Welcome to Overeaters Anonymous. Welcome Home …
There are no dues or fees. The only requirement for OA membership is a desire to stop eating compulsively.
Compulsive Overeating Problem
Symptoms:
Our Invitation to You
We of Overeaters Anonymous have made a discovery. At the very first meeting we attended, we learned that we were in the clutches of a dangerous illness, and that willpower, emotional health, and self-confidence, which some of us had once possessed, were no defense against it.
We have learned that the reasons for the disease are unimportant. What deserves the attention of the sill-suffering compulsive overeater is this: there is a proven, workable method by which we can arrest our illness.
The OA recovery program is patterned after that of Alcoholics Anonymous. As our personal stories attest, the Twelve Step program of recovery works as well for compulsive eaters as it does for alcoholics.
Can we guarantee you this recovery? The answer is up to you.
- If you will honestly face the truth about yourself and the illness;
- if you will keep coming back to meetings to talk and listen to other recovering compulsive overeaters;
- if you will read our literature and that of Alcoholics Anonymous with an open mind;
- and, most important, if you are willing to rely on a power greater than yourself for direction in your life and to take the Twelve Steps to the best of your ability,
we believe you can indeed join the ranks of those who recover.
—Overeaters Anonymous, Third Edition
- Do I eat when I’m not hungry, or not eat when my body needs nourishment?
- Do I have feelings of guilt, shame or embarrassment about my weight or the way I eat?
- Is my eating affecting my health or the way I live my life?
- Have I ever used laxatives, vomiting, diuretics, excessive exercise, diet pills, shots or other medical interventions (including surgery) to try to control my weight?
- Do I fast or severely restrict my food intake to control my weight?
- Do I fantasize about how much better life would be if I were a different size or weight?
- Are there certain foods I can’t stop eating after having the first bite?
- Have I lost weight with a diet or “period of control” only to be followed by bouts of uncontrolled eating and/or weight gain?