I’ve noticed that our dog does not have an off switch. She will eat endlessly. Open the pantry door and she shows interest, even if she has just eaten.
We can’t have everything we want and if we managed to get it, it would not necessarily serve our best interests spiritually.
Balance is not about deprivation. Balance is about availability — our availability to God and to others. And, by contrast, uncontrolled self-indulgence undermines our availability.
That is why gluttony is considered a deadly sin. It isn’t the impact it has on our bodies or our psyches. It is the way it undermines our ability to be available to God — and the way in which it elevates our indulgences to the level of a god.