May 11, 2000

Don Hawley

The United States has a serious health problem—fat. More than half of Americans now are overweight, and a deplorable percentage of those are obese. This may not be a popular problem for discussion, but we need to face up to it.

Some might be thinking, "What has this topic got to do with a ministry dedicated to spiritual matters?" Quite a bit, I think. Most obesity results from overeating, and significant overeating is gluttony, and according to the Bible gluttony is a sin. This might be a good time to read another article on this web site titled, "Gluttony, the Sin No One Talks About."

Adam and Eve were the crowning act of God in creation. I’m sure there’s never been a more handsome man or a more beautiful woman than the first pair. Thousands of years of sin have left their mark on us, and while we don’t look like the original couple, we shouldn’t willingly disfigure what God designed us to be.

God has commanded us not to kill, and that includes self-murder. Obesity causes many serious health problems, even death. Overeating, like smoking, can be suicide on the installment plan.

Since our body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, we are obligated before God to take care of it to the best of our knowledge and ability. Obesity doesn’t present a good witness.

I wish I could taste some of the fruit of the Garden of Eden. I’m not sure I could identify it with anything available today, good as some of it may be. Obviously, eating was meant to be one of God’s great gifts to mankind, but the devil has determined to make it a curse instead. Since we aren’t likely to deliberately starve ourselves to death, his plan is to push us into overeating.

We’re not dealing here with a salvation issue, but one about Christian living. Will there be smokers in heaven? Multitudes of them, but smoking is still a bad, dangerous and expensive habit. And I don’t believe there’ll be a single place in heaven where the redeemed can pick up a pack of cigarettes. Of course one can quit smoking, but one can hardly refrain from eating. So?

Society in general has chosen to deal with this problem by embracing it. Since obesity is so pervasive and difficult to deal with, it must be acceptable. For example, on the news yesterday I learned one large city just passed a law stating that eating establishments no longer can have chairs with arms on them. In other words, change the chairs not the people.

Merely changing the chairs is not good enough for the Christian. In Christ we can become what he desires us to be. It’s true that

However, it is also true that

It’s time we give full recognition to the last fruit of the Spirit, rather than ignoring it.

From a previous text we know that "self-control" is not something we manage in our own strength, but only in Christ. However, God is not going to exercise such power on our behalf unless we first make a determined choice to do the right thing.

Having made that decision, it would be presumptuous merely to sit back and wait for the Lord to slim us down. This is a cooperative venture (unlike the gift of salvation), and we need to change our lifestyle to conform to what we know about healthful living. If we’re obese it’s likely due to breaking the laws of health, and we need to make changes in our eating patterns.

While living in Pakistan for a number of years I noticed an interesting pattern. The many, many poor are almost uniformly slim, while the few wealthy tend to be uniformly fat. In fact, obesity seems to be welcomed as a sign of affluence.

My observations drew me to certain conclusions. As is the case in the United States, people’s taste buds seem to crave fat and sugar. In Pakistan the fat of choice is "ghee," which is clarified butter. I’ve seen curry dishes with as much as an inch of ghee floating on the surface.

The poor of that country simply can’t afford as much ghee and sugar as they might like to consume. Instead, their daily fare is likely to consist mainly of lentils and unleavened whole wheat bread (chapatti). With the addition of a little milk, this forms a highly nutritious diet. And a diet that simply won’t put on the pounds. It seems to me that God has taken good care of the poor as far as eating is concerned—providing they can get enough calories.

With the wealthy it’s a different picture. They can afford to lay on the ghee and sugar, and they do. The result is that most of them look like the growing number of obese in America. The unfortunate thing is that even the poor in our country have easy access to fat and sugar.

Anyone acquainted with French cuisine is aware that it’s a very rich diet using large amounts of sugar and fat. And yet the French stay relatively slim, very few are obese. Citizens of that country have only a third of the heart attacks we suffer in the U.S. What is the life-saving difference? Here are some important clues.

One might think the French aren’t much interested in food, but just the opposite is true. To the Frenchman food is much more important than it is to the average American. They savor their food bite by bite, rather than stuffing in huge mouthfuls. A meal is something that should last an enjoyable time, rather than something to be rushed. Americans are not going to be deprived of a meal even if they have to eat it on the run. The French would rather postpone a meal until they can sit down and give the food the attention it deserves. They’re not fast food addicts.

Eating slowly permits one’s body to signal when it has had enough. No doubt you’ve been called away from a meal before you were finished. Later you realized that your "appestat" had kicked in, and you really didn’t need any more than what you had already eaten. The idea is to leave the table before you feel "full."

Eating establishments in France spend ample time preparing food, and present it in an attractive manner. Since they use plenty of butter and cream, one’s palate can easily be satiated without consuming large amounts of food. Even more important, they serve very small portions so one is less tempted to overeat.

One of the greatest problems in America leading to obesity is the amount of food served at a meal. Establishments brag about what huge portions they serve. "All you can eat" buffets invite gorging; we have to get our money’s worth. And once the body gets used to being stuffed every mealtime, it demands still more of the same. To cooperate with this trend toward oversupply, is to virtually assure that obesity will result.

For health’s sake, most restaurant offerings should be cut in half. However, since profits are the bottom line, it’s seldom possible to ask for half orders. It took some time, but Bunnie and I now order one meal and share it without blushing. Our health is more important than going along with the crowd.

Since one can’t always control the amount of food served, it’s important to quit eating when one has had enough. That’s not easy for someone my age, raised during depression days. To leave food on the plate still seems almost immoral. Of course growing up we were reminded to clean our plates because of "all the starving children in China." When we got old enough to realize that eating every bite on our plate didn’t do anything for China’s hungry people, we laughed away the concept.

Actually, for the Christian it isn’t funny. While you’ve been reading this article, an almost unbelievable number of people have starved to death in other parts of the world. God cares, and so should we. In significant ways our food waste does contribute to severe starvation on earth. The next time you visit an "all you can eat" buffet, note the mounds of food relegated to the trash can. While it’s not wise to "clean our plate" after we’ve eaten enough, neither is it acceptable to ladle onto our plates more than we can possibly consume just because its legal.

People who are slim shouldn’t point the finger at others who are not. Those enjoying proper weight also have areas of their life where they are failing—it’s just that their weaknesses aren’t as obvious to others.

Obesity in the United States is at epidemic proportions, and sickness and death will take their toll unless we face up to this challenge. Ignoring, or embracing, the problem is no solution at all.