Tiger-Free

For me, some of the sayings of OA turned out to be myths.

Myth 1: “We have to walk the tiger three times a day and put it back into its cage.” This suggested to me that I would have to fight and control my disease evermore.

But I am powerless over food. “Our Invitation to You” states, “As a result of practicing these Steps, the symptom of compulsive overeating is removed on a daily basis.” Once I worked the Steps, the need to eat compulsively left me. I walk no tigers when I eat because the problem has been removed.

Myth 2: “Don’t eat and go to meetings.” If I had been able to “not eat,” I wouldn’t have had to come to OA in the first place. I came because I couldn’t not eat!

Nowhere in our literature does it say that going to meetings will remove the compulsion. It might help distract a compulsive overeater from food temporarily, but the real solution we offer, the one that removes the compulsion to overeat for good, is the Twelve Steps.

Myth 3: “Take your time to work the Steps.” If the Steps get us well, why would I encourage anyone to go slowly when doing their Step work? I wouldn’t tell someone with cancer to take only one dose of chemo each month. Why would I slow down someone else’s recovery?

In various places, the Big Book uses words of urgency when talking about taking the Steps. “Into Action” suggests “we waste no time” (Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th ed., p. 75). After our Fifth Step, we are told to take one hour to review our work so far and then do Steps Six and Seven. After the Seventh Step, the Big Book indicates, we already have our Eighth Step list: “We made it when we took inventory” (p. 76), so there’s no need to dillydally here either. The Big Book uses the word “now” when it tells us to go straight out and make amends: “Now we go out to our fellows and repair the damage done in the past” (p. 76). I have not seen one word about taking it slowly. All the words used are about moving a person swiftly from one Step to the next.

This is a deadly disease. Anyone who is unable to moderate their food intake or stop eating certain foods could be a compulsive overeater. Lives are at stake, and people need to be made aware that recovery lies in working the Steps. Don’t get me wrong; meetings are important—but they are not the solution to stopping compulsive eating.

Newcomers need to hear that if they work the Steps as if their lives depend on it (because they do), they can recover (not be cured) from eating compulsively. They, too, can have sane, useful, and happy lives.

I found no tigers in OA. Through working the Steps of OA, my tiger of years past is turned into a harmless kitten.

— K. J., Sydney, Australia