by Ann Major

Created on: September 25, 2008   Last Updated: July 08, 2010

Definitely, overweight people are gluttons! It goes with the territory. In the land of plenty, we have been systematically conditioned to accept that " Bigger is better", " It's cheaper to buy in bulk..." and are asked constantly in fast food outlets: " Do you want to super-size that?"

The state of gluttony has crept upon us so gradually we are now being confronted by various health issues such as hypertension, diabetes, high cholesterol; not to mention obesity, now threatening to attack our youth. In my 20's, I was rather taken aback when a visitor from England took note of how many more overweight people there were compared to her homeland. Thirty years later, it would appear overweight people are now the norm in our society rather than the exception. The problem has not been corrected through the years; it has become worse as we eat ourselves into oblivion.

Though not grossly overweight, I am however, overweight and a a self-proclaimed glutton who struggles with the daily intake of food. I come from a family of gluttons. We love to eat and chow down as a group. My mother places such tantamount importance upon the abundance of food that eating has become almost a religious experience for us siblings. Coming from a country of starving millions, having enough to eat is a "good thing". In third world countries where life is almost "feast or famine", gluttony is revered because it means one is rich enough to be well-fed. Being overweight is not a problem.

Unfortunately, in Canada and the United States, we have lost control. We have allowed extreme consumerism to overwhelm and take over our lives, as gluttony is all around us. Stand at any supermarket cash register and peruse what has been placed on the conveyor belt.  Then look at your own cart, and compare what groceries you have loaded up, to the cart in front of you and behind you. What you see will probably be a good predictor of whether the person pushing that cart is overweight and gluttonous.

An overweight person will have at least two items in the cart: a bag of chips and a big bottle of soda. To add insult to injury, the bottle will probably be diet soda. If the person is a glutton, there will be several bags of chips and numerous bottles of soda. Worst still, there will be other packages containing cookies, desserts, or candy bars. There may even be a container(s) of ice cream. If you have noticed, some of these sinful foods are usually placed around or near the cash register, to tempt last minute

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