Tools & Concepts Uncategorized My Abstinence Kits When I first came to OA forty years ago, my idea of a plan of eating was a diet. OA members suggested I have three moderate meals daily with nothing in between, and of course, avoid foods with refined sugar. I was ecstatic at my first meeting when I saw the different color coded plans lying on the table. Each … Read More
Tools & Concepts Ten Thousand Miracles I had prepared a salad and was fully enjoying the two sources of protein in it when it occurred to me that I don’t usually put more than one source of protein in my salads. With a start, I realized I had made a mistake: I double measured. It’s not like someone had died, but I realized that, if such … Read More
Tools & Concepts Building on Success I had been attending meetings sporadically for a few months and was thinking about a plan of eating. I read about the different plans listed in Where Do I Start?, but I wasn’t drawn to any of it. So, I asked my sponsor for his take on the subject. He suggested I choose a plan that I was 99 percent sure … Read More
Tools & Concepts Working Wonderfully I have been in OA now for over twenty-eight years, and I have come a long way. When I first came into the program, my food plan consisted of eating very little—I was a starve-and-binger. At the meetings I attended back in those days, there was no clear process for how to pick a food plan. I had a sponsor … Read More
Abstinence Key Specifics In all my seventeen years in OA, I’ve regarded “abstinence” as an ambiguous term—and I’ve blamed that ambiguity for my relapses. Focusing on ambiguity made it easy for me to erode my abstinence. My epiphany occurred when my sponsor, who has forty-two years of abstinence, said, “Abstinence doesn’t have to be ambiguous.” That gave me pause for thought. The pause … Read More
Tools & Concepts Back on Track I experienced miraculous recovery working the Steps of OA. I’d never in my life been more spiritually fit, more emotionally sound, more physically recovered, yet I felt as if I’d just touched the tip of the iceberg of everything the OA Fellowship could fulfill in my life. It was “steady as she goes,” and the pounds came off slowly but … Read More
Abstinence Day In and Day Out I was “struck abstinent” on April 20, 2016. I used to think being struck abstinent meant it was permanent, but it isn’t. I work very hard to maintain my abstinence. Abstinence for me means eating three meals plus two snacks daily, with no sugar, fast food, or anything from my “red light” list. This is my action plan: On Sundays, … Read More