Food and Morality

[Aaron]

Some things were brought up about this subject in another forum. I'll preface this by saying that I am about 75 pounds overweight, so I'm not picking on anyone.

It was said that some causes of obesity were medical. I certainly understand that certain medical conditions would make it difficult to lose weight simply because they restrict one's activities. (And my typing here does not burn many calories.)

Here is where I stand, and I would welcome your replies.

1) You can't turn a gram into a kilogram. Impossible. It would violate a fundamental law of physics. A gram of food in the mouth is, well, a gram of food in the body. Your body will burn some of it for energy, it will store some (if you've already eaten enough previous to this gram) and it will simply pass some of that one gram "into the draught" to borrow a biblical phrase. (Anyone who's fed his pets cheap dog food knows what I mean!)

If indeed, one can gain a pound by eating less than a pound (he actually needs to eat MORE than a pound) we need to start feeding him gold coins! I am 75 pounds overweight simply because I've eaten much more food than I needed.

2) I have never heard of anyone who lost weight in a way other than changing his behavior, and it always includes eating less. A diet is a behavior. (Pills that suppress the apetite are merely a way of making it easier to behave.)

I believe that the way we behave with food is a moral issue. So, yes, I have a weakness concerning food. It is a failure of mine, but I'll never overcome it unless I face that fact.

Thoughts?

 

[I Am Blessed 24]

I believe that the way we behave with food is a moral issue.

Aaron, I agree to a point.

My weight problem has come from medication (HRT) AND a lack of exercise (the moral issue).

As people grow older, it is harder for them to lose weight. In fact, it is virtually impossible without exercise.

We also need to find out just WHY our body gains weight.

I can gain weight on a low-fat diet! And a low-fat Twinkie? What's the point???

My body does not gain weight from eating fat. My body gains weight from eating carbohydrates. Therefore, if I eat something which is low-fat, I will gain weight because those products contain more carbs.

I don't believe I sinned this winter, due to circumstances beyond my control. However, when I am ABLE to exercise and I don't; then it becomes a moral problem.

I could not get rid of my 'fluff' this winter because I have Chronic Bronchitis and the resulting problem of difficulty in breathing made it impossible for me to exercise. When the weather turns nice and I can breathe normally again, I will not eat potatoes, pasta, and bread. I will ride my Shwinn for exercise and I will lose weight.

Watch out world....this old granny is gonna be lookin' good!

Blessings,
Sue

 

[donnA]

When I was a teenager in Chicago I had a friend who was 5'6" and weighted about 95 pounds, that girl ate all the time, not sure how she did it,ate way more then I did. Everytime I went to her huse she was eating or preparing food, or had just eaten, if she came to my house she wanted to go out to eat. I never knew this giorl to gain a pound, I on the other hand ate less then her, walked as much as her( like teenagers with no car usually do, no money for the bus), and I was the one who would gain weight. I do believe that although people do gain weight b ecasue of too much food, I also believe some people are genetically predisposed to be over weight. My son struggles and tightly controls how much food he eats but is still about 20 pounds over weight. Likewise my whole family(mother's side) are all over weight.
I don't like diets becasue when you diet you should of coursee loose weight, but that weight loss is not permanet becasue you are going to stop at some point dieting. I don't believe dieting is healthy. No mater the weight loss method it requires you to do something about how you eat. I think the secret is in how you eat, not in what you eat. God didn't create bad food(remember He said they were good), but that we treat them badly when we eat more then we need.

 

[TheOliveBranch]

I agree with Aaron to an extent, also. Helen and Sue are correct also. I, too have put on some weight, since my pre-maternal time. My metabolism has changed, yet I look as my mother and her mother have looked. My reason is not from overeating, nor is it from lack of exercise. I have changed my eating habits, which helps keep my gaining in check, and also helps to loose some.A lifestyle change is the correct term.

My son is 4 years old. He is very underweight, but is starting to gain. He has a defect in his 15th chromosome which causes him to have a growth deficiency, and be underweight temporarily. But this underweight problem will eventually turn to an eating problem. He will gain excessivly, from grams to kilograms, as impossible as it may seem. He has to be on a low fat, lowcarb diet. As an adult, he'll be on a 750 calorie diet. This will keep him from becoming excessivly obese, but he will not be slim. It's not an easy problem for those whose children have this defect. They are affected in different ways, but 99% have a weight problem. I cannot figure out why God has made him this way, but thankful that He has. What I had a hard time dealing with was that we can give his life a pattern that he will follow. I know none of my other children's life patterns, or what they will look like when they grow-up, so it seems unfair that we have to know his, yet greatful that we do. He will have to be very disciplined to follow good eating habits for himself. Not unlike all others who have their own habits, or weaknesses that may be easy for one, yet difficult for another. His eating will be sinful if he allows himself to gain excessivly, even if he has a medical reason. Maybe this will be a "thorn in his flesh". But until he is accountable for his own sinful habits, I will be accountable.

 

[Aaron]

Thanks all. I would like to respond to some of the situations presented here, but I don't feel I can without grating on nerves. Please understand that certainly is not my intent.

So, to avoid the accusation of insensitivity, I will wait till someone gives me specific permission to reply to his or her posts.

Thanks!

 

[I Am Blessed 24]

So, to avoid the accusation of insensitivity, I will wait till someone gives me specific permission to reply to his or her posts.

You can respond to mine Aaron. Just be gentle.

Blessings,
Sue

 

[Artimaeus]

Has anyone heard of a diet (lifestyle change) called First Place? It was started in a Houston church and is spreading across the country. There was an article about it in a recent Reader's Digest. My wife and several people from our church took part in it about 2 years ago. There is a weekly meeting with Bible study and a workbook and ample education about what foods to eat. She lost about 50 lbs in six months. What I found amazing about it was the amount of food she could eat. Her plate usually had more food on it than mine. The primary characteristics are low-fat, NO sugar, and lots of water. Because of the amount of food REQUIRED to eat (lots of it) she didn't go hungry. After the first couple of weeks of going through sugar withdrawl (really). She mentally still wanted "snacks", but, because she wasn't actually hungry, she could resist them.

web page is here

 

[donnA]

Originally posted by Aaron:
Thanks all. I would like to respond to some of the situations presented here, but I don't feel I can without grating on nerves. Please understand that certainly is not my intent.

So, to avoid the accusation of insensitivity, I will wait till someone gives me specific permission to reply to his or her posts.

Thanks!

Aaron I do appreciate that. I've been over weight all my life. It is something I was taugght as a young child. My dad always made us eat what was on our plates and brought home sweets everynight. We were trained to overeat. So as a result I have been sensative to my weight all my life, I can remember being made fun of even before I was old enough to got to school. After svhool of course it never stoped.

 

[donnA]

Originally posted by Artimaeus:
Has anyone heard of a diet (lifestyle change) called First Place? It was started in a Houston church and is spreading across the country. There was an article about it in a recent Reader's Digest. My wife and several people from our church took part in it about 2 years ago. There is a weekly meeting with Bible study and a workbook and ample education about what foods to eat. She lost about 50 lbs in six months. What I found amazing about it was the amount of food she could eat. Her plate usually had more food on it than mine. The primary characteristics are low-fat, NO sugar, and lots of water. Because of the amount of food REQUIRED to eat (lots of it) she didn't go hungry. After the first couple of weeks of going through sugar withdrawl (really). She mentally still wanted "snacks", but, because she wasn't actually hungry, she could resist them.

web page is here

I did a program called Thin Within, a christian weight loss/descipleship program. It doesn't limit the foods I could eat, but teaches how to determine when I could eat and for how long. Which is something people who are classic overeaters, who've been taugth to overeat don't have, the ability to tell when it's time to stop eating, and when the stomach actaully needs food. I do not like diets, becasue number one they tell you food God creared and called good is actually bad. Number two, you are never going to stay on a diet the rest of your life.

 

[stubbornkelly]

What I've found is that many people talk about being hungry when they're on a reduction diet, but they really just want food, or different kinds of food. So many Americans are trained to eat certain things at certain times and we don't allow ourselves to get hungry . . .

I know I have a weakness for certain foods, so I don't keep them in the house. If I want ice cream, I go across the street to Ben & Jerry's and get a cone; I don't buy a pint or a half gallon that will sit in the freezer and laugh at me.

Moral issue . . . it can be, definitely.

 

[donnA]

Your right Kelly, I have a passion for chocolate pudding, and I never buy it.
We are taught to eat at certain times of the day and then go through life eating even when we aren't hungry just becasue the clock says it's time to eat. I usually eat only twic a day now,a nd occasianally have a small snack in the late afternoon.

 

[Dr. Bob]

Diet and Climate. Grows good christians and good churches, too.

At 23 when married and finishing grad school, I was 6'5" and 145. I kid you not. And ate everything in sight.

At 53 I was still 6'5" and 295. (That's pounds, not stones for you brits)

Began a conscious plan of exercise and restriction of fat, since that was a problem in my blood. Down to 250 on the way down to 225 as a goal. A pound every 2 weeks is NOT dramatic, but sensible and a "keep off" mode (as contrasted to crash diets).

Being overwight sapped my physical strength. Much of it caused by severe illness that stopped all activity (except Cheetos). Already feeling much better. It IS a moral defeat to be "out of control".

That said, I for one am thankful I am not female. A lifetime of Estrogen kicking in (making a soft home for a baby) plays a number on middle-aged women. My wife can exercise TWICE as much and eat HALF as much, and not match the weekly weight loss.

Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but only one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may win. And everyone who competes in the games exercises self-control in all things. They then do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. Therefore I run in such a way, as not without aim; I box in such a way, as not beating the air; but I buffet my body and make it my slave, lest possibly, after I have preached to others, I myself should be disqualified.

 

[Johnv]

I believe that the way we behave with food is a moral issue.

Most definitely. Abuse of food is one of the most common, yet one of the most accepted, forms of abuse among Christians, imo.

We use food to not only supply us with nutrients, but give us emotional comfort. This has the potential of being spiritually as wellas physically damaging.

This coming from a guy who just downed A 20oz Vanilla Coke!

All those who agree with me, raise your coffee and Krispy Kreme dougnut in the air.

Johnv

 

[Abiyah]

Okay. All of you have given me the impetus to get
on the stick and start dieting. I need to lose 50 -
60 pounds. Today is my first day.

I considered my eating problems and came down
to these. My dieting problems are:
</font>

• Not taking the time to eat</font>
• Not eating right when I do eat</font>
• Chocolate</font>
• Extreme, continuous thirst and
  dislike of local water</font>
• Unbalanced diet</font>
• An extreme need for calcium
  to ease leg cramps</font>
• Living with pain since accidents
  and thus too little exercise</font>

My first day has not been totally successful,
because once again, I have not taken the time to
eat. However, I did drink a 12-ounce can of V-8,
and I drank 36 ounces of water. I also made a
little daily chart to help me stay on-track. For
dinner, I am having salmon, vegies, and fruit with
more water. That's not too bad for a sudden
decision to start dieting.

 

[Johnv]

As much as I joke about my taste in snackfoods, my advice is to not take up a diet and take up a "healthy eating and excercise" plan. that's what I've done, not so much to lose weight / gain muscle, but more to reduce the stress daily living puts on my body.

 

[TheOliveBranch]

I've got nerves of steel, Aaron, so grate all you want. I wouldn't accuse you of being insensitive, either. So, permission granted.

 

[donnA]

I can see it now, Dr. Bob, 6'5", little bow tie.

 

[Abiyah]

Well, thanks to you people, my first day was
somewhat of a success, even though I drank 64
ounces of water and I am still dying of thirst, and
I did not get my salmon -- I had to settle for a
Hebrew frank instead.

I have no idea how many calories I had, but I got
at least 8 grams of fiber, no sugar, 1.5 fruits, 1.5
vegetables, and two slices of whole wheat bread
with my frank. That is a lot of food!

But what am I to do about the thirst???

- - - - - - - - - - -

In the light of day, I realize that was not much food;
I am eating almost that much for breakfast alone
today -- V-8, tuna, and a slice of whole wheat
toast.

[ April 01, 2003, 11:09 AM: Message edited by: Abiyah ]

 

[WonderingOne]

Abiyah, have you had your blood sugar checked recently? Excessive thirst is a sympton of undiagnosed Type II diabetis. A high blood sugar level will also cause you to feel hungry, as your body is not efficiently converting your blood sugars to energy.

As for excessive weight being an issue of self-control, I am living proof that this is not always the case. Seven years ago I was 5'5" tall, and weighed 140 lbs. Since then I have had two strokes, and have been diagnosed with a bad thyroid, type 2 diabetis, and rhematoid arthritis. My physical activity is limited to moving slowly from room to room by holding onto the walls. When I go out, I have to use a wheelchair. I am still 5'5" tall, but I no longer weight 140 lbs, even though I now eat much less than I did before the physical problems began. Since my first stroke in 1996, I have gained about 120 lbs. Because of the diabetis, I never eat sweets, and I eat very few carbohydrates. It seems pretty obvious to me that my excess weight is caused by a lack of exercise, but I have no control over this. The strokes did not take my ability to speak or think, PRAISE THE LORD, but they have severely restricted my mobility. Aaron, please feel free to comment on my situation

 

[Aaron]

Thank you all for your replies (and permissions! )

I've been out of the loop for day or so. First of all, Abiyah. Yes, get medical attention about that thirst! 64 ozs! When my brother-in-law began to stop drinking soda, he was thirsty all the time. He just carried a cup of water with him all the time, but eventually things evened up.

I know what you mean about not liking the water!

My inlaws have very hard, mineral-rich water and it is nasty! They make tea with it all the time to mask the taste.