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Dealing With the Desire or Craving Related to Food · Sri Aurobindo Studies

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  Vast numbers of people face the difficulty of the craving for
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  food, whether in the form of eating more than their body
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  requires or eating foods that carry little nutritional
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  benefit, but which represent large caloric content or which
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  satisfy a particular craving for a specific taste.
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  There are substantial downsides to indulgence in food cravings,
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  including unnecessary weight gain and the health impacts that
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  come along with that. For the spiritual seeker, the
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  physical impacts are just a part of the concern.
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  The more an individual fixates on food, obtaining food,
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  preparing food, enjoying food, the more it can act as a
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  distraction to his spiritual sadhna.
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  The concentration is diverted and time is invested in the food
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  craving cycle that could and should be better spent in a
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  focus on the development of the spiritual opening and its
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  integration into the being. There are many subtle triggers
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  for the desire for food or the craving of specific foods.
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  Some of these are the result of food being treated as an
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  emotional support, a response to stress, or as some kind of
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  reward mechanism trained into one as a child.
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  In some cases, food represents a sublimation of an otherwise
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  suppressed sexual energy which pushes the second chakra, the
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  seat of the lower vital, with that unfulfilled energy rising
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  slightly from the first chakra but being prevented from its
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  normal outlet by the action of suppression.
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  In some instances, cravings arise as a result of changes in
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  hormonal balance or response to a stressful situation.
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  The food acts to manage the reactions and in some cases
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  helps to reduce the residual stress.
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  As we host a population of bacteria in our digestive
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  system, there are occasions when signals from this bacterial
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  colony are sent for nourishment it needs or craves.
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  In some instances, the vital enjoys the taste of the food as
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  part of its normal human means of satisfaction.
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  In the absence of the higher and more refined forms of enjoyment
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  found in the experience of spiritual bliss, the physical
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  body is able to send signals to the brain about its needs for
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  specific nutrients. So it is useful to be able to
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  stand back and observe the various desires or cravings that
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  arise and thereby distinguish the differential causes of the
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  desire or craving and respond appropriately as part of the
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  process of managing the vital and physical nature and aiding
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  in the eventual transformation of the body vehicle.
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  With the eventual development of the Super mental manifestation
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  in the human being, vast changes in bodily functionality have
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  been envisioned, including changes that might radically
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  alter our relationship with food or even our need for obtaining
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  nourishment through food. While this change is apparently
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  not imminent, it is useful to recognize that past habits of
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  interaction do not necessarily determine the shape of the
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  future, Sri Aurobindo observes Quote.
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  It is the attachment to food, the greed and ignorant eagerness
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  for it making it an unduly important thing in the life,
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  that is contrary to the spirit of yoga.
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  To be aware that something is pleasant to the palate is not
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  wrong only. One must have no desire or
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  hankering for it, no exultation in getting it, no displeasure or
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  regret at not getting it. One must be calm and equal, not
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  getting upset or dissatisfied when the food is not tasty or
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  not in abundance, eating the fixed amount that is necessary,
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  not less or more. There should be neither
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  eagerness nor repugnance to be always thinking about food, and
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  troubling the mind is quite the wrong way of getting rid of the
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  food desire. Put the food element in the
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  right place in the life, in a small corner, and don't
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  concentrate on it, but on other things.
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  End Quote reference Sri or ovindo bases of yoga Chapter 4
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  Desire food sex page 66.