>Wasting a huge portion of my brain time to tell myself (oh yea, don't eat) seems like a massive waste of time and energy. That's not what the ascetics come to

>Wasting a huge portion of my brain time to tell myself (oh yea, don't eat) seems like a massive waste of time and energy. That's not what the ascetics come to learn. They aren't even thinking about the hunger at all when they are fasting. The sensation is barely registered in their thought. Plus even with your example for those people who do not realize what they are doing with the chips, if you are serious about dieting you wouldn't set yourself up for such temptation like having a bag of tempting candy perhaps in plain view. You'd do what people who quit smoking do and throw away the junk food or otherwise get it out of easy access. Then you've given yourself another layer of friction that requires even more conscious effort to overcome: if you want to act on your craving for chips, you now have to go to the store and buy them.