Overeating a Sin?

[dnomyaR]

I saw curious what everyone felt. I’ve been fealing a little guilty lately when I overeat because I feel like somehow I am depriving those who don’t have food for themselves and I should be taking what I spend to eat in excess to help them.

I really do eat more then I need. I’m not beeing overly self-conscious on this. I just ate a $5 little ceasers large pizza all by myself. Now I know $5 isn’t much compared to a meal at The Olive Garden but I still wonder… I’m not overweight yet, but I do eat a lot.

 

[Hopeful23]

You’re not the only one who feels guilty about over eating. I don’t know if it’s a sin or not but I can definitely relate. My problem is that I can’t help but over eat, it’s a compulsion I’ve been dealing with since I was eight years old. Often times when I buy things like a five dollar pizza or when I go to a buffet I almost feel like I can’t stop eating until I’m completely full, unfortunately for me it takes me a lot of food to do that… it’s a vicious cycle to try and break.

 

[AHumbleSinner]

I think this is a very common sin many people struggle with but don’t realize it’s hurting their relationship with God. It comes under the physical sins of gluttony and shows that we lack the virtue of temperance.

I recently heard that on a feast day, it’s okay to eat until we are full, but on every normal day of the year, it’s best for a Catholic to eat just slightly less than what would be satisfying as a mean of a small mortification and a way to build self-control and temperance.

This is hopefully going to be a sin I start focusing on overcoming more in the near future. Thanks for brining it up.

AHumbleSinner

 

[baltobetsy]

OP, are you by chance a teenage young man? If so, your body’s needs for food are much more than other people’s. You are growing at a great rate, and expending a lot of energy, so you need to fuel all that with larger amounts of food than is normal for girls and adults. So your definition of gluttony or overeating would also be different. Don’t get scrupulous over this.

Betsy

 

[ready]

It sounds like God is calling you to move up a notch in your faith and state of sanctity. This sounds like a call to grow in holiness by responding to his prompting not to eat to excess and maybe donate some of the money you save to the poor in Africa.

 

[dnomyaR]

It sounds like God is calling you to move up a notch in your faith and state of sanctity. This sounds like a call to grow in holiness by responding to his prompting not to eat to excess and maybe donate some of the money you save to the poor in Africa.

This is what I thought. I guess this was obvious in my first post. Don’t know why I wanted to hear it from someone else.

 

[ready]

This is what I thought. I guess this was obvious in my first post. Don’t know why I wanted to hear it from someone else.

Sometimes it helps just hearing another person say what we think.

 

[Island_Oak]

OP, are you by chance a teenage young man? If so, your body’s needs for food are much more than other people’s. You are growing at a great rate, and expending a lot of energy, so you need to fuel all that with larger amounts of food than is normal for girls and adults. So your definition of gluttony or overeating would also be different. Don’t get scrupulous over this.

Betsy

You raise a good point…there are times in life when we do need more nourishment. Growth, physical/athletic activity, pregnancy, etc… Clearly during these times we are not consuming more than our physical body needs and becoming overweight is not the issue.

When eating is more than nutrition and becomes a gluttonous pleasure or done to “medicate,” soothe, alleviate boredom or stress and results in overweight, not only are we overconsuming food resources, but we are actually harming our bodies. Extra weight is responsible for a myriad of helth problems from hypertension, diabetes, heart disease to certain cancers. There is simply no rationalization for becoming and staying overweight. This is not so much even a matter of sin, but common sense. If reaching for spiritual tools to deal with the problems helps (i.e. depriving oneself/dieting = mortification) then by all means. But in any case it makes sense for all of us to use moderation in our consumption of food.

 

[GodIsGracious]

It could be considered “gluttony” I suppose. I can completely relate. I had to have weight loss surgery to lose weight, and even now, I’ve gained some.

Dr. David Kessler, former FDA commissioner, wrote a book about his research into the American eating habits. Check out this article:

washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/04/26/AR2009042602711.html

This notion intrigues me, to say the least.

Now, this does not absolve anyone from personal responsibility, but it does make putting the fork down increasingly more difficult when you have a virtual gun to your head with regards to food, the food industry and eating.

i.e. Don’t be so hard on yourself. Avail yourself of knowledge and pray for help from God (because He WILL help us with even such a “small” thing - so “small” it gets us “large” ).