Vor 65 Jahren: John Harvey Kellogg stirbt
Januar 13, 2009 von ALT
Gespeichert unter Lebensstil
Die Menschen in den USA sind verseucht. Nach Ansicht des Mediziners John Harvey Kellogg,hat der Genuss tierischen Fleisches die ganze Bevölkerung von innen vergiftet. Würstchen sind für den überzeugten Vegetarier Ballons voll verwesender Fleischmasse. Kräftezehrender Sex hat alle Energie zudem sinnlos verpuffen lassen. Gegen den völligen Zerfall der Körper hilft seiner Meinung nach nur eins: strengste Diät, verbunden mit Enthaltsamkeit und körperlicher Ertüchtigung bis zum Umfallen.Kellogg wird 1852 im Provinzort Tyrone Township im US-Bundesstaat Michigan geboren. Als er zwei Jahre ist, ziehen seine Eltern mit ihm ins ärmliche Battle Creek, damals die Hochburg der Adventistenbewegung. Die Idee der puritanischen Freikirche, dass gesunde Ernährung zum Seelenheil unbedingt dazugehört, wird Kellogg Zeit seines Lebens prägen. Nach dem Medizinstudium kehrt er nach Battle Creek zurück, um in Schriften wie “Der verkrüppelte Dickdarm” seine Gesundheitsphilosophie zu verkünden. Mit 24 Jahren übernimmt er ein adventistisches Sanatorium, um es zur Gesundheitsfarm umzurüsten.
Während der 67 Jahre seines Schaffens macht Kellogg aus dem heruntergekommenen Hospital einen Tempel der gesunden Lebensweise, den er “Sanitarium” nennt. Hier schwitzt das gehobene Bürgertum der USA an der frischen Luft, lässt mehrere Darmspülungen täglich über sich ergehen, wird mit Elektroschocks, Darmknetmaschinen und Dornenmassierern traktiert – und bezahlt dafür ein Heidengeld. Tarzan-Darsteller Johnny Weissmüller gehört ebenso zu den Bewohnern eines der 400 hochherrschaftlichen Zimmer wie der Milliardär John D. Rockefeller, der Automagnat Henry Ford und der Reifenunternehmer Harvey Firestone. Wirklich Kranke werden vorsorglich abgewiesen.
Für seine Kuren reicht Kellogg 80 Patente ein. Auch die elektrische Heizdecke, der Fleischersatz Protose und Vorformen moderner Fitnessgeräte gehören zu seinen Erfindungen. Lange vor Jane Fondas Aerobic-Versuchen rauben Kelloggs Sanitariumsdamen den Gästen in sittsam langen Kleidern mit Musikgymnastik den Atem.
Für seine Patienten braucht Kellogg Unmengen gesunder Nahrung. Über einhundert Frühstücksfabrikanten siedeln sich rund um das Sanitarium an. Gemeinsam mit seinem Bruder Will aber sucht Kellogg eigenhändig nach der ultimativen Wunderwaffe gegen die falsche Ernährung. Die beiden pressen, wässern und trocknen verschiedenste Getreide – und erfinden so die Cornflakes. 1900 bauen die Brüder für 50.000 ihre erste Fabrikanlage. Zum Zerwürfnis kommt es, als Will Kellogg die Flocken in Abwesenheit des Bruders zuckert. Im Alleingang führt er die Cornflakes danach zum Welterfolg. John Kelloggs Stern ist da bereits im Sinken begriffen: 1933 muss sein Sanitarium Konkurs anmelden. In Zeiten von Krieg und Wirtschaftskrise zählt sein Klientel lieber Geld statt Kalorien. Der Gesundheitspapst stirbt mit 91 Jahren am 14. Dezember 1943 in Battle Creek.
Quelle: WDR2 Stichtag.
A spoonful of sugar helps the Kellogg cereal go down
BY PAM FREIR, TIMES COLONISTJANUARY 21, 2009
In Michigan, at Battle Creek, in 1863, the Seventh-day Adventist Church was founded. Like many nonconformist congregations of the time simple, healthy living was central to their faith.
One of the founders, Ellen White, had prophetic powers. When visiting a hydrotherapy spa in New York state she received a message from above. It was, in essence, “Take this idea and run with it”.
Accordingly, in 1866 the Western Health Reform Institute at Battle Creek opened for business. Guests received two simple, healthy meals a day, plus the water cure. The church flourished, but the Institute did not. Eventually the elders decided that two vital ingredients were lacking: medical knowledge and leadership. They selected a promising teenager from an Adventist family and put him through medical school. In 1875, he was made Superintendent of the Institute, at the age of 23. His name was Dr. John Harvey Kellogg.
Dr. John was a human tornado. He never took a holiday, he worked 15 hour days, and had two shorthand typists on hand at all times to record his thoughts. He made so much money from his writings that he never drew a salary from what was called the Sanitarium. He invented the word.
Under Dr. John’s leadership the Sanitarium became a mecca for the rich and famous, who visited for weeks at a time to have their bodies exercised and their bowels regulated.
The Battle Creek diet was strictly vegetarian and strictly limited. No spices, no meat, no fish, no seafood, no butter, no coffee, no alcohol, no tea, no sugar. Grains and nuts, that’s about it. But Dr. John and his staff worked hard to make these few ingredients interesting to the rich folk.
The “staff” at the Sanitarium was largely Dr. John’s kid brother, Will. Will was virtually a slave. He worked the same hours as his brother, and had to wait seven years before his first vacation. He wrote in his diary “I will always be a poor man the way things are”. They paid him $6 a week.
One of Will’s duties was development of food products. A project for easy-to-digest bread went awry, but produced some nice-looking wheat flakes. The guests liked them, and the flakes went on the menu as Granose.
Will saw this as a way to escape personal poverty, and proposed marketing Granose on behalf of the Sanitarium, but big brother would not agree. He wasn’t interested in making money, he had a higher purpose in life. This higher purpose included frequent travels to Europe to spread the Battle Creek doctrine, and Will based his exit plan on these extended absences.
During the next trip to Europe, Will built a small factory, and began marketing both Granose and Sanitas Toasted Corn Flakes. On his return, Dr. John was livid, but went along with it on condition the business stayed small. Quietly, without asking permission, Will broke a cardinal rule – he added sugar to the Corn Flakes recipe. Sugar! At Battle Creek?
The result was increased sales and increased profits, but Dr. John still owned the business. Will now suggested spinning off the cereal company, with his brother as the majority shareholder. Dr. John, doubtless glad by now to get his kid brother off the premises, agreed. Then he made his big mistake. Frugal by nature, Dr, John began paying some of the Sanitarium staff with shares in the cereal company, from his own holdings. Will watched and waited, then at the right moment – with his brother in Europe once again — he pounced. He bought up the scattered shares, until he had enough to take control of what was now his own company. He was out of the Sanitarium and onto the breakfast tables of the world.
Both brothers lived to the age of 91, and both were high achievers. But when we hear the name Kellogg these days, it’s not the high-flying medical man we think of, it’s Will, the put-upon kid brother who understood that people liked a bit of sugar with their medicine.
pam@gulfislandswireless.com