Recovery Working the Program Bitter is Better I am a 62-year-old male, and since I came into program at the end of March 2015, my marriage has been restored and my family is mostly on good terms with me. My depression has lifted. I have excellent friendships inside and outside the Fellowship, and I feel a joy in daily living I had not felt for forty or … Read More
Working the Program Know-How I don’t really know how a computer works. People with comprehension greater than mine designed this amazing tool. But I don’t need to understand all the intricacies of a computer in order to use one. If I just follow simple directions, I can do pretty amazing things with words and pictures, such as send and receive messages in a flash, … Read More
Recovery Day Trip There are so many useful slogans in OA. I have heard them at meetings and read them in our literature. I have underlined them, highlighted them, and written them down in a notebook for later review, but there’s one I find especially inspiring. When I first came into program I didn’t like the phrase “One day at a time.” In my mind … Read More
Relapse Slipping & Sliding Lifeboat How to live life on life’s terms was the most important lesson I learned during my deployment in 2015. I’m a member of the U.S. Navy, and I spent more than seven months on a ship sailing across the ocean. The ship’s menu did not cater to me. The hours of food service did not cater to me. My work … Read More
Recovery Worth Knowing I came into OA in the middle of 2008. At the time I weighed just over 80 kilograms (176 lbs) and was on the way up. It was the most I had ever weighed. I believed I was going to end up obese, and I didn’t care. From the age of 15, I had been experimenting with diet pills, never … Read More
Relapse & Recovery Craving Sanity Over twenty-two years ago, after six years of being in OA, I finally accepted that there were certain foods I could not begin to eat without developing uncontrollable cravings. My six years of recovery/relapse cycles and my thirty-five years of yo-yo dieting were suddenly explained. It was clear: In order for me to be abstinent, I had to eliminate those … Read More
Abstinence Plan to Evolve I just celebrated my thirty-year OA birthday. My eating has evolved over the years, and my abstinence has changed many times. To stay on a food plan, I have to work the Steps and the Tools at all times. When I was diagnosed with hypoglycemia, I had to break my meals in half and eat every few hours. I was … Read More
