Healthy Foods - Alternatives To Health Fads and Addictions
Fads Do Not Become Wellness
"Wellville" is a book and film that presents the story of the Kellogg Institute clinics in Battle Creek, Michigan. The various diet, exercise, and "treatment" fads used there made the Institute into the laughable "Wellville." Avoid such fads and quackery with healthy foods, a balanced diet, and good advice from licensed healthcare practitioners.
What Is Wellville?
The Journey to Wellville is a historical fiction book and film about Harvey Kellogg, MD and his wellness institute in Battle Creek, Michigan, hone of cereals.
The story provides some exaggeration in healthcare best practices and elucidates fads of the time. It also illustrates some problems with the methods, equipment, and theories espoused at the Kellogg Institute.
Further, the whole concept of a "Wellville" exposes snake oil salesmen and over-the-top scam advertising methods that we still have today. Be aware of them and choose your healthcare options wisely.
- Health: Wellville Revisited
The name Kellogg means food, fads, General Motors, and for some late 20th century descendants, addictions. Now, look at a bowl of Kellogg's Corn Flakes and try to avoid thinking about 5 enemas a day...
Three Things To Adjust For Health
My problems with the Kellogg empire is the history of the institute's programs that compulsively forced daily enemas on patients (I'll tell you how I know that below) and sat them in vats of water in which they were administered mild electrical shocks. Some treatments and programs enhanced clients' health and well-being, while others at best did no harm, and at worst, were torture.
A second problem is the sugar content of all Kellogg's cereals, even what people call the "plain" cornflakes, as opposed to Frosted Flakes®. The plain flakes contain too much sugar. The particular Kellogg cereals considered "health food" by the general population also contain too much sugar. My advice is to use skim milk with them in order to reduce calories and fat - and fresh fruit, but don't add any more sugar. Save the Pop Tarts® for an occasional special treat.
A third situation is the mental health conditions that may have emerged in the Kellogg lineage. Some of the physical and nutritional treatments devised by the Dr, Kellogg were wrong-headed and strange, not to mention unsuccessful - e.g., daily enemas, electrical shocking in water, and prevention of masturbation in boys by circumcision or sewing the foreskin shut, and in girls and women by the application of carbolic acid to the genitals [Plain Facts for Old and Young, 1888, by John Harvey Kellogg, MD], just to name a minority of treatments. A present day relative of the family in my city provided his own system of odd and even unethical mental and physical treatment to clients. I was among witnesses that testified to this, with the result that the individual accepted mental health treatment and follow-up and returned to work in a different career.
Considering this body of evidence, I am pleased to purchase CW Post cereals as healthy alternatives to Kellogg brands, but more often I use store brands containing less sugar, or Shredded Wheat® (now owned by Post), or oatmeal and add fruit and some 2% milk.
(CW Post became an early competitor of the Kellogg cereals after he spent time in the brothers' sanitarium, decided he could make better cereals, and left. )
Unhealthy Fads - Enema Addiction and Resolution
Enema addiction is a real problem. Marilyn Monroe was addicted to frequent enemas as a way toward quick weight loss and abdominal flattening for her Hollywood career.
One theory that persists around her 1962 death is that the barbiturates that killed her had been introduced into her enema bag on the evening of her death. Drugs, in fact, are absorbed quickly by this method.
The Kellogg Institute and its treatment methods were quite famous in my grandfather's lifetime and these methods were used in his home and passed down to my father. These methods became misapplied, because they became compulsive.
Administering daily enemas without giving the human body an opportunity to evacuate itself is not healthy for a 4- or 5-year-old, not to mention their continuation for 10 years, along with forced consumption of daily prunes, prune juice, and laxatives. The result is that the "patient" becomes chronically constipated. In some patients, chronic constipation can require surgical removal of wastes.
Personal experience and working with health clients has taught me that if you or someone you know is using a daily enema regimen, this behavior may indicate an addiction to enemas and their process, or an eating disorder similar to bulimia, anorexia, or over-exercising that controls weight to an extreme degree and can result in death from heart failure and other complications. A qualified health professional should be consulted in these cases.
Colonics
Enemas and colon cleansing are not good alternatives to a health diet that contains fiber. See the link below for additional information.
- Colon cleansing: Is it helpful or harmful? - Mayo Clinic
Colon cleansing is popular among some alternative medicine practitioners who claim it has numerous health benefits. Get the facts before you try it.
Dietary Fiber Importance and Sources
The addition of a healthy amount of fiber to the diet can provide a numnber of benefits:
- Regularity of waste evacuation
- Reduction of colo-rectal cancer risk
- Prevention of colon diseases
- Help in the control of blood sugar levels
- Help in weight loss
- Help in reducing blood levels of cholesterol
Some Good Providers Of Dietary Fiber:
Choose from among these high-fiber foods:
- Fruits
- Nuts - Tree nuts and ground nuts. Be careful of nut allergies, like peanut allergy.
- Seeds - Sunflower, pumpkin, flax, apricot, pepitas, pomegranate, sesame seeds, chia seeds, even hemp seeds. Some people enjoy grape seeds (or extract) and cumin seeds.
- Grains
- Vegetables
- Legumes: Beans, peas, and others
If you are not eating these fiber foods, then consider adding some to your regular diet.
Good Recipes for Fiber
- Healthy Cooking in One Bowl with 8 Top Foods
Woman's Day Magazine alerts us to 8 Stress-Reducing foods that can all go into a single meal..In fact, a just One Bowl and it's delicious! - New Healthy Baked Bean Recipes
Baked beans can be the standard pork and bean variety, or they can be black beans, black eye peas, butter beans, garbanzas and many other types. The following recipes are all different in bean content, and... - Vegan Recipes From North Africa
Some of the best vegan recipes in existence are so delicious that you will forget all about meat. These come from friends and acquaintances in Africa over the years.I hope you enjoy them!
© 2010 Patty Inglish MS