
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  staple of American mornings. Precisely the
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  opposite of what he intended. Irony,
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  thy name is Kellogg. So what does science
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  say? Now? Let's start with enemas.
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  Outside of, uh, prepping for colonoscopy or the occasional
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  medical necessity, you don't need one. Your
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  colon cleans itself. That's literally what we call
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  peristalsis is for daily enemas can
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  actually harm your gut. Microbiome and
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  yogurt better when it goes through the top.
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  Preferably with berries, not with tubing.
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  As for masturbation, perfectly normal, healthy, even
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  lowers stress, improves mood, and has absolutely zero
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  link to acne or digestive issues.
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  Unless you're really multitasking. Wrong.
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  And the idea is that certain foods can kill desire. Well,
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  that's more about Victorian era shame than
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  nutritional science.
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  So let's do myth versus the Kellogg
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  edition. Fiber prevents sexual
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  desire. Fiber helps you poop. Your
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  libido has nothing to do with your bowel movements. Unless you're on the first
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  date, your colon needs regular
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  cleansing. Fact, it is self
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  cleaning. You're not a human swifter,
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  Kellogg. Cornflakes were invented for help.
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  They were invented to make you less horrible. Morning.
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  John Harvey Kellogg was a complex man. A
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  brilliant surgeon, a health visionary, and frankly, a
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  zealot. He was obsessed with purity.
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  A body, a mind, a bowel
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  on a good side. He adopted a number of kids.
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  Apparently, he never consummated his own
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  marriage. And that obsession led to
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  ideas that were as bizarre as they were
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  influential. Today, we still live with a
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  part of his legacy. Every time someone drinks a
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  detox tea, swears off spices, or
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  thinks yogurt belongs in the butt, we're seeing a
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  little ghost of Dr. Kellogg float through the
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  wellness culture. So here's a lesson, dear listener.
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  Just because someone's a good doctor doesn't mean
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  all our ideas are good. Even the best
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  scalpel can be used to carve
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  out nonsense.
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  If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe to Fork. You
• 6:49
  leave us a five star review if you will, and tell your
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  colon we said hi. And remember, eat well,
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  think critically, and if anyone offers you a yogurt
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  enema, walk briskly in the other
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  direction. This episode was written and directed by
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  me, Dr. Terri Simpson. And while I am a board certified
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  physician, I am not your physician.
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  If you're going to make any nutritional changes, please talk with a
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  registered dietitian and a board certified physician.
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  Not a chiropractor and not some eastern train shame. And they haven't
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  cured anybody. All things
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  audio and distribution were by our friends at Simpler
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  media. And the pod got himself Mr.
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  Evotera. Until next time, I'm
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  Dr. Simpson. Stay sharp, stay skeptical,
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  and remember, yogurt belongs
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  to start in the mouth.
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  Hey Ivo, I'm kind of liking some
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  yogurt based smoothies, but
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  I drink them.
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  Oh, thank the gods you didn't make a quip about self
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  pleasure.