When a doctor sees that a patient is damaging his health by an excess of meat, sugar and alcohol, he does not advise him to fast!

"It is true that when everyone around you is demanding sexual freedom and justifying these demands with seemingly valid arguments, you are not particularly happy to hear about self-mastery. I understand that you do not like being deprived of pleasures, but try at least to see what advantages you might gain by renouncing some of them. This does not mean you should deprive yourself to the extent that you have nothing and find yourself in the void; it means understanding that it is to your advantage to replace certain coarse pleasures with others which are subtler and more spiritual. When a doctor sees that a patient is damaging his health by an excess of meat, sugar and alcohol, he does not advise him to fast! He knows very well that his patient would not follow this advice, or even worse, if he were to follow it, he would die. He advises him to replace these foods by others that are healthier and lighter. This is what I am advising you as well, but in another realm. I am not encouraging you to die of hunger, but to nourish yourself differently so that your spiritual health improves."