Maximilian Bircher-Benner facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Maximilian Bircher-Benner
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| Born |
Maximilian Oskar Bircher-Benner
22 August 1867 Aarau, Switzerland
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| Died | 24 January 1939 (aged 71) Zürich, Switzerland
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| Occupation | Physician, nutritionist |
| Known for | Creating muesli |
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Works
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Food Science for All |
Maximilian Oskar Bircher-Benner was a Swiss doctor and a very early expert in nutrition. He is famous for making muesli popular and for promoting eating lots of raw fruits and vegetables. He lived from August 22, 1867, to January 24, 1939.
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Who Was Maximilian Bircher-Benner?
Maximilian Oskar Bircher-Benner was born in Aarau, Switzerland, on August 22, 1867. His parents were Heinrich Bircher and Berta Krüsi. He went to the University of Zurich to study medicine. After finishing his studies, he opened his own doctor's office.
How Did He Discover Raw Food?
During his first year as a doctor, Bircher-Benner became sick with jaundice. He said he got better by eating only raw apples. This experience made him curious about how raw foods affect our bodies. He started to experiment with them.
From his experiments, he began to promote muesli. This dish is made from raw oats, fruits, and nuts. It became a key part of his ideas about healthy eating.
Opening His Health Clinic
Bircher-Benner continued his research into nutrition. In 1897, he opened a special health clinic called "Vital Force." He strongly believed that raw fruits and vegetables had the most nutrients. He thought cooked foods had fewer nutrients, and meat had the least.
Eventually, he stopped eating meat completely and became a vegetarian. Other scientists at the time did not agree with his "new food science." However, many people liked his ideas. Because of this, he was able to make his clinic even bigger.
His ideas about healthy eating became more and more popular. Maximilian Bircher-Benner passed away in Zürich on January 24, 1939.
Bircher-Benner's Nutrition Ideas
At his health clinic in Zürich, Bircher-Benner used a special diet. This diet focused on raw vegetables and fruit to help patients get well. This was very different from what most doctors believed in the late 1800s.
Why Raw Foods?
Bircher-Benner thought raw foods were healthier because they held direct energy from the sun. He suggested that healthy people should eat about half of their food raw every day. For those who were sick, he recommended eating 100% raw foods.
His sisters, Alice Bircher and Berta Brupbacher-Bircher, helped him a lot. They created many tasty recipes using raw foods. This made the raw food diet more appealing to people. Thanks to their help, his clinic became very popular and grew in size.
A Day at the Clinic
Bircher-Benner believed in eating fruits, vegetables, and nuts instead of meat. He also encouraged a simple and active lifestyle. At his clinic in Zürich, patients followed a strict daily schedule. They went to bed early, around 9 PM. They also did physical exercises and worked in the garden.
Every meal started with a small dish of muesli, which Bircher-Benner created. After that, patients ate mostly raw vegetables and a dessert. Patients were not allowed to have alcohol, coffee, chocolate, or tobacco during their stay. Bircher-Benner also suggested sunbathing and taking cold showers. He even used a special medicinal bath developed by an American doctor named John Harvey Kellogg.
His whole idea was about living in harmony with nature. This was a big part of a German movement to reform lifestyles. That is why he named his clinic "Vital Force."
Bircher-Benner's Lasting Impact
Soon after Bircher-Benner died, a second health clinic opened. It was called "People's Sanatorium for a Lifestyle Based on Nature." This new clinic followed all of Bircher-Benner's ideas. In 1939, his original "Vital Force" clinic was renamed the "Bircher-Benner Clinic" to honor him.
Later, in the late 1900s, the clinic closed down. For a short time, it was used as a student hostel. Now, a company called Zürich Financial Services owns it. It is called the Zürich Development Center and is used for training business leaders. It also has a large private art collection.
Today, many types of muesli are sold in stores. These cereals are based on Bircher-Benner's original recipe, which used whole grains, fruits, and nuts. Muesli is now a popular breakfast and snack food in Europe and North America.
Selected Publications
- Food Science For All (translated by Arnold Eiloart, 1928)
- Fruit Dishes and Raw Vegetables: Sunlight (Vitamine) Food (1930)
- Health-Giving Dishes (1934)
- The Essential Nature and Organisation of Food Energy (translated by D. E. Hecht and E. F. Meyer, 1939)
See also
- Raw foodism
