Overeating, Gluttony, and Scruples

[Upgrade25]

Everybody who has seen a few of my posts knows that I am scrupulous. I plan to speak w/ Fr. this upcoming week.
The sin(?) is gluttony. Is this it? I will ask Father, but I wish to get preliminary information.
Scenario:

I had some potatoes and eggs with sausage for lunch after a big breakfast after Mass. Halfway through, I felt full. Rather than put it back in the Tupperware, I finished it.

 

[MaryHelp777]

It’s only a mortal sin if: full knowledge, deliberate, freely committed and grave matter all apply.

It probably depends how full you were and how much more you ate past breaking point,

If unsure confess it to be safe.

 

[thistle]

Everybody who has seen a few of my posts knows that I am scrupulous. I plan to speak w/ Fr. this upcoming week.
The sin(?) is gluttony. Is this it? I will ask Father, but I wish to get preliminary information.

NO! Eating too much at one meal is not gluttony.

Modern Catholic Dictionary:

GLUTTONY. Inordinate desire for the pleasure connected with food or drink. This desire may become sinful in various ways: by eating or drinking far more than a person needs to maintain bodily strength; by glutting one’s taste for certain kinds of food with known detriment to health; by indulging the appetite for exquisite food or drink, especially when these are beyond one’s ability to afford a luxurious diet; by eating or drinking too avidly, i.e., ravenously; by consuming alcoholic beverages to the point of losing full control of one’s reasoning powers. Intoxication that ends in complete loss of reason is a mortal sin if brought on without justification, e.g., for medical reasons. (Etym. Latin glutire, to devour.)

 

[Don_Ruggero]

It’s only a mortal sin if: full knowledge, deliberate, freely committed and grave matter all apply.

It probably depends how full you were and how much more you ate past breaking point,

If unsure confess it to be safe.

NO.

This a 14 year old child. Who is indicating a scenario of a large breakfast followed by a large lunch. That does not pass the threshold of gluttony, even venially, even for an adult…let alone a growing boy.

To commit a serious sin of gluttony in such circumstance would involve a growing child eating such a quantity of food as to compromise one’s health.

And the counsel to someone who says that they are scrupulous to “go to confession in doubt” is not correct. The counsel is: “follow the advice and direction of your regular confessor.”

To the original poster, your conscience is overly sensitive and I will be praying that the meeting with your confessor goes well. Please be very thoughtful about seeking information on topics like this in a public internet forum. It is likely only to make your situation of scruples worse and yourself more confused.

(The dictionary definition provided by Thistle is, however, a very good one.)

Although you do not mention it, I wouldn’t be surprised, besides, if your parents didn’t say to you, “Finish your lunch.”

Finally, if you are doing any sort of dietary penances at all…please be sure you are discussing them openly and fully with your regular confessor/spiritual director.

 

[HelenRose]

Everybody who has seen a few of my posts knows that I am scrupulous. I plan to speak w/ Fr. this upcoming week.
The sin(?) is gluttony. Is this it? I will ask Father, but I wish to get preliminary information.

Yes and no. I have struggled with this problem since I was 14. Fifty five years later, I still struggle.

Food can be an addiction like any other addiction. Those of us who deal with the addiction of food need to find a priest who will treat this addiction with the same compassion and concern as he would with an alcoholic who is struggling with alcohol.

Go to a priest, confess and insist that you need help because this addiction needs God’s help just as much as other addictions. Don’t be put off thinking that this is not a serious issue. You are as much a child of God than anyone else who struggles with something that they have little control over.

 

[Gertabelle]

NO.

**This a 14 year old child. ** Who is indicating a scenario of a large breakfast followed by a large lunch. That does not pass the threshold of gluttony, even venially, even for an adult…let alone a growing boy.

… Please be very thoughtful about seeking information on topics like this in a public internet forum. It is likely only to make your situation of scruples worse and yourself more confused.

As a mom of a 12-year-old boy I absolutely second what Father says to you in the above post!

These forums can be a great place to learn about the faith, but please stick to general topics like apologetics or scripture or the liturgy, Church teaching or history, or join in some games over in The Clubhouse.

But please, please, please do not ask total strangers on the internet for advice with anything about your personal or spiritual life.

You are a minor child and should not be asking people here about spiritual or personal problems. We’re probably 99.9% adults and all of us strangers to you; and in spite of your signature, most people replying to you don’t realize you’re only 14. I’ve been on these forums for nearly 10 years, and I can say without a doubt I have seen some of worst and even most dangerous “advice” ever given right here on CAF! :sad_yes:

God bless and protect you, dear one! :hug3:

 

[HelenRose]

As a mom of a 12-year-old boy I absolutely second what Father says to you in the above post!

These forums can be a great place to learn about the faith, but please stick to general topics like apologetics or scripture or the liturgy, Church teaching or history, or join in some games over in The Clubhouse.

But please, please, please do not ask total strangers on the internet for advice with anything about your personal or spiritual life.

You are a minor child and should not be asking people here about spiritual or personal problems. We’re probably 99.9% adults and all of us strangers to you; and in spite of your signature, most people replying to you don’t realize you’re only 14. I’ve been on these forums for nearly 10 years, and I can say without a doubt I have seen some of worst and even most dangerous “advice” ever given right here on CAF! :sad_yes:

God bless and protect you, dear one! :hug3:

I agree with you and I hope my advice is not taken wrong. I can relate because I remember being 14 and obsessing over eating. So young to be worried about that. A child needs to learn how to deal with this with a compassionate and understanding counselor. It should not be dismissed lightly.

 

[PraiseChrist]

Dear friend,

Hello I actually had this scrupulous behavior when I was about your age and I actually lost too much weight, in an unhealthy way. You should go to a good confessor to talk about these things, and through obeying, you will grow

 

[sirach2v4]

Robert Lustig MD has a book *Fat Chance * which talks about obesity as a symptom of a disease, common around the world.

Lustig is very opposed to sugar in the diet, except in the smallest amount. Table sugar, sucrose, is a double sugar – glucose and fructose. Glucose is the sugar our bodies use for energy. Fructose is the sugar which is much sweeter than glucose.

Fructose is the sugar that can cause liver disease - insulin resistance and leptin resistance.

With leptin resistance, the mind does not respond to leptin, which signals the brain to stop eating.

It’s all very much more complicated than simple moral rules imply. If our body is in a state of disease, it’s telling us to eat, so we can’t stop. This is a disease, not a sin.

We’ve had some really heavy popes, some of whom have been canonized. Think about it.

 

[e_c]

We’ve had some really heavy popes, some of whom have been canonized. Think about it.

But very few really heavy 14 year olds who have been canonized. The stresses and sedentary life of the papacy just don’t seem comparable, especially when you have to cater to expensive tastes all the time as a host (and your metabolism has slowed wayyyy down).

Anyway… Upgrade - Thistle’s quote is good, stick to that. And since you’re aware you are scrupulous, you’ve half won the battle with that… When you are unsure if something is a venial sin, defer to thinking that it is not. When you are unsure that something is a mortal sin, defer to thinking that it is not. Make a general act of contrition each day, expressing your sorrow for all your sin and your desire to be detached from it. Go to confession on a SCHEDULE, rather than on your own volition, unless you are absolutely sure of grave sin… This will help.