Gluttony (Latin: gula, derived from the Latin gluttire meaning "to gulp down or swallow") means over-indulgence and over-consumption of food, drink, alcohol and other recreational drugs, or wealth items, particularly as status symbols.
Gluttony becomes a mortal sin when one eats or drinks to such an excess that it greatly impairs health or makes a person unfit to perform the duties required of him.
Gluttony is eating or drinking inordinately, contrary to reason. It is a sin opposed to the virtue of temperance because it is the immoderate indulgence in the delights of food or drink. Gluttony can involve more than merely eating too much.
Eating outside of a prescribed time (mindless eating) Anticipating eating with preoccupied longing. Consuming costly foods (eating lavishly simply for the purpose of conspicuous consumption) Not being content with “common” foods; always seeking delicacies (or, perhaps, Supersizing)
Thomas Aquinas, they are (1) vainglory, or pride, (2) greed, or covetousness, (3) lust, or inordinate or illicit sexual desire, (4) envy, (5) gluttony, which is usually understood to include drunkenness, (6) wrath, or anger, and (7) sloth.
Thomas Aquinas defines gluttony as an inordinate relationship with material things. It can also be defined as an ingratitude for the goods we possess. To be gluttonous, therefore, is not only to eat a lot. It means to treat material things- time, money, food, technology- as the ultimate end of our lives.
His image of five fingers comes from what seems to have been a well known list of forms of gluttony. Saint Thomas Aquinas gives this list in a little doggerel: “Hastily, sumptuously, excessively, greedily, daintily.” These are the five ways we can be gluttonous — as much today as in the middle ages.
Cassian, Pope Gregory the Great, and Aquinas have given us at least five principles of gluttony: eating when there's no need; seeking expensive or specialty foods; gorging oneself; eating voraciously; and paying too much attention to food.
In Inferno, Dante finds the Gluttonous in the Third Circle of Hell. These souls overindulged in food, drink, or something else in their lives. Their punishment is to wallow in disgusting mire created by eternally falling rain, hail, sleet, and snow.
The cure for the sin of gluttony is moderation – we eat to live, not live to eat, and this maxim can be extended to all other material things in life. “Food is to be taken in so far as it supports our life, but not to the extent of enslaving us to the impulses of desire.”2 (St.
The Catechism of the Catholic Church defines grave matter: Grave matter is specified by the Ten Commandments, corresponding to the answer of Jesus to the rich young man: "Do not murder, Do not commit adultery, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Do not defraud, Honor your father and your mother."
In Christianity, it is considered a sin if the excessive desire for food causes it to be withheld from the needy. Some Christian denominations consider gluttony one of the seven deadly sins.
The book of Proverbs says, “Do not join those who drink too much wine or gorge themselves on meat” (Proverbs 23:20). Proverbs also uses vivid language to warn against gluttony: “Put a knife to your throat if you are given to gluttony” (Proverbs 23:2).
Gluttony, is the sin associated with an unhealthy indulgence in material delights, usually food. However, it is not just eating to excess, but it can include drinking, screen time, lustful thoughts and behaviors, and similar types of obsessive love of material pleasure.
Studiose - eating food that is excessive in quality (too daintily or elaborately prepared) Nimis - eating food that is excessive in quantity (too much) Praepropere - eating hastily (too soon or at an inappropriate time)
When you cram your mouth with your favorite ice cream as quickly as you can, you are being gluttonous, that is, excessively greedy.
Causes of Compulsive Overeating
Compulsive overeating is a form of disordered eating, which means that a combination of genetics, psychological issues and sociocultural factors generally contribute to the cause of this behavior.
Gluttony describes either (a) the action of overindulging in food or drink or (b) a state of character in which one regularly overindulges in food and/or drink.
An allegorical image depicting the human heart subject to the seven deadly sins, each represented by an animal (clockwise: toad = avarice; snake = envy; lion = wrath; snail = sloth; pig = gluttony; goat = lust; peacock = pride).
It is rather that invariably, gluttony is a subcategory of greed – the part of greed that is food related.
Defining Gluttony as a Cardinal Sin
While this may be a part of it, the primary aspect of gluttony to note is that a gluttonous person will generally care about little other than their own need for consumption. They eat selfishly, caring either little or not at all whether anybody else is able to feed themselves.
There is no “sinful” food, He has made all food clean through Christ. Therefore enjoying food, fun food, dense food, all food does not constitute overeating, nor is it a sin. Eating past comfortable fullness in the context of recovering from an eating disorder/disordered eating. God's work is to heal his people.
Overeating causes the stomach to expand beyond its normal size to adjust to the large amount of food. The expanded stomach pushes against other organs, making you uncomfortable. This discomfort can take the form of feeling tired, sluggish or drowsy. Your clothes also may feel tight, too.
Of the seven deadly sins, theologians and philosophers reserve a special place for pride. Lust, envy, anger, greed, gluttony and sloth are all bad, the sages say, but pride is the deadliest of all, the root of all evil, and the beginning of sin.