Diversity Fish Tale The fish flips, flaps, and fights within the tangled mass of netting. It thrashes about, struggling, getting more entangled with each attempt to release itself. It rests, exhausted, for just a few minutes, then begins its futile attempts again. This goes on repeatedly for a long time. Eventually the fish hovers between awareness and half-consciousness. A cupped hand reaches down, cradling … Read More
Recovery Re: Direction Many new members struggle with ideas and actions suggested by OA that seem to be strange, not realizing they are already living these ideas. For example, we are taught “abstinence is the most important thing in my life without exception.” How can anything be so important? For me, before OA, food was the most important thing in my life without … Read More
How OA Changed My Life Truth Telling Throughout my time in OA, I have been helped by certain program slogans. Simply saying them can change my frame of mind. When I have been in pain, physical or emotional, “This too shall pass” has helped me. In college I had very strong cravings to go eat binge foods I knew would make me feel bad. So I’d think, do I want … Read More
Higher Power Asked and Answered Seven and a half years ago, I was lying in bed with my abdomen pressing down on my diaphragm and a CPAP mask over my face, and I prayed, “God, see me through to morning, and I promise I’ll go on another diet.” Yet when morning came, I couldn’t diet past breakfast. I had hit bottom. I tell this story … Read More
Responsibility Pledge Who, Me? Yes, You. I’m sure I heard the OA Responsibility Pledge at my first meeting fifteen years ago. When I really listened to it a few meetings later, I thought, “Responsible? Who, me? No way! My life is a mess—I’m the one who needs help. How could you possibly tell me that I’m responsible for others?” When I was a teenage compulsive eater, … Read More
Fellowship Phone Save When I first walked into the rooms of OA, I never thought I’d still be attending meetings thirty-nine years later. All I was interested in was getting a diet, losing weight, and going on my way—and that is exactly what I did, over and over again. I never could sustain abstinence over periods of time, but I was able to … Read More
Recovery New Presence Just a month before my fifth OA anniversary, my father suffered a massive heart attack and was placed on life support. By the end of the day, there was little hope for Dad’s recovery, but some family members were not ready to accept that truth. If ever there was an excuse for this compulsive eater to dive into the food, … Read More
Recovery Pot of Gold If it weren’t for OA, I wouldn’t be able to see. I’m not blind, but the fog of compulsive overeating blinded me. By maintaining abstinence and working the Steps, the fog was lifted, and I began to see the world as it is. I began to see color. Recovery gave me the ability to pursue my childhood dream of learning … Read More
Steps Step 4: Searching Out Shame In OA, we rely strongly on AA literature, and we are truly blessed to have it. I am infinitely grateful to AA and its founders and members. I do find, however, one critical difference between alcoholism and food addiction that, once addressed, finally gave me the freedom of back-to-back abstinence that eluded me for decades. Members of AA can walk … Read More
Higher Power Spirituality Recovery Beyond Measure In a few days, I will celebrate thirty-eight years of recovery in OA. Today my goal is health, sanity, and wellness, not a size 8. Physically, my body has been a normal size for many years. G-d has removed the compulsion for what I call “the hard stuff”—the stuff you see at the grocery checkout counter. I have reached a … Read More
