Let Hunger Be Your Guide

Eating three meals a day is a dangerous habit. Many are led to their graves quickly because they eat at the sound of the dinner bell. Ignore its ominous call if you are not hungry.

Never eat unless you are hungry. Eat moderately if you are hungry. Eat less if you are a little hungry. Eat nothing if you are not hungry at all. Omit the meals that you try to eat with little hunger, and this will sharpen your hunger for the next meal.

Use your will power to resist the temptation of eating three meals every day, which keeps the whole system—including the cells, heart, nerves, and stomach—working continuously. Give your intelligent machine occasional rest by eliminating breakfast, lunch, or dinner.

If you are working hard and are very hungry, you may safely eat three light meals daily, but if you don’t do much manual labor then two meals a day are plenty.

Eat Lightly

This body has been given to enable you to accomplish certain works on the material plane; you should take care of it as your most precious possession.

There is a Syrian proverb, “The enemy of man is his stomach.” Overloading the stomach with unnecessary food is one of the most common abuses of the body. Eat sparingly and notice the great change in your health for the better.

Develop Won’t Power

If you haven’t enough will power, try to develop “won’t” power. When you are at the dinner table and Mr. Greed lures you to eat more than you should and tries to chloroform your self-control and cast you into the pit of indigestion, watch yourself.

After partaking of the right quantity and quality of food, say to yourself: “I won’t eat anymore,” and get up from the table and run. When somebody calls, “John, come back and eat some more. Don’t forget the delicious apple pie,” just call back, “I won’t.”

Affirm Inner Freedom

The soul is independent of food. The body should also express this freedom of the soul. Food seems to be the greatest bondage of the soul to the body.

Affirm: “Good food, any kind of food, or no food at all are alike to me because my body emanates from my soul, which is unconditioned, and I am above food, hunger, and decay. I am immortal, I am satisfied, all my wants are fulfilled. I am above hunger, decay, or death.”

Excerpted from How to Achieve Glowing Health and Vitality by Paramhansa Yogananda.

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