Day 15

The topic of the two week of hunger blog is gluttony. Gluttony is one of the Seven Deadly Sins. According to obesityinamerica.org approximately 25% of people living in the US were overweight in 2001. According to an MSN health report 60% of Americans weigh more than they should. Obesity is defined as overweight by 30 percent of the ideal body weight.

I don't really want to talk about Obesity and deadly sins but I do what to ask when was the last time you heard a sermon on obesity? We are comfortable hearing that tobacco and alcohol can be abused and can be bad but we get a bit squirmy talking about gluttony (especially if your pastor is overweight as well).

When talking with my roommates about this topic, one of which admitted to being an over eater and the other is a fitness buff, they said the most important thing is balance. To quote one of them, "Balance is hard as hell" and she's right. Take the diet soda addiction, she tried to quit a few months back and ended up with a killer migraine just a few hours later and had to drink another soda to get rid of the headache (I understand this well with my lack of sugar headaches I'm still suffering from). But then she couldn't just have one, she has to have many throughout the day because of the addiction. Then the other roommate said that she had supper at a normal time but she was feeling hungry again (at 11pm) and she struggled to not eat right before going to bed even through it's miserable to go to sleep hungry. What are we to do?

If you eat too much you're going to kill yourself (and wind up in hell according to the 7 deadly sins thing). If you refuse to eat too much and overexercise then you risk becoming legalistic and in the extreme of an eating disorder severely damage your body or die. There is no winning in the extremes. But balance is hard as hell. I'm not living balanced as far as food goes for this time in my life. I obsess over food because I'm not getting it, I have sugar headaches that would be ended if only I would sneak a little bite of something every now and then. I go to sleep hungry, wake up hungry, sit in class fatigued, etc.... But what will I do this summer? Maybe I would count calories for a little while as my metabolism readjusts back to the way it was before the experiment. I'll then see how much food how often equals enough energy to maintain health. I can tell you right now, getting at or below 1000 calories a day really isn't that bad. This week I only lost two pounds. I'm already beginning to level. I don't think I'm really depriving my body of anything it needs at this point. It's just difficult living in this culture that is obsessed with food. Everywhere I go food is available. People get together and they have to eat, especially in the church world. We don't need all this food. It just takes a small bowl of a little something three times a day and maybe something with a few extra calories between the meals if you live active. Otherwise, STOP EATING!!! YOU'RE KILLING YOURSELF!!!!! I don't really care if it's a "sin" what I care is that it is sucking the life out of people. And I care that so many hours of our day are spent popping stuff into our mouths when we could be spending it loving our neighbor. (that's actually all I really care about)

The Deadly Sins Website states:
What it is: Gluttony is an inordinate desire to consume more than that which one requires.

Why you do it: Because you were weaned improperly as an infant.

Your punishment in Hell will be: You'll be force-fed rats, toads, and snakes.

Associated symbols & suchlike: Gluttony is linked with the pig and the color orange.

Russia Bishop Ignatius Brianchaninov said, "Wise temperance of the stomach is a door to all the virtues. Restrain the stomach, and you will enter Paradise. But if you please and pamper your stomach, you will hurl yourself over the precipice of bodily impurity, into the fire of wrath and fury, you will coarsen and darken your mind, and in this way you will ruin your powers of attention and self-control, your sobriety and vigilance."

Medieval theologian Thomas Aquinas said of Gluttony: "Gluttony denotes, not any desire of eating and drinking, but an inordinate desire... leaving the order of reason, wherein the good of moral virtue consists." (2, 148, ad 1)

Check out these interesting websites:
Overeaters Anonymous
Deadly Sins (even has a recipe to help you get fat)
No "S" advice to help end gluttonous behavior
The Paradox of Hunger and Obesity in America (a very interesting article)
A book with a great title that I've not yet read:
"Fit Bodies Fat Minds: Why Evangelicals don't think and what to do about it." By Os Guinness