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” is defined as “devoid of all motives to deceive.” If we look more closely at Step […]
Tag Archives: compulsive eating
OA Member Recipe: Yummy Good-4-U Spinach Parmigiano Chicken Rollatini
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 exception in that I struggled mightily with my weight from nearly the moment I was born. While […]
Rigorous Honesty Opens The Path to Recovery from Compulsive Eating
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
A Searching and Fearless Step Four Moral Inventory
When we face the guilt that truthfully tells us, “You made a mistake,” we’re freed of the shame that falsely tells us, “You are a mistake.” OA Twelve Steps & Twelve Traditions, Second Edition, page 36 I don’t know about you, but when I was new, I didn’t have that much experience with being really […]
Again
Alone in the dark How did I get here? Again I didn’t want to Yet here I am Again Every day I wake up I say “not tonight” Every night I’m here Again Self loathing Obese Isolated Body Aches Again Then I met you I act “as if” I write to you I hit my […]
Tools of Recovery: Overview
In working Overeaters Anonymous’ Twelve-Step program of recovery from compulsive overeating, we have found that a number of tools are available to assist us. The Tools of Recovery, p1 When I showed up at my first meeting, I didn’t have any idea what to expect. It was the basement of a church, and the meeting […]
How OA and Zentangle helped me untangle my life
I was fortunate to find a sponsor that was not merely extremely kind, patient, and loving – but someone willing to challenge my old beliefs about art and my own creativity! When I was a child, my parents had discouraged my keen interest in art by advising me it was “a complete waste of time.” […]
Show Me the Way
I’m a compulsive overeater and a sugar addict, and also a grateful member of Overeaters Anonymous. Before coming into OA, I used sugar to calm my nerves and I was always nervous. I had a marriage that was dysfunctional, and I thought it was my husband’s entire fault. I tried to match his addiction with […]
One Member’s Action Plan
The following is an Action Plan I put together that has helped me to release over 90 pounds and to remain abstinence since 6/14/17. This is my personal Action Plan designed to meet my unique needs and the individual challenges I had to face. It does not represent OA as a whole. I developed this […]
Putting Together A Plan of Eating
Our Plans of Eating are as varied as our members. There are those of us who are strict vegetarians (such as my sponsor) that rely upon tofu, seitan, or legumes with rice for their daily protein, whereas others among us much prefer to eat animal meat or seafood (such as I do), with healthy fats […]