I have a problem with over eating. Some times I manage it better than others. There is a medicine I take that affects my blood sugar and metabolism that makes it harder to control sometimes. When is my eating gluttony and when is it due to my medicine? I dont know. I try to be responsible but it is hard.

It's not your fault if your medicines make you want to eat. CCC 1734 "Freedom makes man responsible for his acts to the extent that they are voluntary".


Fr Kenobi says: Gluttony is an inordinate longing for food and drink, and it's almost never mortally sinful. Even the Hunger Games (stolen from the Romans) practice of throwing up so you can eat more is not in and of itself mortally sinful (don't do it). The odds that you will sin mortally through pride and gluttony are minimal. Don't spend energy and attention worrying about it. Believe it or not, too much fussing and worry is actually worse for your spiritual life than eating that extra donut would be.

Food cravings are almost always the result of some kind of vitamin or other deficiency, talk to a doctor and a dietician to find out what it is that you're missing from your diet, but don't actually worry about it.

Why are pride and gluttony considered deadly sins if they are almost never mortally sinful?

Food in the time spans of Scripture was different than it is now.

There were people who were literally starving to death everywhere. Famine like that us unknown to us sleek, fat Americans. We live where we can waste food every meal and we are not taking it away from anyone. You can see how gluttony could be mortally sinful if someone is starving right outside your door or outside your city gates.

Imagine now, the Asian Crested Ibis is one of the rarest birds on earth. Imagine I decided to send out a team to kill every one of them so I could fry em up and eat them at my kid's birthday party, or killing the last white rino just so I can have a BBQ with Kanye, that might move over to gluttony?

I think we today are far more likely to commit the sin of gluttony over things that are not food. I know people who literally watch TV every waking hour, that feels a lot like gluttony to me.

Because you don't understand what is meant by calling it a 'deadly' (or more accurately 'capital') sin.

So please explain what it does mean

Thank you for asking. I wasn't going to just go off a rant on the topic, I wanted you to ask before I explained. Call it the Socratic method.

The seven capital sins are seven categories of behavior which can lead to mortal sin if indulged in or allowed to fester. The seven categories are vices which are 'deadly' (bad word) or 'capital' (better word) because they are things which lead to other sins.

Let's look at one you didn't ask about: lust. Does this mean that if a person feels lust, it is a mortal sin? No. Feeling an emotion is not a sin in and of itself. We are not 'in charge' of our emotions. Our emotions are in charge of us. If we feel a certain way, we aren't necessarily responsible for that. But we are responsible for what we do as a result of that emotion. So, lust is a capital sin, but it leads to other sins, like adultery.

The principle here is what Jesus outlined in the Sermon on the Mount in the series of 'you have heard it said....but I say to you that' sayings. In these sayings, Jesus did not mean that the things he outlined really were the exact moral equivalent of the sins he condemns, he is saying that if we are serious about wanting to avoid sin, then we should make an effort to avoid the things that lead to sin. So, since lust leads to adultery, avoid any situation that causes you to feel lust.


Another example is anger. Why is anger listed among the capital sins? Is it because anger is itself a sin? No. It is because anger leads to other sins, such as hatred, malice, spite, revenge, and murder. So if you're serious about wanting to avoid those sins, you will try to avoid anger because anger leads to all the other sins.

You remember what Yoda said? 'Fear leads to anger, anger leads to hate, hate leads to suffering.' This is a good Catholic principle, if you want to avoid hate, then avoid anger which leads to hate, and avoid fear which leads to anger.

Among the pre-Christian rabbis, this was called 'putting a fence around the Torah', i.e. to avoid violating the divine law, avoid behaviors that lead you to violate the law.

Or, as the Church puts it, to avoid sin, 'avoid the near occasion of sin.' So, what specific occasions of sin should you seek to avoid? Well, you can't go wrong if you try to avoid the 7 categories of vice known as 'the capital sins.'

Thank you. Good explanation.