Soothly and without doubt I am full far from knowing how to do better in this point, and further from doing of it, for to eat I have by kind or nature, but to skill how to eat, I cannot but by the grace of God. St Paul had this cunning by the grace of God, as he saith himself thus: I am cunning in all things, through Him that strengtheneth me; for I can hunger, and I can eat, I can with plenty, and I can with poverty, I can do all things. St. Austin saith thus to our Lord: Lord, thou hast taught me that I should take meat as a medicine: hunger is a sickness of my nature, and meat is a medicine thereof. Therefore the liking and delight that cometh therewith, and accompanieth eating, inasmuch as it is natural, and followeth of necessity, it is no sin; but when it passeth into lust, and into a voluntary and sought or intended pleasure, then it is sin. (John Climacus)

Consumption beyond need is a physical, spiritual, and economic problem. We have evolved into a society that in many ways depends on unnatural, unhealthy and unsustainable levels of consumption.

But I don't perceive this is the result of lusty sensuality. Most of our food is not eaten for pleasure. We over-eat more as a matter of convenience and cost. Food that fulfills the senses takes time and care. We seldom give either.

A deep yearning for the pleasure of well-conceived and carefully prepared meals would help us more than the most rigorous diet. Sensual and spiritual discernment for what we consume need not degenerate into lustful self-indulgence.