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 a person fail who has thoroughly followed our path. Those who do not recover are people […]
Category Archives: Powerlessness – Step 1
Miracles of Recovery: Following Doctors’ Orders
A recent conversation with a fellow OA member had me thinking about the miracles of recovery in Overeaters Anonymous. One of those miracles enables us to follow doctors’ orders regarding changes to our food and action plans to support our health. Even after 30 years of abstinence in OA, I still can resist making changes […]
The Paradox of Powerlessness
I define addiction as the overpowering compulsion to do something that I know is going to hurt me. As an active addict, I lost the power to NOT eat food that I don’t even want to eat! Compulsive overeating is not just a bad idea; it is an addiction to substances and behaviors that affect […]
The Deadly Disease No One wants to Discuss – Compulsive Eating
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 […]
Thanks to Step Two I Came to believe
Step Two: Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity. “Having reduced us to a state of absolute helplessness, you now declare that none but a Higher Power can remove our obsession. Some of us won’t believe in God, others can’t, and still others who do believe that God […]
Admitting Powerlessness
Step One: We admitted we were powerless over food — that our lives had become unmanageable. Once we honestly examine our histories, we can deny it no longer: our eating and our attitudes toward food are not normal; we have this disease. Overeaters Anonymous Twelve Steps & Twelve Traditions, p3 I have heard people say […]