The Weight of Gluttony: A Reflection on Overconsumption in America

I wasn’t even thinking about this today, not consciously at least, but a TikTok video brought it back up. This topic has sat on my spirit before, maybe earlier this year or sometime last year. It was heavy, the spirit of gluttony, and I couldn’t ignore how loud it felt. Not just in food, but in everything.

In America, we are subconsciously conditioned to overconsume; we address it as abundance, we label it luxury, but oftentimes it’s fear. Think about it: why do we need so much? Why are things always extra-large or “buy one, get three free”? Why do we hoard, double back, overstock, and overeat?

It’s not just greed, its scarcity mindset dressed up in capitalism. It’s the feeling that it'll be gone if I don’t grab this now. If I don’t buy more, I’ll miss out. It’s FOMO as a business model.

But gluttony, as I’ve come to understand it, isn’t just about food. It’s the compulsive desire to keep filling a void. Whether you are binge-watching shows, collecting things to feel secure, or obsessively shopping, it’s a hunger for more that never gets satisfied. And that’s what makes it dangerous.

I once saw a TikTok that said each of the seven continents represents one of the seven deadly sins, and America was labeled gluttony. I believe it. We are constantly fed the message that more is better, and if you don’t have it now, you’ll fall behind.

Our dependence on mass production, our obsession with “just in case,” our addiction to excess — all of it is numbing us. Not nourishing us.

It crushes small businesses before they can grow.

It makes us suspicious of simplicity.

It keeps us in debt, in comparison, and in a never-ending loop of needing to feel full.

But fullness doesn’t come from having more. It comes from being enough, with less.

And that’s the thought I want to leave here. Just a little idea… but maybe something we all need to reflect on.