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
Recovery Working the Program Transferable Skills Six weeks ago, my little brother took his own life after several decades of dealing with emotional pain. He was 44 years old and had struggled with bipolar syndrome and alcoholism since he was a teenager. His death still feels like a knife in my soul, but with the help of OA and the Twelve Steps, I’m learning to handle … Read More
Recovery Working the Program Walking Through It When I joined OA in 1977, our program was seventeen years old, and I wasn’t much older. In those days, the only food plan was the gray sheet, a fairly restrictive but useful way to eat. I had no idea how much to eat of what, until a practical food plan gave me a map. I called in my food every day … Read More
How OA Changed My Life Recovery Not So Ridiculous I’ve been recovering in Overeaters Anonymous for more than thirty five years. I came to OA as a teen, having been bulimic for several years and unable to be truthful with myself. I felt I was unable to survive on the structured plan of eating available in OA at the time, so I left. I returned in 1980, pitifully and incomprehensibly … Read More
Sponsoring Tools & Concepts A Grateful Goodbye My first sponsor, M., passed away last month. He was one of the first people I met in OA, but it was a year before he became my sponsor. He was one of the few men I’d met and one of very few OA members who identified as a sponsor. I wrote down his number, but at the time, he … Read More