I've heard that 'food is Brahman.' How does this concept relate to Sai Baba's discouragement of fasting?

The idea of 'food as Brahman' is central to understanding Sai Baba's views on fasting, as explained in Chapter 32. The text mentions that when one is intensely hungry at midday, 'the realization of food as Brahman arises in the mind.' This implies that the life-sustaining energy of the divine is present within our nourishment. Baba taught that God is not found on an empty stomach and one must 'first satisfy the soul of the self.' By discouraging fasting, he emphasized that honoring the body with necessary food is a spiritual act in itself. It is a recognition of the divine principle inherent in sustenance, which in turn provides the strength required for all other devotional activities, making the body a capable instrument for spiritual practice rather than a weakened one.