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Understanding and Addressing the Desire and Craving for Food · Sri Aurobindo Studies

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  We have a fixation on food. We do not seek food just for
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  nourishment and proper care of our bodies generally.
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  Rather, we use food to provide us with comfort, emotional
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  support and fulfillment of desires for various tastes.
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  We centre many of our relationship rituals around
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  food. At some point, many individuals
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  conclude that they need to adjust their eating habits,
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  whether through dieting or fasting.
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  The disease conditions of anorexia and bulimia are extreme
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  examples of our attempts to incorporate our manner of
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  addressing food issues in relation to societal
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  expectations and norms. Spiritual seekers also have, at
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  some point in their spiritual growth, frequently adopted
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  various habits related to food, nutrition, and taking care of
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  the body. In many cases, when they try to
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  control the impulse for food, they try to enforce a discipline
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  on the body and work to suppress the response.
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  This does not necessarily solve the issue.
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  The attention to the drive for food or for particular types of
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  food remains, and at times this attention asserts itself and
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  distracts the seeker from the spiritual effort.
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  This can lead to a cycle of attention, suppression and
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  obsession that does not resolve the issue satisfactorily.
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  There is a need to get to the real root of the issue, which
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  can be understood through a process of detailed observation.
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  Most times the individual is focused elsewhere and thus there
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  is not a constant pressure. When the interruptions arise,
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  the observational standpoint of the witness can engage to
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  determine the actual causative factors so that they can be
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  removed, modified or transformed.
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  All actions of the outer nature are driven by the action of the
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  three gunas, qualities of nature, tamas, rajas and sapwa.
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  There are thus different factors involved depending on which guna
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  is predominant at any point in time.
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  Cravings and desire for food that arise during the ascendancy
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  of Thomas include habits that are built up by repeated
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  experiences regardless of the actual needs of the body.
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  Also as a response to stress, as well as hormonal triggers based
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  on despondency, feelings of weakness and alienation, et
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  cetera. A craving for sweet taste
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  frequently arises during Temasek events.
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  Those that arise as a result of rajas tend to include a drive
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  for particular responses or tastes, such as a hankering for
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  highly spiced or salted foods. Rajas also responds easily to
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  energies that the individual is exposed to in daily
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  interactions. Engagement with individuals who
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  are filled with desires or ambitions, where pressures that
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  arise due to societal tendencies and expectations, frequently
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  translate internally into a sense of hunger.
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  There are even responses of hunger associated with the
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  predominance of satwa, for instance, when one undertakes to
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  focus intensely on the body, its nutritional needs, a scientific
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  way of eating or some particular dietary preference, and thus the
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  fixation on eating is translated into a process justified as
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  having a rational and necessary basis, whichever causative
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  factor may be involved. The physiological response
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  includes the release of hormones, neurotransmitters and
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  signals that spur a response to food or a particular food.
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  Feedback loops are created by repeated habitual activities
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  such that the body expects food at certain times and will send
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  signals around that time to remind the being that it is time
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  to eat. Once we can begin to understand
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  and identify the mechanism, the next step is to specifically
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  unravel these varying motive forces and apply a suitable
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  corrective. In some cases, simply denying
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  the impulse repeatedly will work if the basis is a habitual
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  response that the body has cultivated.
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  In other cases, recognizing the influence of external pressures
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  or the force of rajasic desire, a conscious shift of attention
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  to a higher level focus and calling forth subwick support
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  can aid the process. In some instances, we can
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  actually recognize the need for a particular nutritional element
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  and satisfy that, noting then that the craving is resolved and
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  does not return once the underlying missing element has
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  been provided. In modern day life, processed
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  foods are actually made with tastes and chemicals to enhance
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  the addictive nature of the foods and thus avoidance of
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  highly processed foods can yield fast and highly advantageous
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  results both to help resolve cravings and for the
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  individual's overall health and well-being over time.
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  Some paths try to solve the issue by asking the practitioner
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  to simply accept whatever comes into the begging bowl that day.
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  Others try to enforce the body through discipline and in some
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  cases elements of torture. Still others counsel a specific
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  dietary regimen to follow, such that the scope of craving and
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  desire is held back. The issue, then, is to
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  understand and solve, rather than to put a lot of energy
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  obsessing about food, the craving for food, or the
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  suppression of the craving. In the end, the energy spent in
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  the obsession is energy that could be better directed to the
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  spiritual pursuits, Trioro Bindu observes quote.
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  Perhaps with regard to the greed for food, your attitude has not
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  been quite correct. Greed for food has to be
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  overcome, but it has not to be given too much thought.
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  The proper attitude to food is a certain equality.
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  Food is for the maintenance of the body and would one should
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  take enough for that what the body needs.
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  If one gives less, the body feels the need and hankers.
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  If you give more than that is indulging the vital.
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  As for particular foods, the palate likes the attitude of the
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  mind and vital should be If I get, I take, if I don't get, I
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  shall not mind. One should not think too much of
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  food either to indulge or unduly to repress.
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  That is the best. End Quote Reference Shriora
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  Bindu and the Mother Looking from Within, Chapter 5,
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  Attitudes on the Path, page 166.