Welcome to the Overcoming the Acceptable Christian Sin of Gluttony podcast, a companion podcast to the Acceptable Christian Sin of Gluttony message series. This is episode #48. My name is Daniel Whyte III president of Gospel Light Society International. The purpose of this podcast is to share with you, from a biblical perspective, the means by which we can combat and overcome the sin of gluttony and its outcome of obesity.
Our passage from the Word of God today is 1 Corinthians 10:31 which reads: “Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God.”
Now, let’s look at gluttony and its effects in the news: According to The New York Times, Being overweight may be linked to an increased risk for dementia. British researchers used data on 6,582 men and women, age 50 and older, who were cognitively healthy at the start of the study. The analysis, in the International Journal of Epidemiology, tracked the population for an average of 11 years, recording incidents of physician-diagnosed dementia. Almost 7 percent of the group developed dementia. Compared with people of normal weight (body mass index between 18.5 and 24.9), overweight people with a body mass index of 25 to 29.9 were 27 percent more likely to develop dementia, and the obese, with a body mass index of 30 or higher, were 31 percent more likely to become demented. The researchers also found that women with central obesity — a waist size larger than 34.6 inches — were 39 percent more likely to develop dementia than those with normal waist size. Fat around the middle was not associated with a higher dementia risk in men. The study controlled for age, sex, APOE4 (a gene known to increase the risk of Alzheimer’s disease, the most common form of dementia), education, marital status, smoking and other known dementia risks. The lead author, Yixuan Ma, a student at University College London, said that this observational study does not prove cause and effect. She said, “Being overweight is just a risk. It doesn’t mean that an overweight person will necessarily get dementia. But for many reasons, it’s good to maintain a normal weight and engage in vigorous physical activity over a lifetime.”
In this podcast, we are going through the book, The RAVE Diet and Lifestyle: The Natural Foods Diet With Meals that Heal, by Mike Anderson. This section is titled: No Exceptions, Part 2:
I’m not a disciplinarian and I think that an occasional indulgence is fine – so long as it is very occasional. For example, you might have a piece of cake during a birthday party or you might indulge in small ways during holiday festivities. This is Ok, so long as you get right back into the RAVE Diet. The biggest problem is that occasional exceptions can easily lead you back into old habits.
Most of us think we can get away with more than just an occasional exception, but there is real pain involved in these exceptions. “Oh, these are only calories,” you say. Ah, but they’re not. They’re usually empty calories, which means you’ll soon be hungry again and you’ll need to consume even more calories in order to feel full.
“So what?” you say. “I’ll just work off the calories.” Well, first of all, it’s a lot easier to say you’re going to work them off than it is to actually work them off. To work off a Snickers candy bar, you’d have to spend 51 minutes jogging or two hours walking just to get back where you were before you had a few minutes of pleasure eating that candy bar. A 20-ounce Coke will cost you nearly an hour of biking. In other words, these brief moments of pleasure can be very painful over the long run. (To think of it another way, you’d have to eat about three pounds of apples to equal the calories you consume in one five-ounce chocolate bar.)
Second, you can’t “work off” cholesterol. The average person can only get rid of 100 mg of cholesterol a day. A single egg contains 213 mg and that excess cholesterol ends up clogging arteries. The only way you’re going to get rid of cholesterol is to stop eating it and lower your saturated fat intake so you’ll give your body a fighting chance to get rid of the excess. The body is extremely fine-tuned to handle this, but it can’t function properly when it’s overwhelmed.
You might think of the RAVE Diet as your lifelong marriage partner. You might have an occasional fling with Mr. Sweet or Ms. Fat or Mr. Salt, but these are temporary distractions that can’t possibly give you a lifetime of satisfaction and love like the one your marriage partner can. The best advice I can give you is to stay faithful and monogamous and, like a good marriage, the payoffs will be incalculable.
Finally, your friends may laugh at you for following such a “crazy” diet. But they’ll stop laughing when they see your new body and lifestyle. When they’re suffering through the anguish of diet-related diseases later in life and you continue to dodge those disease-laden bullets, trust me, you’ll have the last, crazy laugh.
We will continue looking at this topic in our next podcast.
— PRAYER —
Now, in this series, as we focus on overcoming the sin of gluttony, and managing our bodies as God intended, we must not lose sight of the most important part of our existence — our spiritual life. Even those of you who are fit, who eat right, and who exercise regularly must still address the condition of your soul. You may keep your body in perfect condition till the day you die, but you will still die — we all will, and the only thing that will matter is the condition of your soul. Is your soul in shape? Is your soul in right standing with God?
The only way to make sure of that is to trust Jesus Christ as your Savior from sin and the consequences of sin. He alone can save your soul, put you in right standing with God, and ensure that you do not perish in Hell. Now, if you do not know Jesus Christ as your Savior, believe in your heart that Jesus died for your sins, was buried, and rose from the dead by the power of God for you so that you can live eternally with Him. Pray and ask Him to come into your heart today, and He will.
Romans 10:9 & 13 says, “That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved� For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.”
Until next time, may God bless you and keep you is my prayer.
BCNN1 WP 