Does anyone know any clever ways to overcome gluttony and intemperance?

[Gnarwhal]

I have been a slave to fast food for 15 years now. I eat it every day, often twice a day and I only eat two meals (I'm not a breakfast eater).

It's shameful, it's harmful in more ways than one, and I don't know how to stop. I've tried soft approaches and I've tried to be radical but the way my brain works is anytime I try to control my diet with something like this I just get defiant and find a way to get what I want as soon as possible.

Sins of lust and pride and wrath are often the subject of people's advice in books and podcasts and such but this may be my biggest struggle. Any suggestions and advice for this childish vice of mine would be appreciated.

 

[Diamond7]

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

If you are experiencing chest pain, heart palpitations, or shortness of breath, you might have developed clogged arteries. If you do not seek treatment, this issue can cause you to have a heart attack or stroke. Even after a heart attack and surgery it is difficult for people to change their diet. My brother has very sore wrists from the surgery to remove the blood clots. Why don't you ask your doctor to send you to the diet classes they have for people who have had heart attacks. At least find out how you should be eating. Anyone that eats fast food three or more times a week is going to have health issues. Dr Ornish has done all the research on diet. His program works for a lot of different diseases. Although designed to prevent heart attack his program also helps with cancer, diabetes, Parkinson's and so on. Everyone has to develop their own diet and you should at least research how you should be eating and then anything that improves your eating is better that nothing. Even if you can just do enough to give yourself a few more days of not being sick or not being in the hospital.

 

[Gnarwhal]

If you are experiencing chest pain, heart palpitations, or shortness of breath, you might have developed clogged arteries. If you do not seek treatment, this issue can cause you to have a heart attack or stroke. Even after a heart attack and surgery it is difficult for people to change their diet. My brother has very sore wrists from the surgery to remove the blood clots. Why don't you ask your doctor to send you to the diet classes they have for people who have had heart attacks. At least find out how you should be eating. Anyone that eats fast food three or more times a week is going to have health issues. Dr Ornish has done all the research on diet. His program works for a lot of different diseases. Although designed to prevent heart attack his program also helps with cancer, diabetes, Parkinson's and so on. Everyone has to develop their own diet and you should at least research how you should be eating and then anything that improves your eating is better that nothing. Even if you can just do enough to give yourself a few more days of not being sick or not being in the hospital.

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I'm not experiencing any adverse health affects, not yet anyway, I'm more needing to overcome the mental and spiritual aspect of gluttony.

 

[Michie]

Just from a common sense aspect, I’d start meal planning. Your wife could help. Prep some food to take with you to cut back on the junk. If you are grazing you are less likely to make poor choices come meal time. If you go out to eat, make healthy choices. Avoid all fast food joints. Not only are they awful for you but it’s highway robbery. Just avoiding them will save you a lot of money. Fast food tastes like slop imo.

 

[Gnarwhal]

Just from a common sense aspect, I’d start meal planning. Your wife could help. Prep some food to take with you to cut back on the junk. If you are grazing you are less likely to make poor choices come meal time. If you go out to eat, make healthy choices. Avoid all fast food joints. Not only are they awful for you but it’s highway robbery. Just avoiding them will save you a lot of money. Fast food tastes like slop imo.

That might be part of my problem, I've never been a snacky guy. I just go big on my main meals. But yeah fast food has been very literally about 95% of my diet since 2008 or so. I just don't like to cook or make sandwiches or anything and then the other problem is my schedule is different from the rest of my family. They eat breakfast at like noon or 1pm and my brain's been ready for lunch since 11:30.

 

[Michie]

That might be part of my problem, I've never been a snacky guy. I just go big on my main meals. But yeah fast food has been very literally about 95% of my diet since 2008 or so. I just don't like to cook or make sandwiches or anything and then the other problem is my schedule is different from the rest of my family. They eat breakfast at like noon or 1pm and my brain's been ready for lunch since 11:30.

Healthy grazing is big secret to a healthier diet and wiser food choices because you are not starving when meal time comes. Don’t go for the so-called healthy foods like power bars, etc. that are more sugary than a candy bar. I graze on grapes, hard cheeses, natural peanut butter, boiled eggs, cashews, etc. throw in a cooler and go. Mealtime rolls around you won’t be so eager to consume fast food.

 

[Diamond7]

I'm not experiencing any adverse health affects, not yet anyway, I'm more needing to overcome the mental and spiritual aspect of gluttony.

It is going to effect your health. I can say with 100% certainty your future self is begging you to stop destroying your health. Actually it is effecting your health now, you just are not aware or do not want to admit it. We tend to be self destructive and it is difficult to get ourselves to take better care of us. I was working with the winos when I was 15. 90% of them die from their alcoholism. I do not even know why the 10% that stop drinking stop. I guess they decided to choose life instead of death. I remember my dentist telling me that there is nothing wrong with McDonalds, he eats breakfast there all the time. He died from a heart attack. But I am still here and alive and telling people to quit eating at McDonalds. Find something somewhere, anything that is more healthy and good for you. That is why we are told to love ourself and be good to ourselves.

 

[Diamond7]

Healthy grazing is big secret to a healthier diet and wiser food choices because you are not starving when meal time comes.

Exactly, you can eat all you want to eat. Just eat the right food. This is not about denial, this is about making the right choice to choose life.

This day I call the heavens and the earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live. Deuteronomy 30:19

 

[Chrystal-J]

I started a diet that's supposed to improve "mental clarity" and helps you lose weight. I go on YouTube and watch different speakers explain the diet. Knowing that others are doing the diet with success really motivates me. I'm doing the Keto diet. You don't feel deprived with this diet because you can eat a lot of good foods.

 

[fide]

I have been a slave to fast food for 15 years now. I eat it every day, often twice a day and I only eat two meals (I'm not a breakfast eater).

It's shameful, it's harmful in more ways than one, and I don't know how to stop. I've tried soft approaches and I've tried to be radical but the way my brain works is anytime I try to control my diet with something like this I just get defiant and find a way to get what I want as soon as possible.

Sins of lust and pride and wrath are often the subject of people's advice in books and podcasts and such but this may be my biggest struggle. Any suggestions and advice for this childish vice of mine would be appreciated.

The victory over the flesh is in our death, with Christ, that we might live with Him and in Him.
I advise you, and us all, to offer time in front of the Cross of Christ, and listen to this passage:

1Jn 2:15 Do not love the world or the things in the world. If any one loves the world, love for the Father is not in him.
1Jn 2:16 For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the pride of life, is not of the Father but is of the world.
1Jn 2:17 And the world passes away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides for ever.

There is a long bridge across those verses. We easily acknowledge them, recognize them, give mental assent to them - but to believe them in the sense of obedience, of living them - that is truly death to the old man and we resist that like a man fighting for his life. And it is exactly that: the old man is fighting for his life. The victory is in the Cross. Jesus showed us the way. He IS the way, and the Truth, and the Life.

If anyone wants His Life, he must hate - hate - hate - the hold that any and every form of self-idolatrous lust has upon us and say NO to it, to the ugly suicidal addiction that it is. NO to the evil one, and to the enemy within, there at foot of the Cross, at the feet of Jesus our Lord.

Words are cheap. Life is free - and freeing - and costs everything else. May the Lord have mercy on us all, in His saving grace.

 

[JSRG]

I have been a slave to fast food for 15 years now. I eat it every day, often twice a day and I only eat two meals (I'm not a breakfast eater).

It's shameful, it's harmful in more ways than one, and I don't know how to stop. I've tried soft approaches and I've tried to be radical but the way my brain works is anytime I try to control my diet with something like this I just get defiant and find a way to get what I want as soon as possible.

Sins of lust and pride and wrath are often the subject of people's advice in books and podcasts and such but this may be my biggest struggle. Any suggestions and advice for this childish vice of mine would be appreciated.

It's a little unclear exactly what you're referring to as the issue--is it the fact you only eat fast food and want to eat a wider variety, or is it that you eat too much food and are overweight?

If the issue is losing weight, then you might be best looking into information on how to do it, if you haven't already. I asked someone who used to be quite overweight but slimmed down and got into shape what advice they'd have, and they said a big thing is keeping track of the amount of calories you're consuming and not going over the proper amount.

If the issue is more specifically that you're not having an issue with gaining weight (you do say you only eat two meals) but want to eat healthier foods, that's a trickier one, because a lot of the healthy food, at least to me, doesn't taste all that great (I'll admit, my diet is nowhere near as good as it should be). Best thing there might be to just try different kinds of food and see if you can find a healthier one that tastes good to you.

Maybe make an appointment with a nutritionist?

 

[Paidiske]

It seems to me that the key is probably in your words; "I just get defiant."

Something is prompting that reaction. Probably - my guess would be - that controlling your diet is in some way rubbing up against a sore spot in your psyche, and the defiance is something of a protective mechanism. But one that isn't actually serving you well, in this instance.

I'd recommend therapy, ideally with someone who specialises in weight loss and healthy eating issues, to see if you can unpack what's behind that and find some other way to address the underlying issue. Because until you do, you're likely to keep running into the same barrier.

 

[Michie]

I just have an off the wall thought I have been having since Gnarwhal started this thread… a lot of people have a feast or famine concept. Starve till the meal where you feel free to overindulge and make poor choices or ‘Don’t eat that or you’ll spoil your supper!’ mindset. We seem to have a dysfunctional relationship with food. Our priorities are not what they should be. I understand being on the go to provide for our needs but I think a lot of our food issues come from out addiction to convenience and expectations. It’s not a blanket statement but something to consider. We are programmed in many ways to not even think about our choices. We are just doing what we are conditioned to. We need to think outside the box when it comes to what we eat and what we want out of life. There are many ways to get around things when it comes to our well-being other than what we have been conditioned to.

 

[Gnarwhal]

Healthy grazing is big secret to a healthier diet and wiser food choices because you are not starving when meal time comes. Don’t go for the so-called healthy foods like power bars, etc. that are more sugary than a candy bar. I graze on grapes, hard cheeses, natural peanut butter, boiled eggs, cashews, etc. throw in a cooler and go. Mealtime rolls around you won’t be so eager to consume fast food.

For a while I was keeping bags or containers of trail mix around. Usually some mixture of nuts and dried fruit, I'm not much for candy in trail mix. That did alright with my appetite for a bit but it never replaced fast food at meals, I'd munch on some trail mix around mid morning but come noon I'd be in an In-N-Out, Taco Bell, Jack in the Box, Carls Jr or Burger King drive thru.

It is going to effect your health. I can say with 100% certainty your future self is begging you to stop destroying your health. Actually it is effecting your health now, you just are not aware or do not want to admit it. We tend to be self destructive and it is difficult to get ourselves to take better care of us. I was working with the winos when I was 15. 90% of them die from their alcoholism. I do not even know why the 10% that stop drinking stop. I guess they decided to choose life instead of death. I remember my dentist telling me that there is nothing wrong with McDonalds, he eats breakfast there all the time. He died from a heart attack. But I am still here and alive and telling people to quit eating at McDonalds. Find something somewhere, anything that is more healthy and good for you. That is why we are told to love ourself and be good to ourselves.

It has to an extent, my doctor's been treating me for high blood pressure since last summer but it's gone down (although I stopped taking my meds months ago, it was more stress-related than diet).

But I'm also preparing to go on the carnivore diet. Both people I know and people I follow online report tremendous results and health benefits just from even a short time on the diet.

I started a diet that's supposed to improve "mental clarity" and helps you lose weight. I go on YouTube and watch different speakers explain the diet. Knowing that others are doing the diet with success really motivates me. I'm doing the Keto diet. You don't feel deprived with this diet because you can eat a lot of good foods.

That's very similar to what I'm about to do. I could be wrong but I think Keto has a bit more flexibility in what's consumed but maybe not.

It's a little unclear exactly what you're referring to as the issue--is it the fact you only eat fast food and want to eat a wider variety, or is it that you eat too much food and are overweight?

It's that I'm addicted to fast food and often consume it simply because I don't want whatever was made at home. I have it usually once or twice a day, I don't eat breakfast but I'll almost certainly eat lunch out and then if my wife makes something I don't like (like soup) or perhaps is planning dinner too late then I'll just tell her I'll get something else.

It's a financial problem, it's a health problem, but more than that I suspect I overindulge simply because I can and it's what I want. I never say no to myself when it comes to fast food.

I just have an off the wall thought I have been having since Gnarwhal started this thread… a lot of people have a feast or famine concept. Starve till the meal where you feel free to overindulge and make poor choices or ‘Don’t eat that or you’ll spoil your supper!’ mindset. We seem to have a dysfunctional relationship with food. Our priorities are not what they should be. I understand being on the go to provide for our needs but I think a lot of our food issues come from out addiction to convenience and expectations. It’s not a blanket statement but something to consider. We are programmed in many ways to not even think about our choices. We are just doing what we are conditioned to. We need to think outside the box when it comes to what we eat and what we want out of life. There are many ways to get around things when it comes to our well-being other than what we have been conditioned to.

Processing our food I'm sure has a lot to do with that. Beyond what people ate before processed and manufactured food became a thing 70-80 years ago, I wonder what other habits our pre-war ancestors had with food that were better than now. It's kind of hard to imagine a 19th century American farmer keeping all kinds of snack on his person while he's working a plow but maybe there was something.

 

[tturt]

Might want to check out 'Super Gut" by Dr William Davis. Your local library may have it. Of course, he's on YT.

 

[Michie]

For a while I was keeping bags or containers of trail mix around. Usually some mixture of nuts and dried fruit, I'm not much for candy in trail mix. That did alright with my appetite for a bit but it never replaced fast food at meals, I'd munch on some trail mix around mid morning but come noon I'd be in an In-N-Out, Taco Bell, Jack in the Box, Carls Jr or Burger King drive thru.


It has to an extent, my doctor's been treating me for high blood pressure since last summer but it's gone down (although I stopped taking my meds months ago, it was more stress-related than diet).

But I'm also preparing to go on the carnivore diet. Both people I know and people I follow online report tremendous results and health benefits just from even a short time on the diet.


That's very similar to what I'm about to do. I could be wrong but I think Keto has a bit more flexibility in what's consumed but maybe not.


It's that I'm addicted to fast food and often consume it simply because I don't want whatever was made at home. I have it usually once or twice a day, I don't eat breakfast but I'll almost certainly eat lunch out and then if my wife makes something I don't like (like soup) or perhaps is planning dinner too late then I'll just tell her I'll get something else.

It's a financial problem, it's a health problem, but more than that I suspect I overindulge simply because I can and it's what I want. I never say no to myself when it comes to fast food.



Processing our food I'm sure has a lot to do with that. Beyond what people ate before processed and manufactured food became a thing 70-80 years ago, I wonder what other habits our pre-war ancestors had with food that were better than now. It's kind of hard to imagine a 19th century American farmer keeping all kinds of snack on his person while he's working a plow but maybe there was something.

A farmer ate a hearty breakfast that most of us would call a heart attack on a plate these days. My doctor discussed this. Farmers did not just sit on their tails driving tractors. They actually walked and moved… physically worked it off. They ate real food that carried them through till the next real food sit down meal.

As far as healthy snacks in this day and age, they are meant to keep you from going into the starvation mode where you make healthier choices and avoid overeating at mealtime. Keeps the metabolism on an even keel too. They are not meant to be actual meals. BTW- stay away from the dried fruit.

Not sure if this is something you are wanting to try during Lent or make a habit. But health wise and financially, it wise to change it up and dump the fast food.

 

[Gnarwhal]

A farmer ate a hearty breakfast that most of us would call a heart attack on a plate these days. My doctor discussed this. Farmers did not just sit on their tails driving tractors. They actually walked and moved… physically worked it off. They ate real food that carried them through till the next real food sit down meal.

They probably don't eat processed food either, or at least much less of it. Even if they're crop farmers, they probably raise livestock for their own food. I know my moms family used to do that, they had an almond orchard but they would raise hogs, chickens, and a steer for to eat.

 

[Michie]

They probably don't eat processed food either, or at least much less of it. Even if they're crop farmers, they probably raise livestock for their own food. I know my moms family used to do that, they had an almond orchard but they would raise hogs, chickens, and a steer for to eat.

Yes. A lot of farmers did that if they could afford it.

 

[Gnarwhal]

Yes. A lot of farmers did that if they could afford it.

That's something we've talked about doing if my grandmas husband ever passes away and we do actually get to receive our inheritance from her. My uncle thinks we (my wife and kids and I) should be the ones to move out on the farm. I kinda like that idea if I can feasibly keep doing my EWTN job from there. I'd like to get the orchard back into a healthy state and producing a crop again (although nut prices have gone through the floor and a lot of big time growers are thinking this could be the end of these sort of crops in America), and since I'd have the land to do it I would want to raise some livestock for subsistence too. Chickens for fresh eggs, pigs, and a steer...my mom says a steer would give their family of four nearly a year's supply of meat.

 

[Michie]

That's something we've talked about doing if my grandmas husband ever passes away and we do actually get to receive our inheritance from her. My uncle thinks we (my wife and kids and I) should be the ones to move out on the farm. I kinda like that idea if I can feasibly keep doing my EWTN job from there. I'd like to get the orchard back into a healthy state and producing a crop again (although nut prices have gone through the floor and a lot of big time growers are thinking this could be the end of these sort of crops in America), and since I'd have the land to do it I would want to raise some livestock for subsistence too. Chickens for fresh eggs, pigs, and a steer...my mom says a steer would give their family of four nearly a year's supply of meat.

It’s very hard work but if you feel called to it, it can be a wonderful life and a great way to raise your little one.