Half my family is from a very small town in Kentucky, and redneck jokes are often shared at family events, no matter how many times I roll my eyes in protest. Recently, during one of my daily conversations with my sponsor (the kind you think will be simple but turn out to be amazing) I shared about a mini-vacation from …

This morning, as part of my daily spiritual practice, I read a page from For Today and felt excitement. It is February, the month of Step Two. Although each of the Twelve Steps has played a significant role in my spiritual growth, Step Two has a special place in my heart. Step Two and Tradition Two transformed my understanding of …

When I was growing up, I had a lot of emotions to deal with. I never learned good coping skills, so I handled situations by eating over them. I buried feelings that were too much for me. It was either eat or go crazy, so I ate. I like to compare my experience with a shipwreck. At first, I went …

Tradition Twelve: Anonymity is the spiritual foundation of all these Traditions, ever reminding us to place principles before personalities. If it’s not happening already, it’s just a matter of time in these rooms before you experience a relationship or acquaintance you do not like. It’s natural; we’re all human and none of us are perfect. However, I challenge your character …

My trips to the grocery store became much different after I became abstinent more than ten years ago. Many aisles no longer held anything I could safely purchase. The remaining aisles got greater attention from me, and to this day, I read labels, check portion sizes, and compare prices. There is one aspect of the grocery store that gets my …

First, I can go into a supermarket and not have to buy the sugars and carbs I’m addicted to. What a freedom and relief that is! “Not today!” I think to myself with gratitude. Also, I have the freedom to be happy in life and enjoy its pleasures. No longer is that dark shadow, the curse of addiction, crossing my …

Although I’ve been a very thankful member of this wonderful Fellowship for two and a half years, I still feel like a veritable babe in arms. I know we are all toddlers until we have been abstinent about five years. I look forward with alacrity to the day I’m emotionally of an age to join the OA kindergartners! Maybe since …

I am a 21-year-old college student and a recovering anorexic, bulimic, and compulsive eater. I’ve been in OA for almost a year and recently got a sponsor to help me work the Twelve Steps. I’ve been in treatment for my eating disorders and that is where I discovered OA. I wrote a poem about my recovery, and my sponsor suggested …

I feel really connected to my God most of the time. And every so often, out of the blue, I get a message that moves my program and my recovery forward in leaps and bounds. It happened again yesterday while I was attending a marathon. At one point, we were invited to do an activity. On half a page, we …

OA has improved how I look, and not just with weight loss. I look better in my clothes now that they’re not covered in food and drink stains. When I was eating compulsively, I was reckless. I ate as much as I could as often as I could. I wasn’t careful or dainty, so I sure didn’t eat like a …