“What shall I say about the belly, the queen of the passions? If you can deaden or half-deaden it, do not relent. It has mastered me, beloved, and I worship it as a slave and vassal, this abettor of the demons and dwelling-place of the passions. Through it we fall and through it –- when it is well-disciplined -– we rise again… always eat too little, never too much. For when the stomach is heavy the intellect is clouded, and you cannot pray resolutely and with purity….

“If you eat too much, repent and try again. Always act like this –- lapsing and recovering again, and always blaming yourself and no one else -– and you will be at peace, wisely converting such lapses into victories, as Scripture says… To eat again after reaching the point of satiety is to open the door of gluttony, through which unchastity comes in.”

–St. Gregory of Sinai, 14th century