Sense restraint in relation to (tasty) food

[u/AccomplishedLie7493]

I am practicing sense restraint. I am successfully able to not delight in simple things like music and other cravings. And quite successful in food too.
But i live on campus dormitory and go to the cafeteria. 2/3 meals i am able to lean towards a simple diet that just fulfills my hunger but i am not able to fully restraint myself. That one slip , that one delight looking at fries or pasta i can't resist.
How do i see the drawbacks in this sensuality more clearly?
What techniques have you applied for your sense restraint

[u/None2357]

Sense restraint is the technique; you're already seeing the danger, you can't resist it, you''re not free, not the owner of your mind, but their slave

Craving surges due to habit/conditioning; an undeveloped mind carries great addiction to sensuality and intense craving. At the very moment there is craving, there is suffering. The moment you start desiring French fries, you're experiencing internal pressure, impatience, and emptiness you want to fill with those fries. The pleasure they offer is liberation from the suffering craving causes. Similarly, the pleasure a cigarette offers a smoker is relief from nicotine withdrawal, the pleasure of a cigarette is to make you free of the pain tobacco causes. One who has never smoked doesn't miss cigarettes, nor do they crave smoking, nor would they smoke even if offered, tabaco causes zero suffering to him. The smoker, by giving in to the pressure to smoke, perpetuates tobacco addiction and the suffering that comes with it. Sensuality is the same, the "real pleasure" of selfindulging if food is to get rid of the dukkha of the craving for that food, by doing so you perpetuate the cycle of dukkha forever.

There's a Christian phrase, 'Sins seem like freedom until one tries not to commit them.' That's exactly what happens with uncontrolled craving; with sense restraint it becomes increasingly obvious how craving pressures, agitates, and enslaves you, potentially leading to dark extremes. There's a sutta where Buddha says desire is what leads children to kill parents, parents to kill children, brothers to kill brothers ...

Summary sense restraint is the technique, you don't see your dog is wild if anytime he starts to run after a car you run with it and say yourself I'm running because I want, I'm enjoying the run. You start to see the drawbacks of having an untamed dog when the dog wants to run, you stay still and it pulls your hand as crazy, barks, bites you ...