Like many of you I have made a New Year’s resolution that has something to do with my health and weight. I won’t say how many pounds I intend to lose, just that I intend to lose them. A few years ago when the belt line moved up from 34 to 36 I decided to get things under control. And now it’s knocking on 38 and I have some perfectly good pants that I don’t intend to get rid of.
Contemplation of my weight challenge has led me to further thoughts about the weight problem in general. Every year in our country billions are spent on one attempt after another to get our weight under control (I’m a regular contributor). For over 20 years now we’ve had access to fat-free everything yet we’re the most over-weight nation on Earth. Though it’s nice to know I’m not alone, it doesn’t make my morning appointment with the bathroom scale any more pleasant.
In my view, which by the way is all this column pretends to be, the reason why so few of us, despite our most sincere efforts, are so continuously unsuccessful in the arena of weight control is because we are fighting the wrong lion. While we attack our exercise program and diet regimen with a gladiator’s fervor, the real beast relaxes casually in the shade, licking its chops, awaiting the inevitable hour when, the strength of our resolution spent, we succumb to the mere thought of a donut.
I believe all problems, even physical ones, are actually at their root, spiritual problems, and overeating, regardless of how we slice it, is one of them. The real beast is “Gluttony” and in the Catholic hierarchy of evils it ranks right up there as one of the Seven Capital Sins, the others being pride, avarice, eny, wrath, lust, and sloth. Pretty serious company.
A few years ago our local church as a whole attacked another “G” word-Gambling-with great effect. The primary charge was that gambling led to the financial destruction of families. Very true, perhaps. But I happen to think that we on Guam have a much more serious problem with this other “G” word-Gluttony. And I believe overeating has caused more familial suffering than gambling ever had a chance of doing.
Consider the many days of work that have been missed due to maladies stemming from overeating. How many Mondays are spent at the clinic after the weekend fiesta? How many families are now struggling to survive due to the financial and time pressures put upon them by loved ones that now suffer from diet-related diseases? Witness the disproportionate number of us on Guam who suffer from Type 2 diabetes, a disease almost entirely preventable or at least controllable via dietary factors.
And how many people are prematurely incapacitated due to a stroke or heart attack simply because they would not heed common sense and even the doctors warnings? And there are few of us who do not know of an untimely death of a friend, relative, or co-worker, who has died of a heart attack, even in their thirties, leaving behind dependent children and a terrible financial burden.
I realize I’m treading on sacred ground here. Food, and the consummation of it, seems, in our culture, to be elevated to just below the level of worship It’s beyond the scope of my point to uncover the cultural roots of our culinary ritual, but we have a problem here and it’s hurting us big time. People are dying that don’t have to be.
On Guam, stuffing ourselves has become a culturally sanctioned activity. But it’s a cultural activity that cannot be reconciled with Catholic teaching. Gluttony is simply a sin, a capital sin; a sin that “cries to heaven” as the Catechism says.
Now, most of us who overeat on occasion do not think of ourselves as gluttons. We reserve that title for the obviously obese and unashamed food mongers who stuff themselves on a regular basis to the point of unconsciousness. But the Catholic definition of gluttony defies the stereotype.
Gluttony can simply be defined as “an inordinate love of eating and drinking”; eating hastily, greedily, or eagerly; or even the taking of that which is beyond what would be considered necessary for good health. (Particular Examen by James F. McElhone, C.S.C) I definitely stand accused on the last point.
I call gluttony a “gateway” sin for an overfull stomach, at least in my case, is usually the Enemy’s easiest and least expected (He likes it that way) port of entry. Once there, he knows how to twist our stomach to get us to do things...or neglect things. As St. Thomas says, the harmful consequent effects of gluttony are: the “inability to pray or follow a true spiritual standard, foolish joy, frivolity, talkativeness, and temptations against the holy virtue.”
My point in all this is that many of the hard teachings of our Catholic Faith, such as this one, are ultimately geared to our health and happiness. Ignorance or disobedience to these precepts usually leads to some form of living hell of our own making...a sluggish and rebellious body for instance.
I don’t know if I’ll get back to that 34, but I do know that I don’t have to be the one to eat the last donut, and that I’ll need Grace as much as exercise. I encourage you (if you can identify) to join me. We don’t have to “Just Say No”. We just have to say “Enough!”.
Tim Rohr
January 10, 2001