Is eating and drinking for pleasure alone sinful?

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Oftentimes, many of us have occasion to both eat and drink for pleasure alone, even though we may not be hungry or thirsty or even though some food or drink may otherwise have little to no nutritional value.

Is eating and/or drinking without the purpose of doing so for nutritional reasons sinful? FOr instance, is having a glass of wine or beer in the evening even though one is not very thirsty simply to relax a little sinful, since it is not done also for purposes of thirst satiation? Is eating, say, sugary candy as a snakc, even when done in moderation, sinful since such things have little to no nutritional value? Is eating such things as white bread or certain condaments with littel to no nutritional value on other foods because they “taste good” sinful?

I ask this because one could make the comparison between this situation and having sex only for pleasure without marrying, being open to life, etc. Now, I realize that these things are, to some extent, on different moral levels (with this likely being more serious than the current topic under discussion), but I would argue the concept behind the two issues is similar – that is, that the primary purpose of eating and drinking is nutrition/satiation of thirst as is the primary function of intercourse the procreation of children. Sex was created for children as eating/drinking was created for nutrition/satiation. If the Church teaches that sex without procreation is sinful because its primary purpose has been thwarted/is unintended, would not the same apply insofar as eating and drinking? If not, why not?

Indeed, was it not the Angelic Doctor who stated as much in the Summa when he himself suggested similarly with regard to food?

Granted, this was one (though influential) man’s opinion (?). So, does the Church have any teaching (infallible or otherwise) on the topic at hand? If so, what is it? If not, what are your thoughts on this?

Thanks.
 
My thoughts are that you are comparing apples and oranges here.

There is nothing wrong with eating or drinking something in moderation even if you are not thirsty, or if there is no nutritional value, as long as it is not overdone. There is nothing sinful in eating or drinking.

But to compare sex to food or drink and think it is okay just because it is in moderation is not logical thinking since premarital sex is wrong whether it is in moderation or not.
 
Drinking a glass of wine even when you’re not thirsty isn’t a sin because the primary purpose of the glass of wine isn’t to satiate your thirst. It is to improve your mood and relax. And people like the taste.

It might have the secondary purpose of satiating thirst but that generally isn’t the main reason that people drink wine.
 
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Believe me, my question wasn’t really some veiled attempt to justify sex merely for pleasure. It really was about food and drink (the subjects at hand and the topic of this post).
 
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Gluttony is a sin, anything done in excessive is not only sinful but unhealthy… simply drinking a glass of wine or eating a particular food just for pleasure is okay but if it turns you into a selfish, greedy person and that is all you want to do then yes is a sin.

Not sure how to compare that to sex… except that you can live without sex, you can’t technically live without food or drink (meaning water).
 
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We ate Freddy’s burgers two days in a row. Yeah, I could have had rice from the fridge, but that fry sauce is such pleasure! I do not feel in any way this was a sin.
 
MysticMissMisty said:
Believe me, my question wasn’t really some veiled attempt to justify sex merely for pleasure. It really was about food and drink (the subjects at hand and the topic of this post).
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Eating and drinking for pleasure is not sinful.
I don’t NEED to eat an ice cream but I eat it because I enjoy the taste and makes me feel good. Under your thought process I would be committing a sin by eating that ice cream. Frankly, that makes no sense at all.
 

Gluttony​

(From Lat. gluttire , to swallow, to gulp down), the excessive indulgence in food and drink. The moral deformity discernible in this vice lies in its defiance of the order postulated by reason, which prescribes necessity as the measure of indulgence in eating and drinking. This deordination, according to the teaching of the Angelic Doctor, may happen in five ways which are set forth in the scholastic verse: “Prae-propere, laute, nimis, ardenter, studiose” or, according to the apt rendering of Father Joseph Rickably: too soon, too expensively, too much, too eagerly, too daintily. Clearly one who uses food or drink in such a way as to injure his health or impair the mental equipment needed for the discharge of his duties, is guilty of the sin of gluttony. It is incontrovertible that to eat or drink for the mere pleasure of the experience, and for that exclusively, is likewise to commit the sin of gluttony. Such a temper of soul is equivalently the direct and positive shutting out of that reference to our last end which must be found, at least implicitly, in all our actions. At the same time it must be noted that there is no obligation to formerly and explicitly have before one’s mind a motive which will immediately relate our actions to God. It is enough that such an intention should be implied in the apprehension of the thing as lawful with a consequent virtual submission to Almighty God. Gluttony is in general a venial sin in so far forth as it is an undue indulgence in a thing which is in itself neither good nor bad. Of course it is obvious that a different estimate would have to be given of one so wedded to the pleasures of the table as to absolutely and without qualification live merely to eat and drink, so minded as to be of the number of those, described by the Apostle St. Paul, “whose god is their belly” (Phil., iii, 19). Such a one would be guilty of mortal sin. Likewise a person who, by excesses in eating and drinking, would have greatly impaired his health, or unfitted himself for duties for the performance of which he has a grave obligation, would be justly chargeable with mortal sin. St. John of the Cross, in his work “The Dark Night of the Soul” (I, vi), dissects what he calls spiritual gluttony. He explains that it is the disposition of those who, in prayer and other acts of religion, are always in search of sensible sweetness; they are those who “will feel and taste God, as if he were palpable and accessible to them not only in Communition but in all their other acts of devotion.” This he declares is a very great imperfection and productive of great evils.
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Food is fuel for your body. Do you fuel your car after you run out of gas or before you run out?
 
We can enjoy food and drink - it’s aromas and tastes-belly_filling and company

If it were Gluttonous it would be a no-no

Eating too much… is not nominally mortal in the spirtitual sense…

Drinking too much … is IMO potentially more problematic.
 
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thistle said:
Eating and drinking for pleasure is not sinful.
I don’t NEED to eat an ice cream but I eat it because I enjoy the taste and makes me feel good. Under your thought process I would be committing a sin by eating that ice cream. Frankly, that makes no sense at all.
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That’s not an explanation.
 
There was no sin at the Wedding reception at CANA

people Feasted… fatted calves… good wine…

Yes. there are excesses which connect more with love of food and habitual excesses
 
I Timothy 5:22 Do not be too quick in the laying on of hands and thereby share in the sins of others. Keep yourself pure.
I Timothy 5:23 Stop drinking only water, and use a little wine because of your stomach and your frequent illnesses.
Here Paul most clearly encourages Timothy to drink a little wine, but before this verse it tells of not sharing in the sin of others and keep yourself pure. If your drinking of wine is just a little and not for the purpose of debauchery, a little wine will do u good. However, in saying this you have to be careful to not use this as an excuse to allow yourself to drink wine. It is all about your heart. If you know you can’t resist the temptation of drinking more than u should, then dont drink it at all to escape temptation for we all know he effects of too much alcohol. Other than this, u may be a bad example to non-Christians who do not understand that u r drinking a little only. They may take yr example as a model for them to think it is not wrong to drink alcohol. Non-christians would not understand yr intentions. Therefore it is best to avoid it all together bcuz we want to try our best to not fall into sin or cause others to sin. The Holy Spirit will prompt u when u r doing wrong. zif u r ever not sure it is best to not do it bcuz it is not really essential for you to drink wine 😅 😂
 
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