This topic is perched out there as though it were an article of clothing with a “one size fits all” tag. There is no such thing, nor does every overweight person have the same issue. Surprise, surprise, not every overweight person is unhappy with himself.

I would suspect that everyone who answered this question with a yes is really thin. Well, from a personal rather than a scientific perspective, let me say that almost all of my “thin” friends have had hysterectomies, and many have had multiple health problems, far more than I, who have battled weight since having my first child. When going out to eat with thin friends, I find that as often as not, I eat less than they do.

Please note that the question addressed here is not “are obese beople gluttons?”. It is “Are overweight people gluttons?”. Perhaps the person who introduced the topic was just being politically correct; however, we must address the question as it is asked.

Chubbies on my paternal side of the family go way back. It could be Irish blood, some sort of genetic predisposition, or it could be that all of the women have been good cooks and we all enjoy the taste of food. In the latter case, it is not the amount of food that we eat, but what we eat. When I was very small, I remember my mother baking a cream pie almost every day. She was known far and wide for her pies, but she was always trim and fit and lived to be almost 96. In the 1950s middle class home a meal was not a meal without dessert. That is a difficult habit to break.

Food is a great comfort to many people. It is not always a conscious choice to eat; it just happens. Some eat when they are happy, sad, stressed, or lonely. Comfort foods are not raw vegetables! Nine times out of ten a good comfort food will contain plenty of starch. Inability to cope with life events drive some to alcohol, some to pills, some to food and others to God, which is certainly more productive than any of the others.

My son is a country singer, and I notice a lot of overweight people at his shows, especially the festivals. It has occurred to me that even lite beer is fattening and full of empty calories when one ingests a six to twelve pack at a sitting. Yet after I had my first child through a long arduous delivery, my milk had no substance. My doctor recommended drinking a beer thirty minutes before each nursing to enrich the milk. Fortunately, it tasted pretty foul to me, so there was little chance of continuing after she was weaned.

Another side of this coin is that eating is a very social thing to do, especially for protestants. There are potlucks, eating out after Sunday morning worship, going for ice cream after Sunday evening worship (and sometimes after the mid-week service). There are pie and coffee Bible Studies. Every activity among church families seems to include some sort of food. Those of us who work full time generally eat out several times per week. Anything other than fast food either takes too long or costs too much.

Being overweight is not as unhealthy as diet pills, fad diets, and rigid exercise, all three of which friends of mine have suffered from. A balanced diet is one of the most important things one can do for himself. That includes plenty of fruits and vegetables and only a little sugar and starch, but sugar and starch to a small degree need to be part of one’s diet.
Extremism is never the answer. Ofthen just the word diet makes one ravenous for fattening food. Lots of overweight people do not drink enough water and drink too many other things.

Aspertame in diet foods and drinks is all but lethal. I know persons who have gotten fibromyalgia, rheumatoid arthritis and other joint diseases as well as viurlent headaches all at least partially attributable to Aspertame. I read on line just recently that it may contribute to weight gain.

Most persons who are overweight would like to be otherwise, particularly females. I have noticed lately that there are fewer “Twiggys” in entertainment these days. Perhaps this will relieve some of the stigma of being less than thin. Perhaps overweight people can begin to buy stylish clothes off the rack if models begin to be a little heftier.

My husband is very thin and always has been. When we married over forty years ago he was too thin, but he smoked non-filter cigarettes and often smoked in place of eating. He put on some weight after he quit smoking 39 years ago, but not an excessive amount. He just didn’t look like a victim of starvation any more. He is a junk food junkie, but it never affects his weight. He is pushing seventy years old and has probably been sick twice in ten years. If I ate what he eats, I would be rolling instead of walking. Chemistry is an amazing thing. Scientists have been working on this problem forever, but there are few definitive studies on why people can eat the same exact diet and one be overweight and the other thin.

The obvious argument is metabolism, but science has proved that metabolism can be sped up or slowed down, so it really doesn’t hold up as a basic excuse for being overweight. Part of the problem is probably that we sit in front of computers and televisions far too much.

I suggest we learn to look at the heart of a person rather than the externals. I would much rather be with a person who has inner beauty rather than outer beauty. These are not, of course, mutually exclusive. I know many people who are both. America, and other cultures too, are overly obsessed with “looks”. The plastic surgery business is booming. Cosmetic and skin care product sales are through the roof and are exorbitantly expensive - $25.00 for an eyebrow pencil - really! The importance of outward appearance in this country has led to serious eating disorders among some (often very young people) that are permanently debilitating. Gluttony is a problem in this country, but not just of food. We are a population that obsesses about any number of things, including prescription medications.

Let’s give our fellow man a chance to show his inner self before we judge him on his outer self.