Episode 82
Dr. Kellogg Cereal, Surgery, and Strange Ideas
🥣 The Curious Case of Dr. Kellogg: Surgeon, Cereal, and a Whole Lot of Enemas
When you think of Kellogg, you probably picture cereal—maybe a sweet bowl of Frosted Flakes or Corn Flakes. But the real story behind Kellogg is far weirder than breakfast. It starts with a doctor. A good one. A very strange one.
Meet Dr. John Harvey Kellogg
Dr. John Harvey Kellogg wasn’t just any doctor. He was a skilled surgeon, and even Dr. Charles Mayo—the founder of the Mayo Clinic—called him one of the best abdominal surgeons he had ever seen.
But Kellogg didn’t become famous for his surgery skills. Instead, he became known for his obsession with health, diet, and—believe it or not—poop.
The Sanitarium and the Celebrity Patients
Kellogg ran the famous Battle Creek Sanitarium in Michigan. This health resort attracted celebrities like Thomas Edison, Henry Ford, and even Amelia Earhart. People came there to “cleanse” their bodies with special diets, exercise, sunlight, and—yes—daily enemas.
He believed almost every illness started in the colon. His solution? Flush it out. Constantly. Sometimes, with yogurt. Sometimes, both ends. I wish I were kidding.
Kellogg’s War on Pleasure
Dr. Kellogg didn’t just worry about digestion. He also believed that pleasure—especially sexual pleasure—was dangerous. In fact, he thought masturbation caused everything from bad digestion to insanity.
To fight back, he recommended boring, bland food. No spices. No excitement. Just plain meals that wouldn’t "stir the passions."
That’s how Corn Flakes were born. Kellogg invented them as a food so bland, they might help people forget about sex altogether.
Cereal Becomes a Business
Now, here’s where things get interesting. Kellogg’s brother, W.K. Kellogg, thought those flakes had potential—but they needed flavor. So he added sugar and started selling them to the public.
Dr. Kellogg was furious. He believed sugar was poison. The two brothers fought in court. W.K. won. And that’s why your breakfast cereal today is sweet and not designed to stop anyone’s libido.
What Science Says Today
Let’s be clear: Dr. Kellogg got a lot of things wrong.
- You do not need daily enemas. Your colon cleans itself.
- Yogurt goes better in a bowl than through a tube.
- Masturbation doesn’t cause disease. It’s a normal, healthy part of being human.
- And your desire to eat or love has nothing to do with how spicy your dinner was.
While Kellogg’s focus on exercise and plant-based diets was ahead of his time, his fear of pleasure and obsession with “cleansing” caused more harm than good.
The Strange Legacy
Dr. Howard Markel, in his excellent book The Kelloggs: The Battling Brothers of Battle Creek, dives deep into their story. He shows how Dr. Kellogg's strict health beliefs turned into fads—and how his brother’s sweet-toothed success made cereal a worldwide business. Markel, Howard. The Kelloggs: The Battling Brothers of Battle Creek. Pantheon Books, 2017.
Kellogg's ideas were extreme, but they still echo today. Whenever someone tells you to "detox," do a cleanse, or eat bland food to fix your hormones—they might not realize they’re following a 19th-century surgeon who really hated fun.
Dr. Markel was a medical school classmate of mine, and his book is excellent.
Final Thought
Dr. John Harvey Kellogg was a brilliant surgeon. But being smart doesn’t mean being right. And it definitely doesn’t mean you should give yourself a yogurt enema.
So next time you reach for a box of cereal, remember: your breakfast has a backstory. And it’s weirder than you think.
Transcript
>> Dr. Terry Simpson: Today we're diving into the strange legacy of a man
Speaker:who was by all accounts, including Charlie
Speaker:Mayo himself, you know of the Mayo Clinic, A
Speaker:damn fine surgeon. He was a pioneer of
Speaker:aseptic technique, a skilled operator, but
Speaker:also a man who thought yogurt enemas were a,
Speaker:ah, cure to all your problems. Ladies and
Speaker:gentlemen, meet John Harvey Kellogg.
Speaker:I am your Chief Medical Explanationist, Dr. Terry Simpson. And
Speaker:this is Fork you, Fork University,
Speaker:where we bust a few myths, make sense of the
Speaker:madness and teach you a little bit about food
Speaker:as medicine.
Speaker:Dr. Kellogg ran the Battle Creek
Speaker:Sanitarium in Michigan. This wasn't just
Speaker:a hospital, it was a health mecca for the rich
Speaker:and famous. Presidents came here, Thomas
Speaker:Edison came here, Amelia Earhart and
Speaker:Henry Ford. They all came for Dr.
Speaker:Kellogg's healing regimens. And
Speaker:all of them suffered from overweight like President
Speaker:Taft or dyspepsia. And to
Speaker:be fair, Dr. Kellogg was ahead of his time in some
Speaker:areas. He championed exercise, clean air,
Speaker:bathing. And he was one of the early vegetarians,
Speaker:when most doctors were still prescribing arsenic and
Speaker:leeches. And again by surgical
Speaker:reputation, he was top tier. He'd
Speaker:even trained some at the prestigious
Speaker:clinic in the United Kingdom. He was a
Speaker:classmate of Charlie Mayo. And Charlie Mayo, who was one
Speaker:of the founders of the Mayo Clinic, noted that anytime he saw a
Speaker:scar, he could tell it was Dr. Kellogg's work because it
Speaker:was beautiful, small and complete.
Speaker:In fact, Charlie Mayo said that Kellogg was the best
Speaker:abdominal surgeon he had ever seen.
Speaker:But like a vintage bottle of snake oil,
Speaker:things got weird and fast.
Speaker:Let's talk about colons and their
Speaker:therapy now. Dr. Kellogg was a
Speaker:Seventh Day Adventist, which had a great
Speaker:influence on his thinking.
Speaker:But Dr. Kellogg also believed that 90% of
Speaker:all illnesses began in the colon. Constipation was
Speaker:the root of all things evil. He was the
Speaker:original gut health guy. But instead of probiotics and
Speaker:kombucha, he pushed daily enemas.
Speaker:Yogurt. Enemas, yes,
Speaker:yogurt up the back, sometimes
Speaker:followed by oral yogurt. That's right. He was a
Speaker:two way street kind of a doc. He believed
Speaker:flushing the bowel would rid the body of toxins,
Speaker:increase virility, and his favorite, prevent
Speaker:masturbation. That's right. His
Speaker:war wasn't just against constipation,
Speaker:it was against pleasure.
Speaker:Kellogg wrote extensively, painfully
Speaker:extensively, about the dangers of self
Speaker:pleasure. According to him,
Speaker:masturbation caused everything from epilepsy to
Speaker:acne to poor digestion to early death.
Speaker:All of it one hand in the pants, your
Speaker:Soul was halfway to hell. So he waged a,
Speaker:uh, culinary war on libido.
Speaker:This came from his influence in the Seventh Day Adventist,
Speaker:whose prophet, Mary Baker
Speaker:Eddy, believed that meats inflamed the passions.
Speaker:He believed bland foods could calm the passions. Which is
Speaker:how he got his original invention. Cornflakes.
Speaker:No sugar, no flavor, just
Speaker:bland libido. Crushing cereal.
Speaker:Imagine creating a food so boring, it
Speaker:was meant to extinguish lust. That
Speaker:was his brand. If you think Ozempic
Speaker:is an appetite suppressant, try a bowl of the
Speaker:Kellogg's original flakes. Your hunger,
Speaker:desire and your will to live all
Speaker:disappear by spoonful. 3.
Speaker:Now let's enter his brother. His brother was
Speaker:the younger figure, the bookkeeper of
Speaker:the Kellogg Sanitarium. But
Speaker:his brother was also business savvy and
Speaker:kind of hungry. And his brother, W.K.
Speaker:kellogg, saw potential in the cornflake.
Speaker:But he wanted to sweeten the deal. Literally. What about
Speaker:John Harvey Kellogg? Horrified because sugar was
Speaker:sinful and flavor encouraged moral declay.
Speaker:Well, WK Went rogue. Added sugar,
Speaker:built an empire, and sued his brother to keep the
Speaker:family name on the box. He won. And the
Speaker:rest is breakfast history. Dr.
Speaker:Kellogg's anti pleasure cereal became the sugary
Speaker:staple of American mornings. Precisely the
Speaker:opposite of what he intended. Irony,
Speaker:thy name is Kellogg. So what does science
Speaker:say? Now? Let's start with enemas.
Speaker:Outside of, uh, prepping for colonoscopy or the occasional
Speaker:medical necessity, you don't need one. Your
Speaker:colon cleans itself. That's literally what we call
Speaker:peristalsis is for daily enemas can
Speaker:actually harm your gut. Microbiome and
Speaker:yogurt better when it goes through the top.
Speaker:Preferably with berries, not with tubing.
Speaker:As for masturbation, perfectly normal, healthy, even
Speaker:lowers stress, improves mood, and has absolutely zero
Speaker:link to acne or digestive issues.
Speaker:Unless you're really multitasking. Wrong.
Speaker:And the idea is that certain foods can kill desire. Well,
Speaker:that's more about Victorian era shame than
Speaker:nutritional science.
Speaker:So let's do myth versus the Kellogg
Speaker:edition. Fiber prevents sexual
Speaker:desire. Fiber helps you poop. Your
Speaker:libido has nothing to do with your bowel movements. Unless you're on the first
Speaker:date, your colon needs regular
Speaker:cleansing. Fact, it is self
Speaker:cleaning. You're not a human swifter,
Speaker:Kellogg. Cornflakes were invented for help.
Speaker:They were invented to make you less horrible. Morning.
Speaker:John Harvey Kellogg was a complex man. A
Speaker:brilliant surgeon, a health visionary, and frankly, a
Speaker:zealot. He was obsessed with purity.
Speaker:A body, a mind, a bowel
Speaker:on a good side. He adopted a number of kids.
Speaker:Apparently, he never consummated his own
Speaker:marriage. And that obsession led to
Speaker:ideas that were as bizarre as they were
Speaker:influential. Today, we still live with a
Speaker:part of his legacy. Every time someone drinks a
Speaker:detox tea, swears off spices, or
Speaker:thinks yogurt belongs in the butt, we're seeing a
Speaker:little ghost of Dr. Kellogg float through the
Speaker:wellness culture. So here's a lesson, dear listener.
Speaker:Just because someone's a good doctor doesn't mean
Speaker:all our ideas are good. Even the best
Speaker:scalpel can be used to carve
Speaker:out nonsense.
Speaker:If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe to Fork. You
Speaker:leave us a five star review if you will, and tell your
Speaker:colon we said hi. And remember, eat well,
Speaker:think critically, and if anyone offers you a yogurt
Speaker:enema, walk briskly in the other
Speaker:direction. This episode was written and directed by
Speaker:me, Dr. Terri Simpson. And while I am a board certified
Speaker:physician, I am not your physician.
Speaker:If you're going to make any nutritional changes, please talk with a
Speaker:registered dietitian and a board certified physician.
Speaker:Not a chiropractor and not some eastern train shame. And they haven't
Speaker:cured anybody. All things
Speaker:audio and distribution were by our friends at Simpler
Speaker:media. And the pod got himself Mr.
Speaker:Evotera. Until next time, I'm
Speaker:Dr. Simpson. Stay sharp, stay skeptical,
Speaker:and remember, yogurt belongs
Speaker:to start in the mouth.
Speaker:Hey Ivo, I'm kind of liking some
Speaker:yogurt based smoothies, but
Speaker:I drink them.
Speaker:Oh, thank the gods you didn't make a quip about self
Speaker:pleasure.
