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

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

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

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

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

A Requirement for Recovery

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

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

I’ve been in OA for 30 years. Over time in recovery listening to speakers at meetings, retreats, and conferences, I’ve heard many ways to express the levels of competence in recovery. One of the ways I marked my early Read more