Hope in Addiction
In this poem, Jacki asks Higher Power to be with her in moments both peaceful and painful.
Addiction
Flying Up the Wrong Tree
A bird’s repeated failures reminds an OA member of the insanity of compulsive eating behaviors and how an outside influence is essential to arrest those behaviors.
The Role of a Plan of Eating in Recovery from Compulsive Eating (Overeaters Anonymous, Third Edition, Appendix A)
A dietitian explains how the care she delivered was improved once she understood that addictive processes can apply to problems with food. She says the addiction can be broken with the OA program and its Plan of Eating Tool.
A Disease of the Mind (Overeaters Anonymous, Third Edition, Appendix B)
A medical doctor asserts that compulsive eating is a disease that precedes other chronic disorders. The disease can be successfully treated by applying treatment principles similar to those used for alcoholism.
Every Honest Emotion: A Letter to My Binge Eating and Food Addiction
Desperate and exhausted after an all-night eating binge, Jessica wrote a letter to her food addiction, and spelled out every scary, uncomfortable, and honest thought. After two years in OA, she now sees how writing that letter made it possible to find recovery and a worthwhile life.
God Wants Me in OA
Terri explains what her religious friends and the strangers she has encountered don’t understand: that nothing can help her overcome her bingeing except her Higher Power, the Twelve Steps, and the Fellowship of Overeaters Anonymous.
New Chapters, New Truths
“If I could control food the way it controls me, I wouldn’t need OA,” says one OA member. For years, she lived life “in the food” and in other addictions to cope with the echoes of childhood abuse, but now she is standing vulnerably in our loving program where she has found a path to healing.
Interview with Isa, a Food Addict
Isa experienced food addiction and body image issues from early childhood. “I would have done anything to be thin,” she says. After topping 242 pounds (110 kg), she joined OA and knew right away she was in the right place.
Step Eleven: “The Importance of Working All Twelve Steps” Podcast Series
Linda, grateful compulsive overeater, and Beverly, compulsive overeater, host this workshop on Step Eleven: “Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God as we understood Him, praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out.” Examples of prayer and meditation are discussed.
Introduction / “Step Zero”: “The Importance of Working All Twelve Steps” Podcast Series
This episode explores the nature of the disease of compulsive eating and the willingness it takes to begin the recovery journey. Some refer to the state of being just before accepting the OA program as “Step Zero.”