Vegetarian Myth

"Dr. Kellogg appointed Lenna as the Chief Dietitian of the Battle Creek Sanitarium and the Director and Dean of the Battle Creek Sanitarium School of Home Economics. The School of Home Economics began in 1906, offering a one- year course for matrons and housekeepers. In 1907, a two- year course to instruct teachers and lecturers was offered. All courses included training in the Sanitarium’s philosophy of health through “biologic living.” The growing demand for trained dietitians for hospitals led to the school’s development of a two-year comprehensive course in dietetics to be included in its curriculum. Vegetarian nutrition and cooking was the foundation of the dietetics courses taught at the school under Lenna’s supervision. More than 500 dietitians graduated from Battle Creek under her tenure. Lenna became a leading proponent for health care through diet and a pioneer in the field of vegetarian nutrition and dietetics."

A Fleshless Diet. 

Vegetarianism as a Rational Diet. 

By J. L. Buttner, M. D. Frederick A. Stokes Company, New York, 1910. 12mo. 287 pages. $1.35 net.

 Those interested in the scientific investigation of diet which has recently engaged many of our most noted chemists will find this book a ready means of getting at the common arguments in favor of vegetarianism. It is largely a collection and resume of the work of Chittenden, Fisher and others. The author shows that anatomically man is prepared for a fleshless diet, that meat is unnecessary, and that it is unwholesome and dangerous. He suggests a rational dietetic, outlining it for a week and then shows by ergographic records and the tests of Fisher and endurance records the greater value of vegetarianism in practical life. The tendency for disease to decrease with the fleshless diet is shown. The book is not original. It is to be commended for bringing together in a readable form a considerable amount of recent dietetic work. It fails to show scientific discretion in the selection of this material. It will therefore be helpful as a popular presentaton of vegetarianism but will be unconvincing to careful students.

-E. B.

This was very interesting. Six were classed as vegetarians, one of whom was not permitted to run owing to a marked arrhythmia of pulse and generally poor condition. The other 5 did not quite hold their own with the meat eaters, 60 per cent finishing. The greater number ate meat once a day, and of them 65 per cent finished; out of the 10 who ate meat twice a day 70 per cent completed the race. Beef was by far the most popular meat.

Lenna’s first book, The New Cookery (Good Health Publishing, 1913), featured nutritionally balanced, attractive, and palatable vegetarian recipes, most of which were served at the Battle Creek Sanitarium. Many of these unique recipes incorporated innovative nut, wheat gluten, and legume- based meat substitutes, whole grain cereals, and other vegetarian food products that were originally created at The New Cookery (Good Health Publishing, 1913) the Sanitarium. Working closely with Dr. Kellogg, Lenna developed the vegetarian cuisine medical nutrition therapy menus that were served to the Sanitarium’s patients.Because of her multifaceted talents and accomplishments in dietetics at the Battle Creek Sanitarium, Lenna’s reputation gradually became recognized on a national level as a leader in her field. Those early days of training and experience working at Battle Creek gave her a strong foundation in nutritional science that paved the way to an illustrious career.

An article by American dietitian Lenna Cooper printed in 1917 suggested that “breakfast is the most important meal of the day”. The article appeared in Good Health, a magazine published by the Battle Creek Sanitarium in Michigan, which was run by Dr John Harvey Kellogg.

Both Cooper, through her catchy saying, and Kellogg, through the invention of flaked cereal — 124 years ago today — have had a major influence on breakfast in the western world. Cooper, who was mentored by Dr Kellogg and conducted nutrition classes at his sanatorium, was influenced by Kellogg’s food philosophy. In August 1917 she wrote that “less attention is usually paid to breakfast … yet in many ways it is the most important meal of the day, because it is the meal that gets the day started”.

Dr Kellogg would have been dismayed, because he and his protege Cooper had very definite ideas about the first meal of the day. Yet before Kellogg arrived some societies had never bothered with breakfast.