Thirty two year old Susanne Eman, is a resident of Arizona. Pictures of her bloated body flashed around the world as news agencies publicized her great aspiration in life to become the world's heaviest woman and tip the scales at one ton.  

Suzanne weighs in at 720 pounds and consumes 22,000 calories a day. She is a single mother of two, and can only get around in a motorized scooter. She is unable to work.

Simply put, Suzanne is a glutton. She is calling bad eating choices good and good eating choices bad.  She would receive the condemnation of Isaiah who said. “Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; Who put darkness for light, and light for darkness;” Isaiah 5:20 (NKJV)

Her short life and early death were predicted by Solomon who said, “He who guards his mouth preserves his life, But he who opens wide his lips shall have destruction.” Proverbs 13:3 (NKJV)

Kevin Smith, a well known actor/director, was kicked off a Southwest Air flight on Saturday, February 13, 2010 because he didn’t fit comfortably into the airplane seat.  He was too fat to fly.

Jesus says “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me." (Luke 9:23 NKJV) This means that, according to Scripture, all true, actual, practicing, growing, followers of Christ will practice self-denial. Right?

Right. And sometimes that means making difficult choices.

You might never have thought of Him this way, but did you know that Jesus spent more continuous time fighting gluttony than any other sin problem?

We know from the Bible that Jesus left the carpenter shop at the age of 30. His baptism by John the Baptist marked the beginning of his public ministry for the salvation of humanity.

With his public ministry came His experiences overcoming public temptations.

The first item on Jesus’ agenda was to show us that gluttony can be controlled. He was driven to the desert by the Holy Spirit where He prayed and meditated on His up-coming mission. During this time He was without food. Day after day Jesus became more and more hungry.

There was no gluttony in heaven among the angels. There was no gluttony among the created beings in millions of inhabited worlds. Gluttony is selfishly and harmfully eating more than you need for a balanced meal.

The owner of The Heart Attack Grill in Chandler, Arizona is suing in federal court the owners of the Heart Stoppers Sports Grill in Delray Beach, Florida for copying his ideas for a heart-attack stimulating menu with unhealthy, cholesterol-raising fare.

This lawsuit has called attention to a weird, bizarre and shameful aspect of the American palate. As a nutritionist and health educator I am shocked and ashamed that anyone would offer this kind of food foolery to the public. 

Thomas Aquinas, one of the greatest medieval philosophers, recognized that gluttony involved more than eating too much. He developed a list of other ways in which a person might “abuse” food to the point of gluttony. Here are the different ways in which a person can be gluttonous.

Gluttony is a word that isn’t used very often. Many people don’t know what gluttony means. Gluttony is the attitude, focus, and disposition that lead a person to eat too much food.

The glutton is a person who eats too much at meal time and is often found eating between meals. If the taste buds call, the glutton is quick to answer with a snack.