Recovery Relationships Spiritual Nourishment Before I came to OA, I thought I was the most confident 33-year-old out there. I had a great full-time job, a boyfriend, dog, my own apartment, and a car. Yet, I could not stop eating those binge foods. Then, I lost my ability to diet and kept gaining weight. I was a size 26 and had tried everything from diet programs to … Read More
Recovery Relationships Recovery in the Air “So we clean house with the family, asking each morning in meditation that our Creator show us the way of patience, tolerance, kindliness and love” (Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th ed., p. 83). I walked my daughter down the aisle on Saturday. I was a proud mama! Proud of her for the woman she is and proud of myself for the mom I’ve … Read More
Recovery Relationships Real Love and Innocence Growing up in the home of an alcoholic father with my six other siblings seemed easy while I was in it. It wasn’t until years later that I discovered I was having problems because of it. ln my 60s, I started to notice a problem with food, one that I had to admit had been there all my life. It … Read More
Recovery Relationships Loving Amends Why did I feel like eating? I was working on my Eighth and Ninth Steps—that should have been a clue right there—and I just could not get rid of the hatred I felt toward my grandmother. “Boys don’t cry!”—that’s what she said! So I ate instead, up to over 400 pounds (181 kg)! I knew I wasn’t supposed to hate her, … Read More
Recovery Working the Program Choosing A Discipline I work a pretty structured program and sometimes hear people talk about “rigidity” when they refer to things that I do gladly. It’s spiritually liberating, and has given me fourteen abstinent years so far, so I’m a happy boy. I choose a disciplined approach because I made a deal with God that I would do my share to maintain a … Read More
Tools & Concepts My Plan Keeps Me Moving I normally start my day with my arthritis exercises before I get out of bed. But if I am just not feeling it, then I get out of bed, turn on my computer, pour a cup of coffee, and start my meditation and journaling. I have several daily readers from which I read, and then I do freewriting to tell … Read More
Diversity Newcomers Waking Up I walked into OA because all I could see before me was cycles and cycles of weight gain and loss, misery and short-lived false joy. I had to admit I did not want to live. I could not see the point of anything, and my only desire was to sleep or not be conscious because even excess sugar could not … Read More
Abstinence A Change of Purpose When I came to OA, I heard “We are not a diet-and-calories club.” “Oh really?” I thought. “Of course it’s a diet-and-calories club. Who are they trying to fool?” I had spent years joining every dieting, calorie-counting, television-infomercial club out there. They all promised weight loss. We’re all here, I thought, because we want to lose weight. Lose weight, lose … Read More
Anorexia & Bulimia Diversity Made Possible In times of fear and doubt, I can remember to ground myself in the fact of my abstinence. It’s simple: Before OA and the aid of a Power greater than myself, I could not live without compulsive overeating, exercise bulimia, and body image obsession. Now, one day at a time, I can. Starting in eighth grade, my eating disorder took … Read More
Anorexia & Bulimia Diversity Helpful Voices I’m an addicted people pleaser. I don’t want to make anyone upset, inconvenience them, start a conflict, or rock the boat. My drive to get along has caused me to lose my voice. I’ve made some headway, but I have a ways to go. Recently, I realized how it has hurt my recovery. A few weeks ago, I went through … Read More
