Kellogg Corn Flakes and My Dad

Kellogg Corn Flakes was my dad’s favourite snack in the evening. I remember it almost as a religious experience. He would plop down in his arm chair with a full bowl of corn flakes, sugar and milk. It seems that he did this every since I could remember.

Well actually that would not be the way it really was. It may have only been in my later times at home that this regiment took place. But it could have been all my life – because Corn Flakes were concocted as a registered patent on May 31, 1894 – under the name of “Granose”. Corn Flakes sounds better than Granose.

Its inventor was John Harvey Kellogg. In 1875 he graduated from New York University Medical College at Bellevue Hospital.

He and his wife Ella had no children of their own. Instead, they adopted 7 children and raising over 40.

Early in his life he was a believer/follower in the Seventh Day Adventists religion…which was strong on “a vegetarian diet, abstinence from alcohol and tobacco and a regimen of exercise”.

His greatest fascination seemed to be “the bowels” of an individual. In them he believed were the health of the individual – good or bad.

He ran the Battle Creek Sanatorium, a popular form of helping people get better. In the sanatorium setting was good food, exercise and the retreat mode – which would whisk people from their sometimes unhealthy life styles in the city. Doctors and specialists would treat their patients with a variety of methods.

Dr. Kellogg began his concoction of Granose as a solution for constipation from what I could glean. It was to help keep a person regular. The application of chopped/mushed up corn in a solution of cow’s milk should/would do the trick.

A quote from an article published on Wikipedia tells about other forms of keeping people regular… quote…
“Kellogg made sure that the bowel of each and every patient was plied with water, from above and below. His favorite device was an enema machine that could rapidly instill several gallons of water in a series of enemas. Every water enema was followed by a pint of yoghurt — half was eaten, the other half was administered by enema, “thus planting the protective germs where they are most needed and may render most effective service." The yogurt served to replace the intestinal flora of the bowel, creating what Kellogg claimed was a squeaky-clean intestine.

Kellogg believed that most disease is alleviated by a change in intestinal flora; that bacteria in the intestines can either help or hinder the body; that pathogenic bacteria produce toxins during the digestion of protein that poison the blood; that a poor diet favors harmful bacteria that can then infect other tissues in the body; that the intestinal flora is changed by diet and is generally changed for the better by a well-balanced vegetarian diet favoring low-protein, laxative and high-fibre foods; and that this natural change in flora could be sped by enemas seeded with favorable bacteria, or by various regimens of specific foods designed to heal specific ailments.”
End quote…

Well… the idea of eating a half pint of yogurt and then having the other pint planted firmly and squarely up you back side – after having been washed out by several gallons of water applied by a special machine… MADE CORN FLAKES a WONDERFUL alternative.

It wasn’t until 1955 when Norman Rockwell designed an illustration for the front of a Kellogg Corn Flakes boxes… that it became a possibility of a Children’s cereal.

But in Battle Creek’s Sanatorium another breakfast cereal was developed as a result of another person’s stay.

Charles William Post visited the Kellogg Sanatorium because of his ailing health. Having experienced the enemas of Dr. Kellogg and likely with lots of time to think – sitting on a toilet often – he came up with a new idea for a cereal.

Wikipedia states… quote…
He visited the Battle Creek Sanitarium operated by John Harvey Kellogg for his failing health. He was inspired to start his own cereal company based on the products used there.

In 1895, he founded Postum Cereal Co., with his first product, Postum cereal beverage. He was in the vanguard of print advertising and is said to have invented the cents-off coupon. Post's first breakfast cereal premiered in 1897, and he named the product Grape Nuts cereal because of the grape-like aroma noticed during the manufacturing process and the nutty crunch of the finished product.

In 1908, he followed up the Grape Nuts label with a brand of corn flakes first called Elijah's Manna that was later renamed Post Toasties.
End quote…

“Elijah’s Manna”? “Grape Nuts”?

Yep it all had something to do with keeping you regular. Imagine most of what we eat was developed as a relief to most human’s ailment… constipation.

Imagine building a whole business and a fortune on the fact that another human is bunged up?

There is big business in Pooping Regularly. What other conclusion can you one draw. There is also lots of time to re-think your day and plan ahead.

Way back on the farm that I remember was an outhouse. That is a not really a house… it is kind of a small shack that has one purpose. It is a receiver of all things fowl. Having it situated a distance from the house made sure that any fowl odours that might be emitted would waft away before it arrived anywhere near the house.

Side line… the idea of “regular people” at the Battle Creek Sanatorium would have all kinds of secondary side effects as well… and by products being produced… like scented oils and other stuff to make the rooms better to live in.

This morning as I looked into my bowl of corn flakes I had a new appreciation for evolution. My box today has a big rooster crowing loudly – to help wake me up. Yet more of us eat Corn Flakes before going to bed than in the morning. Just like my dad.

Too funny!

~ Murray Lincoln ~
http://www.murraylincoln.com/

Source:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Harvey_Kellogg

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Post_Cereals