You’re a Fatty!
Posted by Todd Rhoades in Trends on Mar 25th, 2011 | 9 commentsThe American church is FAT. Â No, seriously. Â According to a new study, people who have religious involvement almost double the risk of obesity compared to those who have no involvement, according to CNN:
Young, religiously active people are more likely than their non-religious counterparts to become obese in middle age, according to new research. In fact, frequent religious involvement appears to almost double the risk of obesity compared with little or no involvement.
What is unclear from the new research is why religion might be associated with overeating.
“Churches pay more attention to obvious vices like smoking or drinking,” said Matthew Feinstein, lead author of the research and fourth-year medical student at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. “Our best guess about why is that…more frequent participation in church is associated with good works and people may be rewarding themselves with large meals that are more caloric in nature than we would like.”
via Frequent churchgoers frequently fatter CNN.com Blogs.
So… those of us who live out our lives doing ‘good works’ reward ourselves with food?
You buyin’ that?
These are actually funded studies by university researchers… medical doctors at that… and the ‘best guess’ is that the church-goers are getting fat because they’re rewarding themselves for being good?
Excuse me while I go eat a plate of lasagna.
What do you think?
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9 Responses to “ “You’re a Fatty!”
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It is actually potlucks which are at the center of the problem. If you belong to a large church you don’t want anyone to feel bad, so you try to eat a little of what everyone brought. I blame my gut on sweet old ladies who make delicious potato casseroles.
I beg to differ, Steve. Is there even such a thing as a ‘delicious potato casserole’?
My speculation is that people who don’t go to church are so busy sinning that they forget to eat.
Ahhh brother you haven’t lived until you’ve tried Sister Teresa’s spinach scalloped potato casserole.
So here are the possibilities. Church activity could cause obesity. Or: People who are obese could be attracted to church activity for reasons having to do with eating patterns, or because this is a social avenue open to them while others are not. (they are probably not spending their time training for a marathon, for instance). OR (most likely in my opinion) Church people and obese people share completely unrelated factors. Church people are more likely to be women, of lower socio-economic status, persons of color, and older. These are all ALSO traits of people more likely to be obese.
This does not mean that the church should not strive to speak to this aspect of human health and wholeness. But blaming potlucks is misreading statistics.
“The study, which tracked 2,433 men and women for 18 years, found normal weight young adults ages 20 to 32 years with a high frequency of religious participation were 50 percent more likely to be obese by middle age after adjusting for differences in age, race, sex, education, income and baseline body mass index…”
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/03/110324104145.htm?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+sciencedaily+%28ScienceDaily%3A+Latest+Science+News%29
I have noticed this for years. We all have addictions we turn to in our lives. For the church most addictions like smoking, drinking, and casual sex are forbidden. Food is seen as okay and acceptable. Even though we are using it to receive the same type satisfaction and comfort as other addictions.
Sinful addiction to food may just be the hidden sin in the church that is right out there in the open and few are willing to talk about it.
In my church I have a group of older adults who go to an all you can eat buffet every Sunday. They often talk about the sins of others while laughing and encouraging one another to make several visits to the ice cream bar. I have asked myself before what is the difference here than a group at a bar encouraging each other to have shot after shot. It sure looks and sounds the same.
Michael, I think you are exactly right.
Michael is right. I’m addicted to food. I eat it every day.
I was pretty chubby before I was a Christian.
Maybe it takes less energy to work with children on a Sunday morning than it does to spend two hours at the gym on Sunday morning. Which is more pleasing to Jesus–obsessing over our bodies or reaching others?