The carnal man’s entire life and occupations have a carnal tendency and carnal aim; his prayer is carnal, his learning and his teaching of others are carnal, his writings are carnal; at every step, in nearly every word, the carnal life appears. The carnal life manifests itself especially in everything relating to the man’s appetites: here is the very seat of the carnal man. In proportion as the man by God’s grace lays aside the carnal life, he begins to trample his carnal appetites under foot—he alters his food, ceases to live for insatiable appetite; gradually in his heart, faith, hope, and love begin to reign. Instead of eating, drinking, dress, riches, God, the soul, eternal life, eternal torment, occupy his thoughts and imagination. Instead of the love of money, of food, drink, dress, the luxury of his house and surroundings, love for God, for men, a longing to dwell with the Angels and Saints; instead of food and drink, hunger and thirst, and the diligent reading and listening to the Word of God and Divine service. Previously his enemies were those who hindered his outward well-being, now he bears privations with equanimity; previously he slept much and found pleasure in sleep, now he sleeps little and intentionally deprives himself of sweet sleep; previously he gratified the flesh in every way, now he mortifies it so that it may not rebel against the spirit.

—St. John of Kronstadt, My Life in Christ

If a king wishes to capture a city of the enemy, he first takes control of the water supply and the supply of food: thus the enemy submits to him, reduced by famine.  So it is with the passions of the flesh too: if a person exists with fasting and hunger, the enemy wastes away from his soul.

—Abba John Colobos
Give Me a Word: The Alphabetical Sayings of the Desert Fathers

“Who is strong as the lion? Yet it falls into a snare because of its belly and all its strength is brought low.”

—Abba John Colobos
Give Me a Word: The Alphabetical Sayings of the Desert Fathers

“It’s better to waste it than to ‘waist’ it.”

We actually tell the stomach when to be hungry. This occurs through our eating habits. When we eat three meals a day at regular times, the stomach becomes conditioned to expect food at those times.

…People who never eat breakfast don’t have hunger pangs in the early morning. People who do, do. If you fast for over three days, the hunger pangs and growling disappear. The abdomen feels flat, quiet, and comfortable. This tells us that the stomach hunger is not a permanent, solid feature of our lives, one whose urging we must obey. It’s our body hunger that is more fundamental and important to learn to feel.

—Jan Chozen Bays MD, Mindful Eating: A Guide to Rediscovering a Healthy and Joyful Relationship with Food

If Nebuzaradan the chief cook had not come, the temple of the Lord would not have been burnt [2 Kg 25.8], which means to say: if the relaxation of gluttony had not come into the soul, the mind would not have fallen in the battle with the enemy.

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

Joseph asked Abba Poemen the best way to fast. Poemen said, “everyone should eat a little less than he wants, every day.”

Joseph said to him, “But when you were a young man, you would sometimes fast two days in a row.”

“That’s true. Sometimes I would fast three days in a row, or an entire week. But the great hermits have tested all of these things. They discovered that it’s best to eat something every day, and then on certain days, a little less.”

By Way of the Desert: 365 Daily Readings

If we have demonstrated such greed at the table of the body, imagine how we would have behaved at the table of spiritual things, if we had felt ourselves attracted by it.

—Carlo Carretto, Letters from the Desert

We amuse ourselves with food and drink, gratifying ourselves by them, instead of only using them for the necessary nourishment of our body and the support of our bodily life. 

—St. John of Kronstadt, My Life in Christ