You're listening to American Shadows, a production of I Heart Radio and Grimm and Mild

from Aaron Manky.

Reverend Sylvester Graham had a unique perspective on sexual behavior.

Graham claimed that promiscuity had a lot to do with a person's diet.

A while his belief may seem like a stretch.

In the mid-1800s, medicine had barely advanced past bleeding patients to remove whatever

ailed them.

A Graham connected diet and sex while recovering from a long-term illness in 1826.

He spent considerable time thinking about immoral behavior and its root causes.

Although ideals of abstinence before marriage were nothing new to his peers, a Graham noticed

changes in the American diet, and in people's opinions about sex.

And he believed the two were connected.

Graham began to preach that a diet filled with fats and meats and refined flour took

a toll on one's body and soul.

That those who ate these foods were often prone to many illnesses and were generally

more unhealthy.

He reasoned that the more immoral someone was, the more the body suffered.

Heave and others thought sex should be used for procreation and nothing more.

Although in the eyes of the church, an orgasm was required for men during sex, but not

women.

And that was part of the problem.

A women were beginning to stand up for their own points of view.

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