GLUTTONY

Gluttony is the excessive consumption that deprives another being of a life-giving necessity. Gluttons devour more, leaving others with less. It’s immoderation.

Beyond consumption, gluttony describes worship of food and deriving excessive pleasure from it. Gluttony also extends into material goods and other physical pleasures.

Those with excess body fat often carry the burden of gluttony, but weight doesn’t necessarily indicate gluttonous patterns. “Healthy” eaters can be immoderate too. Just as someone can be angry about the right thing but express it in the wrong way, someone can eat healthy food in a way that is gluttonous.

The more natural and necessary the activity, the more pleasurable it is. If we didn’t get pleasure from eating and procreating, we’d have a population of 100 and suffer from rickets. In the modern context, we might say that when something governs our life, it can become a destructive habit that undermines our goodness of character, getting worn in over time. And really, at its core, gluttony is about separating ourselves from others. Hinduism considers greed a root of other evils and discusses the importance of avoiding excess in all areas. If someone is preoccupied with food, they tend to neglect relationships with others. This includes relationships with significant others, society and the more intangible dimensions of life. Gluttony resembles any form of disordered eating, since they all reflect disordered relationships.