Bernarr Macfadden : LC Research/Media Forum : Active Low-Carber Forums

#1 ^

Mon, Mar-16-09, 19:40

burdine88

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Posts: 4

Plan: Atkins
Stats: 225/204/200 Male 74 inches

BF:
Progress: 84%

Bernarr Macfadden

http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-...iest-diet-ever/

I always think it's interesting how ideas come and go and then come back again.

Isn't it funny that this guy back in the early 20th century had it right and very public and then it got buried for decades?

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#2 ^

Tue, Mar-17-09, 09:19

steve41

Senior Member

Posts: 212

Plan: atkins
Stats: 196/176/160 Male 5-9

BF:
Progress: 56%

Location: BC Canada

If, by 'had it right', you mean exercising your butt off and avoiding any kind of food which even remotely seems pleasurable, then I guess he 'had it right'. Can you guess why this regimen never took off?

#3 ^

Tue, Mar-17-09, 09:52

Nancy LC

Experimenter

Posts: 25,866

Plan: DDF
Stats: 202/185.4/179 Female 67

BF:
Progress: 72%

Location: San Diego, CA

It has though, raw veganism is the new fad again.

#4 ^

Tue, Mar-17-09, 10:07

Wifezilla

Senior Member

Posts: 4,367

Plan: I'm a Barry Girl
Stats: 250/208/190 Female 72

BF:
Progress: 70%

Location: Colorado

Isn't it s self correcting problem?

#5 ^

Tue, Mar-17-09, 11:00

capmikee

Senior Member

Posts: 5,160

Plan: Weston A. Price, GFCF
Stats: 165/133/132 Male 5' 5"

BF:?/12.7%/?
Progress: 97%

Location: Philadelphia

Well, I didn't find a lot of detail about what his diet included. Do you have details, steve41?

The 1920s and 30s were a very busy time in terms of health and nutrition ideas. I think they are similar to the present time in many ways. Sylvester Graham and John Harvey Kellogg represented the processed, grain-based camp, and on the other side were meat-fanatics like Weston Price and Vilhjalmur Stefansson. Price was a big dairy promoter - it sounds like Macfadden was too. The breakfast cereals won out back then, but I don't know if they're going to do so well this time around...

#6 ^

Tue, Mar-17-09, 12:26

steve41

Senior Member

Posts: 212

Plan: atkins
Stats: 196/176/160 Male 5-9

BF:
Progress: 56%

Location: BC Canada

Quote:

Anything pasteurized (milk, cheese) is off-limits. Coffee is doubly bad, as it requires both roasting and brewing. Rice, pasta, almost all cereals and soups—nope. All seasonings except a little salt are verboten. The shopping list that I took with me to Whole Foods on my first morning of raw fooding consisted of: organic fruits and vegetables; raw, unsalted nuts; unpasteurized honey; green tea (to make sun tea); some whole grains that could be softened by soaking in cold water; and a few varieties of legumes that I would need to sprout to render edible. This is a process by which beans are moistened and left in the sun to start growing into plants. It is about as appetizing as you might imagine.

He lost me at "coffee is doubly bad"

My exercise regime would deteriorate into "running off a high cliff" after a week of that diet.

#7 ^

Tue, Mar-17-09, 12:50

capmikee

Senior Member

Posts: 5,160

Plan: Weston A. Price, GFCF
Stats: 165/133/132 Male 5' 5"

BF:?/12.7%/?
Progress: 97%

Location: Philadelphia

But raw milk and raw meat are ok? If I remember correctly, raw hard cheese is not subject to import regulations, so Gruyere, for example, should be allowed.

#8 ^

Tue, Mar-17-09, 13:05

steve41

Senior Member

Posts: 212

Plan: atkins
Stats: 196/176/160 Male 5-9

BF:
Progress: 56%

Location: BC Canada

And how long before the death rate spiked due to ecoli contamination (and other pathogens) from consuming raw veggies and unpasteurized dairy? No thanks... we can hardly control this stuff as it is.

#9 ^

Tue, Mar-17-09, 17:42

lil' annie lil' annie is offline

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Posts: 1,276

Plan: quasi paleo + starch
Stats: 153/148/118 Female 5'4"

BF:
Progress: 14%

Quote:

...and a few varieties of legumes that I would need to sprout to render edible. This is a process by which beans are moistened and left in the sun to start growing into plants. It is about as appetizing as you might imagine.

That person has never sprouted Garbanzo Beans, AKA: chickpeas; nor has he tasted raw sunflower seed sprouts.

Both are very tasty!

#10 ^

Tue, Mar-17-09, 17:51

deirdra

Senior Member

Posts: 4,328

Plan: vLC/GF,CF,SF
Stats: 197/136/150 Female 66 inches

BF:
Progress: 130%

Location: Alberta

As a kid we often drove by Dansville NY & I saw the "Castle on the Hill", but I never knew what it was for. There seem to have been a lot of elaborate spas & places like the Athenaeum Hotel (Chautauqua Institution) popping up in NYState ~100 years ago.

#11 ^

Tue, Mar-17-09, 18:10

Nancy LC

Experimenter

Posts: 25,866

Plan: DDF
Stats: 202/185.4/179 Female 67

BF:
Progress: 72%

Location: San Diego, CA

Quote:

Originally Posted by capmikee

But raw milk and raw meat are ok? If I remember correctly, raw hard cheese is not subject to import regulations, so Gruyere, for example, should be allowed.

I don't think they usually eat raw milk/meat.

#12 ^

Tue, Mar-17-09, 22:29

capmikee

Senior Member

Posts: 5,160

Plan: Weston A. Price, GFCF
Stats: 165/133/132 Male 5' 5"

BF:?/12.7%/?
Progress: 97%

Location: Philadelphia

Ok, not raw meat, but if not pasteurized milk, what does he mean here?

The Miracle of Milk by Bernarr Macfadden

Quote:

When we grasp the significance of these facts we can readily understand that it is more milk, rather than more meat, that the people need, and insofar as the production of meat interferes with the production of milk, a great evil arises. Milk is an invaluable food, and every means, not excluding the total elimination of meat as food, should be adopted to increase its use.

#13 ^

Tue, Mar-17-09, 22:45

deirdra

Senior Member

Posts: 4,328

Plan: vLC/GF,CF,SF
Stats: 197/136/150 Female 66 inches

BF:
Progress: 130%

Location: Alberta

Sounds like Bernarr Macfadden never tried milking a wild or non-dairy cow. I never trust anyone who finds "great evil" in normal practices they disagree with.