After some years in another recovery program, I discovered I had substituted food for the alcohol I was no longer drinking. From childhood I had been using food for comfort and as a cushion against the discomforts of the world. I was a heavy child and lost weight just before entering high school. In my teen years I was distracted …

Before OA, I was living and keeping busy, but my eating and weight were not in control. I felt hopeless, thinking I would never weigh less. I had started on a reasonable plan for eating and exercise, but after a few days I had trouble keeping to my plan for even one day. I just had no control. I made …

No one comes to a Twelve Step program on an upswing, and I was no exception. I was overweight and felt certain foods were the problem. I asked my husband of eighteen years to move out; I thought he was the problem. I wasn’t communicating well with my adult children, so they were the problem. Meanwhile, an acquaintance from another …

I came to my first OA meeting in January 2008. I was obese, angry, unhappy, and scared. My father was abusive, my mother was morbidly obese, and our family dynamics were based more on criticism than acceptance. I learned to stuff my feelings with a critical nature, compulsive eating, and other addictive behaviors. During the meeting I wasn’t sure how …

Driving to my OA meeting this morning, I felt a sense of calm about this past week. An authority figure had made an inappropriate comment, and I spoke my truth without becoming belligerent, without thinking obsessively about the situation afterward, without gossiping, and without stuffing down my anger with food. Someone else asked me for a favor that carried the …

I have been thinking about how proficient I was at feeling bad, and how I am now learning to feel good. My food compulsion started at age 7, which is when the worrying began as well as before-school stomachaches, bad dreams, fear at bedtime, and the chameleon-like behavior I developed to deal with people who were different from me or …