The Seventeen of Tammuz is a fast day and the first of the twenty two days of the saddest period in the Jewish history. Naturally, a fast day signifies refraining from the consumption of food. The tool used for the action of eating and drinking is the mouth.
It is interesting to note that one of the ways the prophet Yeshayahu (Yeshayahu 41,14) refers to the Jewish people is: "Tola'ath Ya'aqob", worm Jacob. One may wonder about the unusual connection between the two seemingly unrelated words. Hakham Yosef Hayyim 'a"h, brings an insightful explanation to this question. He explains that just as the power of a worm is in its mouth -- a soft worm can easily consume hard wood -- so too, the power of the Jewish people lies in their mouth. The study of the Torah is done through the use of the mouth. The mundane act of eating and drinking, which can be a holy act when done according to the guidelines of the Torah, is done with the use of the mouth as well. Of course, our Tefilloth (prayers) too.
Now we can understand why so many of us struggle in the area of eating. Since the mouth has the ability of lifting us to reach incredible levels of Qedusha, holiness, it is the most obvious place for our evil inclination to "get us" and make us stumble. The mouth may be described as a "Battle Field". Recitng blessings over the food and keeping in mind that we eat in order to serve our Creator are some of the tools to win the "battle".
From one perspective, a fast day is a day when we are detached from the physical, everyday act of eating and drinking. Perhaps, specifically on such a day, when there is a "cease fire" between us and the evil inclination, we should make a conscious effort to remind ourselves of this powerful weapon; our mouths.
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