Cover Story

by Lisa Hezmalhalch

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Believers Condone
Preventable Killer

Galen Smith opted for Italian dressing over ranch because it would
look healthier in the photo. --Lisa Hezmalhalch, photo

Every day Christians are filling their bodies with poison. Poison that they can't live without. But few in the church are speaking up about it. If anything, their Christian brothers and sisters encourage them to indulge by passing them an extra slice of pizza or another homemade cupcake; blind to the devastation taking place beneath their friend's skin.

On Tuesday at 12:35 p.m., Galen Smith, Multnomah's Internal Systems Administrator, sits down with some friends to a mountain of romaine lettuce topped with peas, mushrooms, eggs, olives, tomatoes, cucumbers, carrots, bell peppers, cheese, croutons, bacon bits and Italian dressing.

By 1:10 p.m. he's finished not only the salad, but also a second plate of food and two glasses of soda. But today was a good day.

"It's not unusual for me to have two or three plates," Smith said. "If I just let myself go, I would get four or five plates for lunch."

Smith struggles with overeating and has since he was a kid. He once prided himself on his massive consumptions of food. Some of his conquests include eating an entire loaf of French Toast and and winning a milk-chugging contest.

Later in life, he occasionally would swing by Dunkin' Doughnuts on the way home from work and pick up a dozen doughnuts, which he finished by bedtime because "they aren't as fresh the next day," Smith said.

When he was younger, his immense food consumption never showed physically because he was active, but after college, sitting behind a desk, his weight grew and his health began to deteriorate.

Now, at 56 years old, Smith weighs 285 pounds and takes more than 20 pills a day for health issues such as high blood pressure, high cholesterol and diabetes.

"Now I'm paying for my overeating," Smith said.

According to Physician Miles Hassell, director of the Comprehensive Risk Reduction Clinic at Portland Providence Medical Center, some of the long-term affects of obesity are dementia, stroke, heart disease, diabetes, kidney failure and joint disease followed by joint replacement. The affects also include a higher risk for most cancers and even a risk of sudden death, usually while sleeping, due to the blood's oxygen level dropping.

Although the list of the short-term affects of obesity is drastically smaller -- only joint damage and heart-burn -- the obese person still risks sudden death.

These factors alone are enough to raise concern, but add to them the Center for Disease Control statistic that heart disease is the No. 1 killer in the United States, and that concern should elevate to fear. And that fear should lead to action.

But very few are taking action.

Smith's wife, Jan, is one of a small handful of family and friends who have spoken up through the years about Smith's overeating. Early on in their marriage, she noticed his problem and the possible toll it would have. "I wondered if he would love us enough to take care of himself," Mrs. Smith said.

"I've heard it said that gluttony is the most acceptable sin in the church," Mr. Smith said.

Bob Dorsey, a pastor at Good Shepherd Community Church in Boring, Ore., agrees with Smith. "We're told not to be gluttons, but you go to any church potluck and you'll see people taking two or three plates," Dorsey said. "We've perfected the art of the potluck."

But in contrast, as Christians pile on the pounds by indulging in an extra serving of ambrosia and tuna casserole at the church get-together, they shame the use of alcohol and smoking, two habits that lead to similar health risks.

Kevin Rogers, associate pastor at Imago Dei in Portland, Ore., notices the discrepancy. "Alcohol, largely in the evangelical church, tends to be a taboo thing, but only because they've reacted to the abuse of the sin," Rogers said. "The next generation in the church could latch onto [overeating], possibly to the extreme of ignoring other things."

So what next then? As each generation learns more knowledge and gains more weight, how should they approach those in the church who are slowly killing themselves?

"I don't think that the church can mandate healthy eating and healthy lifestyle," Dorsey said, "but it should be modeled."

Rogers feels that the issue of overeating should be something that is approached in authentic community with other believers, moving beyond transparency to vulnerability. "It has to be approached relationally," Rogers said.

"If someone wanted to keep me accountable, that would be great," Smith said. "Perhaps if the church treated the sin of gluttony with the same intensity as [other sins], maybe that would be some incentive for some of us."

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