Thought Police I have learned that the thought precedes the bite. So to get rid of a thought, I must employ a replacement thought. Slogans are either pithy (clever) or humorous, they’re easy to remember, and they can be counted on in hungry moments and emergencies. Sometimes the impulse to eat can feel so urgent that getting literature or making a phone … Read More
The Longing I have been a compulsive eater for as long as I can remember. My earliest memories are of food, and my earliest relationships were with food rather than people. I was always a thin child, but when I reached adolescence, my body began to change, and I felt extremely uncomfortable in my own skin. I hated how I looked and … Read More
Doctor’s Okay OA works for all, no matter where you start, fat or thin, no matter how sick. I am living proof this program of recovery works if you work it. About half a year ago I was dying from bulimia. I had almost given up hope; my eating disorder was going to kill me. No matter what I did or what I tried, I … Read More
True Self “Searching Out Shame,” (p. 20) the Stepping Out article in the April 2016 issue of Lifeline, spoke deeply to me. The author asserted that the power source for compulsive eating and compulsive food behaviors is shame rooted in codependency, and this concept sank into my depths. Its ripples of truth resonated right through me. Before I came to OA, the lying … Read More
Surprise Ending I know in my heart that program is all about changing me from the inside out so I can become the higher version of myself, someone who doesn’t need to turn to abusive food behaviors when life gets tough. But being all too human, I get caught up in my day and my self-will and blindness can creep back in unnoticed. … Read More
Trust Works Step Two says we “Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.” There is also a line in AA’s Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions that says, “Take it easy. The hoop you have to jump through is a lot wider than you think” (p. 26). To me, this describes the leap of faith of replacing … Read More
Living Proof I came into this program over twenty years ago. My disease didn’t show in my body—I looked “normal,” whatever that was. But I was not living, just going through the motions of life. I felt an awful emptiness, and no amount of food ever filled that black hole. At times I wished some horrible accident would remove me from this … Read More
Peace and Food I stood in the middle of the living room as my mother pinned my new jeans to hem them. (I was about to enter the seventh grade.) The front door opened, and a neighbor walked in. The neighbor took one look at me and said, “She’s getting fat!” That was the beginning of my first diet. I began to starve … Read More
OA Found Me Prior to entering Overeaters Anonymous in September 2004, I was a 25-year-old woman who could not break free of the binge and starve merry-go-round. My troubled relationship with food began at an early age. During my early teens, my food restriction was progressive. I was already fearful of my capacity for eating enormous amounts of food. This culminated in a … Read More
The Dress Fits When I read “My Favorite Color” in the July 2015 Lifeline, my heart lifted. I too want to share the joy of living and the freedom that I have found in OA. In a few months, my oldest granddaughter will marry. Rather than spending months fretting over what to wear to the wedding, I knew immediately what I will wear: … Read More