Morgan McCloy/NPR Look at all that tasty, tasty food.
The bright colors and pretty arrangement make you want to eat it all, right?
Same here. Especially those White Castle burgers.
This week, I'm going to refine the reasoning behind my upcoming New Year's Resolution. If you read last week, you probably remember these three points I used to vilify gluttony:
- It demonstrates insecurity and a distrust in God's nature as provider,
- it implies a greedy (can't get enough, don't want to share) intent, and
- foods that lead to gluttony are often not vital to life.
The first and second point are intertwined, and the first point of this argument is rooted in my faith. As a Christian, I am called to trust in God as my provider. This means not worrying about where my next meal, roof, paycheck or doughnut is coming from--even if I'm six weeks unemployed.
With all that has been provided in life, why should we feel the need to overindulge? I know I have access to healthy, filling food, so why do I chose to eat a lot of unhealthy food in one sitting? I'm pretty sure it's because I have insecure feelings about food. Like, "oh man, I need to get five doughnuts and eat them all right now with a beer because I'll never be able to find/buy/eat doughnuts ever again."
Other times, greed kicks in. Have you ever bought and consumed an entire box of Oreos/Thin Mints/Goldfish crackers? Me too. But why not share the goodness with someone else? Are we afraid of being deprived of some special sensory event? Is it because we spent $4 on that food item? Three Oreos will taste just as good as twenty nine Oreos. One handful of Goldfish crackers will be just as delicious as an entire carton. Greed pushes us to hoard and consume in excess.
These desires and actions are a valid life experience, but also ridiculous, illogical and unhealthy. There will always be more Oreos at the grocery store. There will always be more doughnuts at Bosa. It makes zero sense to eat more than one doughnut in a sitting (or honestly, more than one doughnut in a week) and the same goes for Oreos.* We, as humans, don't need to feel insecure about these foods disappearing, and don't need to be greedy and hoard them.
We have no business in eating all of the sugar, carbs and fat that come from consuming so many unhealthy foods in one sitting. These foods are generally empty calories that aren't providing needed nutrition (fiber, vitamins, minerals, protein, unrefined carbs or unsaturated fat) or sustainable energy for life. There's a reason gluttony is associated with unhealthy things and not apples or cucumbers or tomatoes.
Gluttony detracts from our ability to live healthy. It adds unnecessary, empty calories to our daily diet while leaving us hungry for more. USDA's Economic Research service shows that Americans eat an average of 500 more calories a day presently than they did in 1970. David Just from Cornell University said "I suspect we're eating too many calories from all foods," as he cited the above data in an interview with NPR as a likely cause for obesity increasing in America. "All foods" includes sugar, oil and fat consumption, as pounds per capita vegetable and fruit consumption increased at a slower rate than oil and fat consumption in pounds per capita according to the USDA.
That about sums up my thoughts on gluttony and why I am planning on watching what I eat in the upcoming year. Obviously, a doughnut now and again isn't going to kill me, but I also have no need to eat three a week. I need to work on trusting God to provide for me, to share my junk food when I do get it, and to actively choose to eat healthier foods.
*Disclaimer: There are times when moderation can be thrown out the window. Just look at this feast my journalism classmates and I reaped in Nicaragua when we were working on a deadline and our sources weren't cooperating. That being said, I am a firm believer in moderation. And when excess consumption is done in excess, it should get toned down. Enjoy all things in moderation--even moderation.
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