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It has been almost 9 years (and 90 pounds ago) since I returned to OA – and what a journey it has been! I never could have imagined that finding a sponsor – and being a sponsor – would Read more
As we enter the Spring season, with trees and flowers bursting into bloom, OA Silicon Valley Intergroup is happy to announce we have begun to offer workshops again. To check out any of our previous workshops, please click here Read more
Sponsorship is, as we know, one of the nine tools of recover. It’s one member helping another through the steps. When I completed my fourth step, my Sponsor told me that I could begin as a 12 Day Newcomer Read more
I hear often that our recovery is like a three-legged stool – emotional, physical and spiritual. All equal in their importance. But, my personal experience is actually different. To me, it is more like a pyramid.
The base layer Read more
I first began to attend Overeaters Anonymous many years ago. I was fortunate to have hit a very hard bottom with my health and bulimia struggles, so swiftly sought a sponsor and began working the steps in earnest. Much Read more
For years, I’ve heard people in Overeaters Anonymous meetings talk about the importance of ‘willingness.’ In fact, many for whom abstinence had been but a hoped for dream, shared that they were struggling to find that ‘willingness,’ and even Read more
My plan of eating has evolved over 30 years in program. From early on, I defined my abstinence as “what, when, and why I do not eat.” I am grateful for the grace that allowed me to realize from Read more
Although I never admitted to this before coming to Overeaters Anonymous, I struggled for decades with uncontrollable nighttime eating.
Recovery from compulsive eating and sugar addiction was but a far-fetched dream for the vast majority of my life. It Read more
There was a time when cooking was a huge chore and not something I would ever consider doing on a daily basis when there were fast food restaurants and shops where I could swing by and grab the foods Read more
I know we don’t talk about it a lot at meeting level, but “grief” is a thing that has served as a trigger for a large amount of my compulsivity around food. In fact, I suspect it was a Read more
Today is a good day. Why? Because, just for today, I am ‘enough.’
For as long as I can remember, I NEVER felt enough. Not enoughness, inadequacy, feelings of being a failure or a disappointment, ruminating thoughts of being Read more
In Twelve Step recovery programs, the message isn’t to be occasionally honest, or to try to be honest, but to practice “rigorous honesty.” But what does this actually mean?
In the rooms of OA recovery, I learned that “honesty” Read more
My family is from Italy and came over to the US on a boat back in the late 1940’s. Although they are all exceedingly slim and healthy (most of them living to ripe, old ages), I was the Read more
“And they lived happily ever-after.”
I grew up on fanciful fairytales and the happy-endings of Disney movies. How many of them ended with that famous one-liner?
“And they lived happily ever after.”
In coming into OA (after years Read more
You’ve likely noticed the multitude of news headlines and social media posts regarding “easy” and “dramatic” weight loss resulting from “a simple weekly injection,” along with the promise of that injection being made available “in the near future” as Read more
In addition to having a sincere desire to stop eating compulsively, rigorous honesty is possibly the most important factor in success in recovery. The Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous clearly states:
Rarely have we seen Read more
An epiphany in recovery is a deep realization of an important truth. In my experience, an epiphany is often accompanied by goose bumps, tears, or other physical sensations. In recovery, epiphanies are described as “aha” moments and can be Read more
Reading program literature is an essential tool of recovery in Overeaters Anonymous and other 12-step programs. Alcoholics Anonymous, aka The Big Book, is an essential guide to recovering from addiction in all its forms. Overeaters Anonymous recommends Read more
I am sitting in the shade of a tree overlooking the water of the Niagara River as it rushes toward the American Falls. It’s the last day of my vacation, so I came back to this park to meditate Read more
In need of support, we are here to help.
Click here to chat with an OA Member
In need of support, we are here to help.
Click here to chat with an OA Member