Are You A Glutton?

Sometimes when we overeat we are trying to fill an emptiness in our psyche and soul. We are not really hungry for food we are hungry for something else in our lives.  Sometimes it is love or sex but for the most part we need to feel that we are in alignment with our spiritual goals.  We start overeating. We are unable to act in responsible ways that encourage mental and physical health. Furthermore all of those terrible preservatives and chemicals in junk food and store-bought snack foods can do things to our moods.  We feel depressed and what to eat more and more.

Human are not natural gluttons. We are not bound biologically by a greediness for food, or an insatiable taste for alcohol or coffee. Our ancestors did slaughter animals and pig out when they had to but they were not gluttonous. They only ate what they needed.  Some say that people only ate when they wren starving and did not eat the rest of the time which is one way of losing weight.

Gluttony can be the result of being infuriated at a higher power for not giving them what they want. If you don’t believe in God then you might be stuffing yourself to fill a hollow or disappointed feeling. Stuffing a spiritual void with food when what you really need is to make things right with yourself and others in your life  is like trying to fill up a bottomless pit.  Food is a source of temporary satiation when you feel unhappy but it does not solve all problems. It is like a medicine that relieves the symptoms of a greater malaise and not very well.

One of the ways to address your spiritual hunger is to start putting healthy things in your body. However for that to work we also need to restore ourselves in deeper, more thoughtful ways. We have to begin to realize that our deepest well-being emerges from being less concerned with just ourselves and more concerned with the well-being of others, and the whole. We are shifting our attention away from addictive eating and drinking and learning how to feel more connected to are higher power and to life.

As a side benefit of healthy eating and exercise some people find their entire outlook beginning to improve. They simply are able to control their thoughts, their attitudes and their moods. Many people get more organized which means that they become calmer and are able to organize events like trips to the gym.