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 found that
the reasons for the illness are unimportant. What deserves
the attention of the still-suffering food addict
is this: There is a proven, workable method by which we
can arrest our illness.
The OA recovery program is patterned after that of Alcoholic
Anonymous. We use AA's Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions,
changing only the words "alcohol" and "alcoholic" to "food" and
"compulsive overeater."
As our personal stories attest, the Twelve Step program
of recovery works as well for compulsive overeaters as it
does for alcoholics.
Can we guarantee you this recovery? The answer is simple.
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.
To remedy the emotional, physical and spiritual illness
of compulsive overeating we offer several suggestions, but
keep in mind that the basis of the program is spiritual,
as evidenced by the Twelve Steps.
We are not a "diet and calories" club. We do not
endorse any particular plan of eating. We practice abstinence
by staying away from eating between meals and from all individual
binge foods. Once we become abstinent, the preoccupation
with food diminishes and in many cases leaves us entirely.
We then find that, to deal with our inner turmoil, we have
to have a new way of thinking, of acting on life rather than
reacting to it - in essence, a new way of living.
From this vantage point, we begin the Twelve Step program
of recovery, moving beyond the food and the emotional havoc
to a fuller living experience. As a result of practicing
the Steps, the symptom of food addiction is removed on a
daily basis, achieved through the process of surrendering
to something greater than ourselves; the more total our surrender,
the more fully realized our freedom from food obsession.
Here are the Steps as adapted for Overeaters Anonymous:
We admitted we were powerless over food, that our lives
had become unmanageable.
Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves
could restore us to sanity.
Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over
to the care of God as we understood him.
Made a searching and fearless
moral inventory of ourselves.
Admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human
being the exact nature of our wrongs.
Were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects
of character.
Humbly asked Him to remove our shortcomings.
Made a list of all persons we had harmed, and became
willing to make amends to them all.
Made direct amends to such people wherever possible,
except when to do so would injure them or others.
Continued to take personal inventory and when we
were wrong promptly admitted it.
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.
Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of
these steps, we tried to carry this message to compulsive
overeaters,
and to practice these principles in all our affairs.
"But I'm too weak. I'll never make it!" Don't
worry, we have all thought and said the same thing. The amazing
secret to the success of this program is just that: weakness.
It is weakness, not strength, that binds us to each other
and to a higher power and somehow gives us the ability to
do what we cannot do alone.
If you decide you are one of us, we welcome you with open
arms. Whatever your circumstances, we offer you the gift
of acceptance. You are not alone any more. Welcome to
Overeaters Anonymous. Welcome home.
