• Be an implacable enemy of all earthly comforts and sensory pleasures, which are born of self-indulgence and feed it. Through this you will be less often subject to attack not only by carnal, but generally by all passions, for they are all rooted in self-indulgence. When self-indulgence is subdued and cut off, they lose their power, stability and firmness, since they have no foothold. Do not give way to the thought: ‘I will indulge in one pleasure, taste one enjoyment.’ Even if it is not sinful in itself, the fact remains that it was admitted only through pandering to oneself; and during this moment of self-indulgence all passions will raise their heads and begin to wriggle like squashed worms when water is poured on them. And it is not surprising if one of them flares up with such force that struggle with it is hard and victory doubtful. So never forget the following words of the Scriptures:: “He that loveth his life (that is, the self-indulgent man) shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world (a man who does not give way to self-indulgence) shall keep it unto life eternal’ (John xii. 25).

    Unseen Warfare
    Lorenzo Scupoli

  • They used to say of Abba Sarmatas that, on the advice of Abba Poemen, he often undertook to fast for forty days and the days went by like nothing in his sight. So Abba Poemen came to him and said to him: “Tell me, what have you seen while enduring such toil?” “Not much,” he said to him. Abba Poemen said to him: “I will not let you go unless you tell me.”  “I found out only one thing,” he said: “that if I say to sleep: ‘Go away,’ away it goes; and if I say: ‘Come,’ come it does.”

    Give Me a Word: The Alphabetical Sayings of the Desert Fathers

  • “A hamper of bread, a few dates, some water, the Bible. A day’s march: a cave.”

    —Carlo Carretto, Letters from the Desert

  • “Perhaps the best part of matpakke is the fact that it is over with so quickly. This sounds like a backhanded compliment, but it’s really a celebration of food as sustenance, pure and simple.”

    How to pack a Norwegian sandwich, the world’s most boring lunch

  • “Calorie restriction” has repeatedly been shown to slow aging in animals, and many researchers believe it offers the single strongest link between diet and cancer prevention.

    —Michael Pollan, Food Rules: An Eater’s Manual

  • Keep the body properly slim so that you reduce the burden of the heart’s warfare, with full benefit to yourself.

    —St Philotheos of Sinai

  • He ate only bread and salt, and even that not every day.

    A Discourse on Abba Philimon
    Philokalia

  • A surfeit of foods breeds desire; a deficiency sweetens even plain bread.

    —St. Thalassios the Libyan

  • Break the bonds of your friendship for the body and give it only what is absolutely necessary. 

    —St. Thalassios the Libyan

  • Cited alongside these results are estimated calculations of the caloric sum of St. John Cassian’s suggested diet for monks, which amounted to approximately 930 calories daily.

    Fasting Reconsidered: St. John Chrysostom and Modern Science on Fasting
    Stephen M. Meawad, Ph.D.