Is enjoying food a sin?

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Are you eating to nourish the body? Or are you eating for another reason, say like habit or boredom? I have this struggle with my new step daughter. She eats to comfort herself, a sign that there are some very serious underlying problems, not necessarily gluttony, but at times I think so, but serious problems with self esteem, depression, etc. Does the flavor of the food make a difference? Somewhat, but if all she had around her was bland or unappitizing foods, she would still eat to comfort herself. That tells me that it doesn’t matter if the flavor of the food is to her liking, just will it serve it’s purpose, ie comfort. I think we have to be careful here to differentiate between very real illnesses that can mask themselves as gluttony or just plain old hunger vs. gluttony. Also, why would we feel the need to “punish” ourslves with plain or unappitizing foods when we can have tasty dishes? That makes no sense, God is not here to make our lives miserable. If you think God wanted us to deny ourselves you are then saying that appitizing food is the work of satan to tempt us, and I just don’t buy that! There are too many good things that result from appitizing foods, like stimulating the sick to eat to make them healthy, or helping us to appreciate the efforts that the cook has put into preparing the meal for us.
 
Read Colossians 2:16-23 and see if that gives some perspective.

I thinking indulging,enjoying is fine; overindulging is what it problematic.
 
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cynic:
but doesn’t enjoying taste sensation bring us closer to the flesh?
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Often times spiritual directors or confessors will guide their directee or penitent in mortifications of the flesh. These often start out as small things, such as not salting one’s food or abstaining from sugar. Salt and sugar and whatever other spices are totally fine to use on a regular basis, though they have potential to use toward sacrifice if one is willing and called to do so. If someone would like to make the sacrifice of flavored food, then they are certainly welcome to do so and offer it up to the Lord.
 
Another aside - what if one is eating both because they are hungry and eating for comfort? I tend to eat chocolate for comfort reasons occasionally, but only when I am hungry (and not when I am hungry enough for a meal). So is it wrong to eat chocolate icing when one is kinda hungry

I doubt anyone could call me on anything of my eating being a sin, despite the fact that I thoroughly enjoy my food, because I cannot make myself eat when I am not hungry (much to my mother the nurse’s aggrivation at times for her fear that I don’t eat enough on some days)
 
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cynic:
but doesn’t enjoying taste sensation bring us closer to the flesh?
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The flesh is very good. Don’t get trapped by this old Manichaen idea that all things flesh are evil. That’s not the case at all. We are not to shut out all pleasure from our bodies, rather to indulge our desires in moderation. We are to take in the goodness of creation and recognize that we are corporeal and spiritual beings. You cannot divorce the spirit from the flesh. Our flesh is the outward expression of our soul. We must keep it from impurity, but we must also love our flesh, because Christ became flesh. Our flesh images God

It is possible to seek things that appeal to the flesh but are harmful for the spirit, but eating something that tastes good does not threaten the life of the spirit.

I hope that helps. God bless!
 
Gal 5: 17

“For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other…”

?
 
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cynic:
but doesn’t enjoying taste sensation bring us closer to the flesh?
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As someone married to a chef, I feel qualified to answer this.

Answer: only if you let it.

Eating delicious food in moderation is sharing in a wonderful gift. My husband’s skill with food is one to be appreciated just like any other gift from God.
 
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cynic:
Gal 5: 17

“For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other…”

?
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The key word there is “lusteth.” This passage is speaking against a disordered desire. This is backed up by the rest of the passage,

5:19-21 “Now the works of the flesh are obvious: immorality, impurity, licentiousness, idolatry, sorcery, hatreds, rivalry, jealousy, outbursts of fury, acts of selfishness, dissensions, factions, occasions of envy, drinking bouts, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.”

Where on earth would eating ice cream fall in there?

I would instead point you to the true dignity of the flesh:
Jn. 1:1-5,10-14
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came to be through him, and without him nothing came to be. What came to be through him was life, and this life was the light of the human race; the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. He was in the world, and the world came to be through him, but the world did not know him. He came to what was his own, but his own people did not accept him. But to those who did accept him he gave power to become children of God, to those who believe in his name, who were born not by natural generation nor by human choice nor by a man’s decision but of God. And the Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us, and we saw his glory, the glory as of the Father’s only Son, full of grace and truth.”

and…

Gen. 1:26-28
"Then God said: “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. Let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, the birds of the air, and the cattle, and over all the wild animals and all the creatures that crawl on the ground.” God created man in his image; in the divine image he created him; male and female he created them. God blessed them, saying: “Be fertile and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it. Have dominion over the fish of the sea, the birds of the air, and all the living things that move on the earth.”

You see, the flesh preexists the fall. The flesh came before the fall. If the flesh existed in paradise, it could not possibly be evil in and of itself. That would somehow make God evil. No, God is not evil, nor is the flesh. God created the flesh and the flesh has so much dignity that God himself entered into the flesh.

So what does that mean for our current debate? Something that satisfies the flesh in a nondisordered way is not in itself evil. It is only from the heart that evil comes. If you make the pleasure associated with food your idol, you are committing evil. If you appreciate in a nondisordered way the pleasure God has associated with food, you are not committing evil. Remember, evil comes from within, not from without.

Mt. 15:17-20 “Do you not realize that everything that enters the mouth passes into the stomach and is expelled into the latrine? But the things that come out of the mouth come from the heart, and they defile. For from the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, unchastity, theft, false witness, blasphemy. These are what defile a person, but to eat with unwashed hands does not defile.”
 
sorry if this is basically a repeat of what someone else may have said.

no its not a sin to enjoy your food. likewise it is not a sin to enjoy sex.

it is a sin to enjoy food and then deny your body the natural consequence of eating, which is nourisment. likewise it is a sin to enjoy the pleasure of sex and then deny the natural consequences of the act.

im pretty sure this is what you were getting at.
 
To Cynic.
How many times do you want to hear posters tell you enjoying eating is not a sin before you get the message. IT IS NOT A SIN!!!
Also trying link enjoying food to lusting after the flesh is just being ridiculous.
 
Church leaders from the Middle Ages (e.g., St. Gregory the Great, St. Thomas Aquinas) took a more expansive view of gluttony, arguing that it also consists of an anticipation of meals, the eating of delicacies, and costly foods, seeking after sauces and seasonings, and eating too eagerly.[2]

St. Gregory the Great, a doctor of the Church, described five ways by which one can commit sin of gluttony, and corresponding biblical examples for each of them:[3]
  1. Eating before the time of meals in order to satisfy the palate.

    Biblical example: Jonathan eating a little honey, when his father Saul commanded no food to be taken before the evening.[1Sa 14:29]
  2. Seeking delicacies and better quality of food to gratify the “vile sense of taste.”

    Biblical example: When Israelites escaping from Egypt complained, “Who shall give us flesh to eat ? We remember the fish which we did eat in Egypt freely ; the cucumbers and the melons, and the leeks and the onions and the garlic,” God rained fowls for them to eat but punished them 500 years later.[Num 11:4]
  3. Seeking after sauces and seasonings for the enjoyment of the palate.

    Biblical example: Two sons of Eli the high priest made the sacrificial meat to be cooked in one manner rather than another. They were met with death.[1Sa 4:11]
  4. Exceeding the necessary amount of food.

    Biblical example: One of the sins of Sodom was “fullness of bread.”[Eze 16:49]
  5. Taking food with too much eagerness, even when eating the proper amount, and even if the food is not luxurious.

    Biblical example: Esau selling his birthright for ordinary food of bread and pottage of lentils. His punishment was that the “profane person . . . who, for a morsel of meat sold his birthright,” we learn that " he found no place for repentance, though he sought it carefully, with tears." [Gen 25:30]

    The fifth way is worse than all others, said St. Gregory, because it shows attachment to pleasure most clearly. To recapitulate, St Gregory the Great said that one may succumb to the sin of gluttony by: 1. Time (when); 2. Quality; 3. Stimulants; 4. Quantity; 5. Eagerness
In his Summa Theologica (Part 2-2, Question 148, Article 4), St. Thomas Aquinas reiterated the list of five ways to commit gluttony:
Code: 
* Laute - eating food that is too luxurious, exotic, or costly
* Nimis - eating food that is excessive in quantity
* Studiose - eating food that is too daintily or elaborately prepared
* Praepropere - eating too soon, or at an inappropriate time
* Ardenter - eating too eagerly.
Aquinas notes that the first three ways are related to the nature of the food itself, while the last two have to do with the time or manner in which it is consumed

SO THE NEXT TIME YOU SAY “YUMMY IT’S SO DELICIOUS” YOU ARE COMMITTING A SIN:tsktsk:
 
Catechism:

1809 Temperance is the moral virtue that moderates the attraction of pleasures and provides balance in the use of created goods. It ensures the will’s mastery over instincts and keeps desires within the limits of what is honorable. the temperate person directs the sensitive appetites toward what is good and maintains a healthy discretion: "Do not follow your inclination and strength, walking according to the desires of your heart."72 Temperance is often praised in the Old Testament: "Do not follow your base desires, but restrain your appetites."73 In the New Testament it is called “moderation” or “sobriety.” We ought "to live sober, upright, and godly lives in this world."74
 
Yes there can be sins in eating…

but the fact that you enjoy say Mexican food…is not in itself a sin…
 
mikefox, please read the rules which forbid dragging up old threads for further discussion. This is from 2005. If you feel the need to discuss this, please start a new thread.
 
cynic said:
tanks for your reply thats not really the question. Rather is savouring (not overeating) a sin because it is a carnal pleasure?
Budhists monks and Hari Krisnas for example, believe that food and drink should be unflavoured, unsweetened, to minimize the carnal enjoyment gotten from eating.
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Actually, I think your question may be related to gluttony according to St. Thomas Aquinas. Here is a link that discusses the 6 ways to commit the sin of gluttony.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gluttony

From this link, you will find the following list of the 6 ways to be a glutton:

*In his Summa Theologica (Part 2-2, Question 148, Article 4), St. Thomas Aquinas reiterated the list of five ways to commit gluttony:

Laute - eating food that is too luxurious, exotic, or costly
Nimis - eating food that is excessive in quantity
Studiose - eating food that is too daintily or elaborately prepared
Praepropere - eating too soon, or at an inappropriate time
Ardenter - eating too eagerly.*

I hope this helps. This topic is near and dear to my heart as I often worry about committing the sin of gluttony.

houston1
 
What?!

Are those lists given (Summa Theologica, Saint Gregory) morally binding?
 
Well St. Francis of Assisi went so far as to put ashes over his food so that he didn’t enjoy the taste.
And so what if it’s an old thread, is reviving an old thread a sin now?
 
mikefox said:
Well St. Francis of Assisi went so far as to put ashes over his food so that he didn’t enjoy the taste.
And so what if it’s an old thread, is reviving an old thread a sin now?
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I did a google on the Catholic way of enjoying food and came upon this thread. If a new one WAS started, I would like to know, however, it seems ridiculous to not continue a conversation within this same thread if there are others now coming to want knowledge on this. I’ve already learned great things from this OLD thread. If there is a new one, could someone direct me to it?

I especially am grateful for the info from St. Thomas Aquinas. Thanks!
 
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