Tasty Food - Sin?

[dan1el]

Yet in this evil system, organic foods must cost much more.

Does anyone know that bitter herbs (arugula, dandelion greens, etc.,) is THE most healthy food a human can eat? The MOST complete source of nutrition above ANY food? Is it JUST a coincidence that a thing which is not “rich” and appealing to the fleshly senses just happens to also be nutritious for the body (both being made by God?). Look at what San Giuseppe of Cupertino ate - food so terrible in taste that a man who ate it was sick for several days. I think I know what I am talking about.

 

[John92]

PLEASE PLEASE mind my signature, this is just my two cents and I don’t want to lead you into sin.

I do feel like gluttony is one of the lesser sins; taking too much joy in food and drink - it’s something to conquer, but of the seven deadly sins it seems (to me) to be the least of them, and unlikely to send you to Hell on its own unless it’s taken to great extremes. Fasting is great, but I don’t necessarily think it’s something you should worry about too much if your faith and relationship with God is still new. Eat, enjoy (though not too much), be mindful of he who gave you the food, thank him for it, try not to eat if you are not hungry.

Just from my own experience, I’ve tried to do “too much at once” before and it’s led me to stumble horribly, and built up my pride.

 

[survive]

Bitter herbs taste good in the amounts that are healthy. A plateful is disgusting but also dangerous. The greens contain small amounts of substances that build up and can be toxic. Fried chicken and strawberry milkshakes can be lifesaving sources of specific nutrients in the moderate quantities in which we are supposed to eat them. Balance is the key – and that doesn’t mean stop eating when you can’t balance.

 

[Melissa]

Now honestly, I think you all are being a little bit too hard on the original poster who has somewhat of a valid point.

Think about if I offered you a dinner of baked cod, plain baked potato and a side of beans. It is a completely nutritious meal. But how many would willingly eat that?

There was an experiment at one of our local schools where everyone tried to eat on $2.00 a day. So basically your budget for meals was $14.00 a week. You can eat on that amount but you are not eating things you enjoy very much.

I don’t think it is necessarily a sin to eat tasty food but it could be if it becomes an obsession.

Ironically, I think that eating tasty food in moderation makes one less susceptible to becoming obsessed with food.

A few years ago, I tried the South Beach diet, and found myself obsessively thinking about food as soon as I finished one meal (or snack/mini-meal), I was thinking about when I could eat again. Unsurprisingly, perhaps, I actually gained five pounds in two weeks (even though I didn’t cheat). Kind of gave up on the weight loss thing, gained some more and got up to 176. Then I encountered SparkPeople.com and went on this meal plan. One of the basic tenets of the SparkPeople plan is that no food is forbidden, you have to just learn to enjoy the proper portion (cake, ice cream, chocolate … these aren’t “bad” foods and you’re not “cheating” if you eat them–but you have to recognize the proper portion is 1/12 to 1/16 of the whole 8" double-layer cake, 1/2 c. of low-fat ice cream, or a 1oz square of chocolate–not a giant slab of 1/6 of a whole cake, 3 c. of ice cream, or 10-12oz of chocolates). I’ve lost 41 lbs so far on this plan (which also includes a lot of fruit and veggies, and also really tasty food and ideas I hadn’t thought of like putting a half cup of salsa on my baked potato, which has tons more flavor at a fraction of the calories of a comparable amount of even reduced-fat sour cream). I’m satiated at meals, and just start to get hungry right around the next meal time, not hours before.

And if eating tasty food were a sin, God would not have created strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, and blackberries … one kind of berry would be adequate. Just remember to thank God for creating the wide variety of tasty foods when you’re enjoying tasty food (in moderation, of course).

 

[Lost_Wanderer]

Isn’t it a sin to desire the goods of this life, even if it is food? Scientific studies show that the same part of the brain that is responsible for pleasure from food is also responsible for the pleasure had during sex, and also revenge.

Simple answer. No.

As long as it doesn’t get in the way of important things (e.g. God, your family, being charitable to others etc), then there’s nothing wrong with wanting to enjoy life. Besides, if it means anything, my parents say I look like a skeleton since I don’t eat much. It’s why it often takes fast food or gourmet to get my mind off my computer/story/game/homework/project and on my dinner plate.

P.S.

I’m curious about the pleasure from revenge though. Does this pleasure stem from the actual act of vengeance or would you also include activities that could substitute the act (e.g. taking out your rage on something else)?

 

[dan1el]

“Enjoying life” - what is “life”? Life is to know the Spirit, God, and His eternity and love, and no longer to fly low to the ground.

The revenge is what God says is the works of the flesh - basically, the fact that you GET angry, and then you want to lash back. This could mean because someone offended you in word, deed, anything.

 

[Bluegoat]

Eating good food is just fine. As is enjoying sex, listening to beautiful music, and noticing the colour purple in a field.

Creation is a good and beautiful thing. God made it that way on purpose.

Becoming a food snob is not good. Spending all your time thinking about food, spending too much money on food, overindulging in food. Also, being a picky eater, being overly restrictive about food, thinking food is somehow immoral.

 

[John92]

Eating good food is just fine. As is enjoying sex, listening to beautiful music, and noticing the colour purple in a field.

Creation is a good and beautiful thing. God made it that way on purpose.

Becoming a food snob is not good. Spending all your time thinking about food, spending too much money on food, overindulging in food. Also, being a picky eater, being overly restrictive about food, thinking food is somehow immoral.

Yup. The idea that “enjoying anything but God is a sin!” is a Calvinist heresy. God put lots of good things on this Earth, and we can get some idea of God by enjoying his creation. Gluttony is when we overindulge; but enjoying good food is no sin, at least if we’re not in a period of fasting.

Some people on this forum are ridiculous

 

[Lost_Wanderer]

“Enjoying life” - what is “life”? Life is to know the Spirit, God, and His eternity and love, and no longer to fly low to the ground.

That’s your definition and nothing more. Life, like God, is not something you can define in a box. Some say life is cruel; others say wonderful. Some say it’s boring; others it’s a miracle.

Obviously though, you read too much into my statement when all I’m saying is that there’s no harm in enjoying things. You do know the whole “flesh is evil” mentality was originally a Gnostic idea?

The revenge is what God says is the works of the flesh - basically, the fact that you GET angry, and then you want to lash back. This could mean because someone offended you in word, deed, anything.

So basically, getting angry in of itself and letting it out is a bad thing? Gee, remind me not to go to you for therapy.

 

[dusza]

Eating isn’t a sin and so neither is the enjoyment thereof. Forms of self-denial such as fasting or refraining from forms of enjoyment can be spiritually beneficial in a proper context. Whether it will be greatly beneficial or just reason to boast is another story.

Self-denial is not just about food. If it were, anorexics would be saints. Sometimes being obedient to one’s superior, holding one’s tongue or not boasting proves more difficult. Ultimately, “you shall know them by their fruits”, which should be charity, the self-giving love for God and neighbor.

 

[John92]

Eating isn’t a sin and so neither is the enjoyment thereof. Forms of self-denial such as fasting or refraining from forms of enjoyment can be spiritually beneficial in a proper context. Whether it will be greatly beneficial or just reason to boast is another story.

Self-denial is not just about food. If it were, anorexics would be saints. Sometimes being obedient to one’s superior, holding one’s tongue or not boasting proves more difficult. Ultimately, “you shall know them by their fruits”, which should be charity, the self-giving love for God and neighbor.

Exactly! Everything has a proper purpose and part of this purpose is often joy. One of the greatest things about Catholicism is its emphasis on joy - not the joy of the lax Protestant confident in his sola fide, but the joy of a true Christian, who loves God and obeys his commandment and sees God reflected in all his creatures.

Food is great! It keep us alive. Tasty food is great too! It’s a source of pleasure. So long as we do not overindulge, it is not sinful, but a way to reflect on God’s goodness and love towards us, that he made so many enjoyable things for us even as we live in a world mired by sin.

Fasting is of great spiritual benefit, but it is not a spiritual necessity to fast outside of the appointed days.

Eat when you’re hungry, thank God for the food, enjoy it, and don’t eat more than you need. Don’t think too much about it, just thank God for it and realize its proper place.

 

[Gerard_Nadal]

Isn’t it a sin to desire the goods of this life, even if it is food? Scientific studies show that the same part of the brain that is responsible for pleasure from food is also responsible for the pleasure had during sex, and also revenge.

How about good food during sex?:extrahappy:

Okay, seriously, about your neurological observations. “Revenge is mine says the Lord”. So that one is out. But God gives us food and sex. He blessed them both at the beginning of the world and called them good. I think that too much of a good thing is no good. We become sated and sotted, which can lead to lack of appreciation. Moderation in all things.

God expects us to have pleasure. He expects us to periodically abstain from pleasure for our own sake. A good Confessor can help you find the balance that’s right for you.

 

[LilyM]

We’re talking about the same God who, in the person of Jesus Christ, made 120 GALLONS of wine - for a bunch of wedding guests who had ALREADY drunk their hosts dry and thus by anyone’s measure had drunk more than sufficient. What reason was there to do this other than to give pleasure to the guests? They had no medical or nutritional need for it, and He certainly could’ve made 120 gallons of grapefruit juice if he had meant merely to physically sustain them.

Bear in mind we’re talking about the very same God who, in the person of Jesus Christ, was PERSONALLY accused of being both a glutton (overeater) and a drunkard! Clearly an accusation that couldn’t be made against Him if He had been a frequent practitioner of extreme fasting and temperance. He wisely left these extreme levels of practice instead to His cousin John the Baptist, and the contrast between the two of them in their attitudes to food (John’s being like yours, and both of you being unlike Jesus in attitude) was well-noted!

Short answer - enjoying the good things in life, food and wine being among them, is not only not wrong but clearly something that Our Lord Himself did on occasion.

 

[crazzeto]

Enjoying tasty food is not sinful, nor is owning nice things. However being “owned” by these objects is sinful, or at the very least will lead you to sin. Essentially just bare in mind that everything you enjoy comes from God, and always bare in mind how God would want you to view these objects.

 

[patg]

Well, Jesus did not say “Let them drink water, that’s good enough”.

No, he changed the water into wine that was even better than the wine they had. That should answer the question.

 

[Maria65]

I sure hope enjoying tasty food is not a sin, or I’m in trouble! I like my food to taste good.

Now, when I go to visit my parents, I have to eat my sister’s vegetarian cooking, and that is DEFINITELY a penance!

 

[Pat_the_elder]

I personally think that “not tasty” food is more of a sin than tasty food - I’m more likely to think nice things about someone who gives me really tasty stuff than food you could sole your boots with…I’d better hide this post from my wife - she may take it personally and commit a sin of assault upon my person LOL

Pat

 

[nsper7]

Isn’t it a sin to desire the goods of this life, even if it is food? Scientific studies show that the same part of the brain that is responsible for pleasure from food is also responsible for the pleasure had during sex, and also revenge.

In Revelation 18, where the angel lists the things that the great whore Babylon lives for, he lists “the foods that your soul lusted after”. I just feel that to put my attention on food, the taste of it, the texture of it, etc., is adultery against the truth, because the food’s flavor and texture and pleasantness of is NO significance and has no bearing, upon anything except my flesh – which is supposed to be CRUCIFIED; not pampered. I understand that there are different types of crucifixion, some more important than others, but I can’t help but feel wrong when I enjoy food that tastes good… but then when I try not to, I feel that I am somehow fighting against “God” unless what I think is God is just the tempter…

I have to ask an honest question here: Are you really interested in the Catholic response or in just throwing out bait so you can then give them oh-so-enlightened Non-Denominational Christian (whatever that really means) opinion on the matter?