I recently read a blog post about the Seven Deadly Dwarfs...I mean Sins. To sum it up (spoiler alert) the blogger stated that the sin of gluttony is usually ranked last while lust is usually ranked first. To tell the truth, usually when we might begin discussing the sin of gluttony it's usually over dinner at The Cheesecake Factory and not after reading one of those blog posts on Yahoo! health of Eat This, Not That. At the gym today, I came to the realization that I needed to confess to God my sin of gluttony. It's been a hard last few months. Back in March, I wrote about my struggle with anxiety and stress and how I dealt with it. This was especially so because of the circumstances that I was in. (You can check out that post here). I had been covering up the cracks of pain with Pilsbury Chocolate Frosting, using it as a mortar to try to build something substantial to hold me together. 10lbs later, I'm realizing that's not a good idea. It started innocently enough, but now that my stomach hurts from my pants cutting into it as I sit down to write this, I realize how vicious gluttony truly is.
The pictures above, to the left and below are from the manga inspired Anime show called Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood. (warning: The show does have violence, serious topics and language in it)Part of the premise of the show is that the seven deadly sins are personified in creatures called homunculi. Way too much backstory to get into right now. But suffice it to say that the Seven Deadly Sins live up to their names. The character Gluttony is a tragic figure. He is so innocently evil. He has an all consuming never ending hunger and just wishes to eat. He is vicious but is so innocent at the same time. (Spoiler alert) It's hard not to feel sorry for him later on in the series when he dies. He is evil and is all consuming and in the end, he is consumed by a fellow homunculus. His final cries stick with you. He is so trusting of his fellow sins and is shocked when he is destroyed. It is a sad ending to a vicious sin.
The problem I've found with gluttony in my life is that it truly is innocently evil. It truly is all consuming. I've learned that I am a compulsive eater. But why is that considered a deadly sin? Each of the Seven Deadly Dwarfs...I mean Sins deals with something that in moderation and with limitations generally fuels our base instincts. Yet when it becomes the center piece of our very existence, it pushes Christ from our center and forces us to focus on something else instead for our only comfort in life and in death. For me, it became food. And it is still all consuming. It still is a struggle. Is food itself bad? No. Is loving delicious foods and enjoying their flavor bad? No. But allowing it become my comfort in times of need isn't good and that is shown in my waist line as of yet.
So I push on. The last two weeks I've done straight cardio and am once again hitting the weights. Slowly but surely I will consume gluttony with health. I hope I might be able to create newer habits of dealing with my stress.
How about you? Has a coping method become something more consuming that it ought? How have you dealt with it?
