Leo Tolstoy wrote that “Socrates, a wise man, tried to abstain from all unnecessary things. He said that food should serve you in fighting your hunger, and not in developing sophisticated tastes, and he asked his students to follow his rule.”

“He reminded his students about the wise Odysseus, whom Circe, an evil sorceress, could not subject him to her magic, because he did not eat to excess. But the members of his crew, his friends, were turned into a herd of pigs by her as soon as they rushed to the abundance of food.”

Many of us tend to consume as much food as our stomachs can handle. But the Yogis advice to eat in such a way that when you finish eating your meal, you still feel like eating a little more. Fill your stomach about 3/4.

There’s a difference between hunger and appetite. They are not the same.

Hunger is the natural demand for food that arises from the body's need for nourishment and energy. It is a biological instinct. It is when you feel that peculiar sensation in the mouth and throat. Saliva begins to flow.

On the other hand, appetite is the abnormal craving for food that is not necessarily driven by your body's nutritional needs. Appetite is that desire or preference for specific tastes, textures, or sensations associated with eating. Like the craving to eat a cookie or something sweet.

Remember what Yogi Ramacharaka said: “It’s not the amount you eat, but how much you assimilate that nourishes you.”

So nourish yourself in a way that supports your physical, mental, and spiritual health, rather than succumbing to cravings driven by appetite alone.

Eat well, but not too much.