Struggling with food? You're not alone!

My name is Fernando C and I’m a compulsive overeater. I am 42 years of age and have had problems with compulsive overeating my entire life. Growing up, I faced two distinct challenges: 1) I was born into a family where food was scarce and 2) my father was an active alcoholic. Throughout my childhood, […]

Step Seven: Humbly asked Him to remove our shortcomings. ”Each of my character defects is replaced by its opposite, and I am equipped with a new set of survival skills.” — Voices of Recovery, October 7. If I’ve done a good job at becoming willing to let go of my character defects, turning them over […]

Tradition Seven: Every OA group ought to be fully self-supporting, declining outside contributions. “Taking responsibility is a meaningful sign of spiritual and emotional growth.” — Voices of Recovery, September 8. When a basket gets passed at a meeting or the meeting treasurer posts a donation link in the chat window, it reminds me that this […]

To sustain life, every living thing must eat – and, typically, human beings must eat several times a day from a wide variety of food groups. And yet, each of us will come to develop a relationship with food that can either lead to a happy and balanced way of being, or it can result […]

Tradition Three – The only requirement for OA membership is a desire to stop eating compulsively. The doors of Overeaters Anonymous are open to everyone who wants to seek this way of life. There are no bars to entry, no boxes to check to make us worthy of membership. There is just one requirement: a […]

Step Five: Admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs. “We find we can cope with both good times and bad, learning and growing spiritually from each experience, as our Higher Power intended us to do all along.” — OA Twelve Steps & Twelve Traditions page 49 […]

Tradition Four: Each group should be autonomous except in matters affecting other groups or OA as a whole. “All of us need the balance implicit in the Principle of autonomy to be the unique OA groups and individuals we are meant to be.” — OA Twelve Steps & Twelve Traditions page 118 I was raised […]

“Newcomers are more likely to return if they see and hear recovery in action and if someone in the group gives them personal attention and encouragement.” OA Handbook for Members, Groups & Service Bodies p11 Had you heard of Zoom before the spring of 2020? I hadn’t. Those first virtual meetings felt so awkward. I […]

As a low bottom compulsive eater (that used to turn to all kinds of unhealthy binge foods to stuff my negative feelings until I became overstuffed, bulimic, and obese), one of the real gifts and surprising blessings that came into focus during the COVID-19 pandemic has been the widening availability of OA meetings and events, […]