Is Dessert a Food Group?

Gluttony is an emotional escape, a sign something is eating us.  Peter De Vries

Definition of Glutton: a person with a remarkably great desire or capacity for something: a glutton for work; a glutton for punishment.

I confess.  I had a gluttony episode yesterday and this is how it went.  I was really good at lunch and had two slices of chicken and several slices of cheese.  I have been trying to watch what I eat so this was really good. 

Then it happened.  I decided to stop on my way home to get something to eat.  My first thought was I would go by Pot Belly Subs and get a skinny.  I know, I know, the name alone conjures up visions of a pot belly pig but they do have great subs and if you get a skinny they cut out a lot of the bread, meat and cheese so you get less starch, fat and calories. 

Well, I got distracted.  I drove by the Nestle Toll House store.  Big mistake!   It was like my car had a mind of its own and went on autopilot.  Instead of getting a skinny I got chocolate chip cookies.  I did go out on a limb and get my daily intake of calcium, (I bought a large milk).  So for dinner I had two chocolate chip cookies and milk.  I guess I could have been even more of a glutton and rounded it out with a baker’s dozen. The thing is once I walked in there it was like I was in front of a cookie buffet.  I walked out of there with 3 chocolate chip cookies, 3 peanut butter cookies and something they call a peanut butter cup.  This is a cookie baked around chocolate fudge with caramel drizzled on top.  I am surprised I only ate two cookies.  The really stupid thing is I asked the lady if she had 2% milk.  As soon as I said it I knew how dumb that sounded.  I just bought 10,000 calories and I am going to supplement it with 2% milk.   

The older I get the more things have a tendency to spread in the wrong direction and I have a major sweet tooth.  I would rather go straight to dessert and skip the meal.  This is not healthy by any means, but it is a weakness of mine.  The thing is we can become a glutton for anything.  This means anything we crave in extreme measures.  We can be a glutton for work, food, cars, homes, drugs and just about anything else.

In the story of Jacob and Esau, there were two things at work.  One was greed and the other gluttony.  Esau was hungry and couldn’t control his craving for food.  Jacob was greedy and wanted Esau’s birthright.  Esau was willing to sell the rights he had as the first born to inherit his father’s estate, for a bowl of stew.

I am going to work on this.  Having told you all about it, this will help hold me accountable when I pass the Nestle store. I will update you soon to let you know how I am doing.     

 

Prayer for the Day: Father, I am often led by food cravings.  I struggle with eating foods that are not good for me.  Our bodies are temples created by You and we should care for them as such.  Please help me overcome the cravings I have for the sweets in this life. 

  

Scripture:    Now Jacob cooked a stew; and Esau came in from the field, and he was weary.  And Esau said to Jacob, “Please feed me with that same red stew, for I am weary.” Therefore his name was called Edom.  But Jacob said, “Sell me your birthright as of this day.”  And Esau said, “Look, I am about to die; so what is this birthright to me?”  Then Jacob said, “Swear to me as of this day.” So he swore to him, and sold his birthright to Jacob.   And Jacob gave Esau bread and stew of lentils; then he ate and drank, arose, and went his way. Thus Esau despised his birthright. Genesis 25:29-34