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 ‘broken’ or ‘a mistake’ – all of this ‘head junk’ forever repeating itself between my ears […]
Category Archives: Stop eating compulsively
Comparing Weight Loss Drugs to OA’s Twelve Steps
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 a simple little pill. Such a “magic pill” was once the ultimate dream for this compulsive […]
Practicing the Principles: Finding Recovery in Fiction
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 replacing “alcohol” and “alcoholic” with “food” and “compulsive overeating” when reading AA literature. The 12 Steps and 12 […]
Levels of Competence in Recovery
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 progress was to notice my turn-around time. I had a long history of overreacting to the […]
Aspects of Abstinence
Compulsive overeating is a substance addiction like addictions to alcohol, drugs, nicotine, etc. In fact, we often refer to certain foods as “alcoholic foods.” As a compulsive overeater, I define my addiction as the inability to not eat something I know is going to hurt me. The harm goes beyond the emotional and social damage […]
Abstinent Holidays
“Once we become abstinent, the preoccupation with food diminishes and in many cases leaves us entirely.” — Our Invitation To You. Before I came into OA, my disease didn’t know the difference between a holiday and a regular day. Any Tuesday in the middle of September was an excuse to overeat. Holidays just made it […]
A Desire to Stop Eating Compulsively
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 […]