Episode 35 Transcript
[00:00:00] Welcome to your daily bread with co hosts, Abbie Stasior and Hannah Calhoun. We're here to be your weekly source of spiritual nourishment, guiding you to find food freedom in a deeper connection with Christ.
Hannah: As we explore the intersection of faith and nutrition, these bite sized episodes will help you heal your relationship with food and your body through practical advice, biblical wisdom, and heartfelt encouragement.
Abbie: And as a disclaimer, we are not pastors, but passionate registered dietitians and sisters in Christ, offering our insights to support you on this faith filled journey to a healthier, more fulfilling life. Join us by taking a seat at our table as we break bread and allow God in to break the chains of diet culture.
Hello. Hello, y'all. Today we are talking about gluttony, uh, which is where we put food in a god shaped hole, and this is a very nuanced, um, episode, nuanced topic, and we just want to start this by, um, Leaving all shame at the door. Shame does not have a place here and any shame that we feel we know that it is not from the Lord and we hope that this episode and we pray that this episode will give you a lot of clarity will bring you closer to Christ and um, hopefully, Um, give you some clarity around the nuances of your individual situation.
And also just with eating, there's so much going on with our relationship with food. So we hope that this will be a healing episode and ultimately bring you closer to God. So we're going to be reading from Proverbs 23 verses 19 through 21. Listen, my son and be wise. And set your heart on the right path.
Do not join those who drink too much wine or gorge themselves on meat, for drunkards and gluttons become poor, and drowsiness clothes them in rags.
Hannah: Yeah. So an important note, if you know what gluttony is, gluttony is one of the seven deadly sins and it is actually a sin of idolatry. Abby and myself want to make an important distinction that there is a difference between people who tend to overeat versus people who struggle with gluttony versus people who have binge eating disorder.
So these things are not necessarily interchangeable, you know, I, I think of how like laziness or sloth is also one of the seven deadly sins and, you know, similarly to like overeating versus gluttony versus binge eating disorder, there's a difference between you have lack of sleep. So you're super tired and you kind of can't get out of bed.
That doesn't mean that you're You know, you're lazy, you're sloth, and then there's also other things that can contribute to us feeling lazy or seeming lazy, like clinical depression that's maybe untreated, or maybe sleep disorders. Like, if you have diagnosed narcolepsy, this doesn't mean that, like, you know, you're sloth, you're lazy, like, you're, you're sinning because of it.
Abbie: Right. Um, and so those are just some important, um, distinctions that we'll elaborate on further. You know, throughout this episode. Um, yeah, but we just want to make it clear that like, if you have a diagnosed, like binge eating disorder, there are specific criteria for that. That doesn't mean that you're gluttonous and also we want to say too that, um, if you are in a larger body or you're overweight, that doesn't mean that you're gluttonous either.
And I think a lot of people in society assume that, but we know you cannot assume someone's health status or how they eat or their habits or their relationship with God just by looking at them. Like you, you simply cannot. So we want to, you know, preface this episode that being overweight or being in a large body does not.
Mean that you're gluttonous, like, definitely want to combat that.
Hannah: Right, because you can't assume that someone in a larger body is like, you know, because they're overeating all the time, or, you know, because they have binge eating disorder, or because they're gluttonous. Like, you can't assume those things automatically just because they're in a larger body.
There's different things that can contribute to the size of our body and how much weight we hold, how easy it is to gain weight and lose weight, etc. So, as we were kind of digging, you know, in our research, for this episode. There is a registered dietitian, his name is Ryan Andrews, and he has a website called precisionnutrition.
com, and he has a good note on gluttony, like how, you know, it can be described, and so he describes it as this. Gluttons devour more, Leaving others with less. It's in moderation. Beyond consumption, gluttony describes worship of food and deriving excessive pleasure from it. Gluttony also extends into material goods and other physical pleasures.
The suffix aholic is attached to the gluttons meal of choice. So we can think of like shopaholic, alcoholic. mm-Hmm, cha aholic, , . You know, and we kind of sometimes use those like in a silly way, like I'm a cha aholic, I'm a shopaholic, or, or whatever it may be. But so this is just pointing at gluttony is like the worship of food.
It's in moderation and. Um, it doesn't have to just be food. It can be, you know, material goods, or it can be, you know, even, um, something like alcohol. Um, also in the Oxford English Dictionary, uh, Glutton, it, in the Latin word, is, uh, defined as to gulp down or swallow, and it can be someone who eats to excess or takes pleasure in immoderate eating.
So, it I think that's a very important distinction, is that a glutton is someone who takes pleasure in immoderate eating. Because all of us have been like, Oh my gosh, I went to the movie theater, I had my candy and popcorn, and OMG, I have a stomach ache. You know, I accidentally like, ate too much, I wasn't paying attention, I was watching the movie, or You go out to dinner with friends or you're at a celebration and there's like a buffet and you're just picking and eating and talking and you're like, oh my gosh, I ate too much.
I have a stomach ache. Like, you know, you're kind of mindless. And then, you know, a lot of individuals with binge eating disorder, um, something triggers them, something happens and they're almost, I don't want to say like blacked out, but they're almost, um, you know, not like present. in the binge and then after there's a lot of shame and guilt and it sort of spirals into like a restriction which leads to another binge.
So, people who overeat, whoopsies, I overate, that's not pleasurable. People with binge eating disorder, typically do not find pleasure during their binge. It's like very shameful. They do not enjoy it. And so a glutton is someone who eats in excess and takes pleasure in a moderate eating. I think about, I don't know if, um, if any of your listeners have ever seen YouTube videos called mukbang videos, and that's a weird word, it sounds weird, but it comes from two Korean words that are combined, and the Korean words are for eating and broadcast, and this is when someone orders a ton of food, and I'm talking like, let's say they go to a fast food restaurant, and they order.
Food that could be for like five to ten people and they film a video and they eat All of it or most of it and they do it for views. They do it for money. They do it for entertainment and To me this is like a perfect depiction of a glutton because they're doing it on purpose, they take pleasure in it, they're, they're filming it so it's not like in secret, it's not shameful, like this is very out there, like, hey look at me, I'm eating enough food for like 15 people on purpose.
Yeah,
Abbie: yeah, which I had never heard of that and then you brought it up and I'm like, oh my gosh, yes. And when Hannah was showing me these videos, I was like, I can't even look at the screen right now. Like, like my spirit was like literally rejecting it. And so that's when I know, like, this is, it, yeah, that's not, that's, that's a form of gluttony.
Um, and that's, and that's different than some of these other, uh, forms of overeating that we've mentioned.
Hannah: Yeah. So, you know, maybe you're hearing this episode and you're like, oh my gosh, do I struggle with gluttony? And, You know, that's something to definitely take up with, with God in your prayer time. Um, but it's not uncommon for people to overeat and we've talked about it before, like, you know, people often have to skip lunch at work or feel like they have to and then they come home and they're raiding their pantry and this is a normal human response to not being fed properly in the hours.
And, you know, I know Abby has like a lot of good points. We've talked about it in, in other episodes on how she and her coaching business helps people one advocate for themselves at work, um, to say, Hey, I need a lunch break. Um, and two, just helping people understand that like trying to restrict throughout the day sets you up for a overeating episode at night.
And. The reason is because you're restricted during the day, so I don't know if you, yeah, want to go into some like good eating pathology or like what not to do.
Abbie: Absolutely, absolutely. These are just very practical things that can help you to kind of prevent those overeating episodes. So the first one would be to avoid skipping meals.
Um, we, want to avoid waiting so long to eat. We don't want so much time to go by in between meals. We want to make sure that our meals are balanced and that we're combining different food groups. We yes, have carbs, but we also have protein and fat in there as well, because that's going to keep you satiated and fuller for longer.
We want to avoid under eating because you could be eating consistently and not skipping any meals, but if you're still Under eating the amount that your body actually needs. That is going to set you up to, um, turn to food, more food later on. Cause your body is lacking fuel. We want to avoid eating when we're stressed or when we're distracted, because if we're, if we're doing that, we're paying more attention to outside things than how our body is actually feeling.
We're not being intentional with our food. And sometimes we'll be eating when we're watching TV or eating when we're like stressed or distracted in some way. And then we're done with our meal. It's like, Oh, wait, I didn't even get to enjoy that. Let me go get some more. And it's like, well, your body probably doesn't necessarily need more, but we weren't present in the moment to like fully savor and enjoy it.
Um, and then sometimes when we're stressed and distracted, we just eat. eat too much than what our body actually needs in the moment. And that also can be coupled with eating too fast. So we want to really make an effort to slow down and be present with our meal and be sitting down. And we've talked about this on previous episodes too, like not standing up, like eating over the sink or over the counter, but like really sitting down, uh, to avoid.
Not eating too fast because when we eat too fast, we're probably not chewing our food. Well, so we're not fully digesting it. That's not going to sit well in our stomach. And it takes 20 minutes for our body to sense that we're full and to start sending us fullness cues. And that's not a burden. That's God's grace.
God wants you to sit there for 20 minutes and be present with him in the food that. that he's graced you with and has resourced you with. Um, he wants you to enjoy the experience of eating, um, and use that as a time of consecration to be with him, um, be in communion with him. So when we eat so fast in, in less than 20 or so minutes, like we're not even giving our body an opportunity to send us fullness cue.
So if you eat so much in less than 20 minutes, than that's going to lead to a stomach ache. So we want to make sure that we're not eating too fast and that we're really chewing our food well. And you also want to make sure that you're eating foods that you like and that are satisfying to you because if you're really craving, I always give this example, but um, I think it's really effective if you're craving a burger and fries.
But you feel like you need to, at the restaurant, order the salad because it's the quote unquote healthier option. You might set yourself up for an overeating episode later on due to a lack of satisfaction in that moment because the salad being cold and crunchy wasn't exactly what you were craving in that moment.
You wanted something that was warm and hearty and meaty and, and those sorts of things. And there's different times of the month because of our cycles why we might crave a burger. I always crave burgers when I'm on my period.
Hannah: Same.
Abbie: Yeah, because we need the iron. We need those. We need those minerals and things like that.
So, like, if you have a craving, it's not something to fear. It's something to, to take note of and lean into it. And if you, like, have that burger in the moment, you could finish that and then move on because you're satisfied. And you're, you're, you're fully good. Sometimes, um, this can happen if we, choose like a quote, unquote, like healthier alternative to a traditional dessert.
Um, like if you're really craving ice cream, but you're like, Oh, that's not healthy. Let me make this something I saw on Tik TOK with Greek yogurt and frozen fruit and just blend it up. And it's like, Oh, this tastes okay. It wasn't really ice cream, but it was healthier. Like from that lack of satisfaction, sometimes that can satisfy.
Sometimes these alternatives do taste really good. And if that is how you feel. Please do that. Like if that's if that's what you want, and that's good for you. There's nothing wrong with eating the ice cream as well, but sometimes you're like, Oh, it didn't really scratch that itch that I wanted for that craving.
I really wanted ice cream, but I felt like I couldn't have it because it wasn't as healthy that could set you up to then eat ice cream later, where it would have been better for you to just eat the ice cream and have moved on. Um, so I hope that these things can can help you, um, to just have what we call good eating pathology in the field, things that can help you avoid it.
overeating. However, you can still be falling into gluttony, even if you were doing all of the things that I've mentioned, because it's not always about the eating pathology or the things that you're doing, but it's because you're making food an idol. You're putting food first in place of God, where we know Matthew 6, 33, we need to be seeking first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, keeping God at the center of our lesson and everything else will be added there.
So it's when you put Anything in that place, and anything can be an idol. It could be TV, it could be social media, it could be money, it could be material goods, um, you know, shopping, in addition to, to food. And it's when you're using food as a coping mechanism to self soothe, to exert some, have some form of control, um, yeah, just looking, turning to food when you're not really physically hungry.
Like your physical needs are met. So it's like after that, turning, turning to food to cope and really making that an idol and putting food. in, in a place where, where God, God should be. So instead of turning to bread in those moments, we got to turn to the bread of life.
Hannah: Yeah, absolutely. And we have an episode coming up next week, all about Jesus as the bread of life and our living water.
So tune in for that.
Thank you for joining us on this episode of your daily bread. We hope you found inspiration and practical guidance to nourish your body and soul. Remember the journey to a healthier relationship with food and a deeper connection with Christ is ongoing and we're here to support you every step of the way.
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As we conclude today's episode, we encourage you to take what resonated with you into your quiet time with God, allow God to reveal to you any changes that you can make for his glory, trusting that you are fearfully and wonderfully made in his image. Stay tuned for our next episode where we'll continue to explore how God's word helps us heal our relationship with food in our bodies Until then may you find both physical and spiritual nourishment and may you be filled with his peace and joy.
God bless
