300
John Chrysostom, a 4th century Christian leader wrote extensively on proper and improper diet. He advocated reduced food intake and regular fasting as appropriate for Christians, a concept with major health and nutritional implications throughout the centuries:
"Frugality and a simple table are the mother of health… Now if abstinence is the mother of health, it is plain that eating to repletion is the mother of sickness and ill health, and brings forth diseases…caused by gluttony and satiety… Abstinence [from food], in truth, as it is the mother of health, is also the mother of pleasure; and repletion as it is the source and root of diseases."
Grivetti, L.E. (2000) Food prejudices and Taboos. Cambridge World History of Food. Cambridge University Press.