At our writing meeting, we often read articles about spiritual awakening from books such as Lifeline Sampler. Reading articles written by fellow Overeaters Anonymous members, people like me, seems to give me the deepest insights, and this particular meeting opened up a new perspective about gratitude. Once again, I became able to identify behavior patterns I’d created a long time …

I’ve struggled with my weight since I was 5 years old. At that time I heard my father comment, “No fat daughter of mine will ever be seen in a tutu!” Those words would haunt me for fifty years. At the time I heard them, I didn’t know I was fat; I was only in kindergarten. I had not yet …

I have had two knee replacements in two years. The first time I wasn’t abstinent, but this most recent time I was. I want to share the difference. The first time I was in rehab, I was physically, spiritually, and mentally bankrupt. I paid an acquaintance, my eating buddy, to bring me non abstinent food. I ate sugar and white flour …

I came into OA on May 31, 2013, fearful, bitter, angry, resentful, and worried about everything. When the Twelve Steps were read at my first meeting, I heard the First Step and thought, “How could this group of people possibly know me?” My life was unmanageable. I was on family leave to provide constant care to my husband. I was …

I came to understand my abstinence through working with my first OA sponsor in Step One, looking at what foods and food behaviors I was powerless over and when my life was unmanageable as it related to food. The most obvious problem was my nighttime bingeing, and at first my bottom-line abstinence was not bingeing at night, using the 3-0-1 …

I just returned from the last professional car race of the season. Gosh, no more racing for a while! I look forward to the weekends and car racing, but I will have to be content with American football until racing resumes. You’re probably thinking, “What’s the big deal about racing? A bunch of cars go fast around a track.” But …

I reach out my palm and you touch my heart. Together we make a valiant start. We guard against any halfway measure As we embark on this journey together. We’re raising the banner for spiritual living, Changing our actions from taking to giving. Our hands and our minds retreat from the fridge; The past becomes water under the bridge. Taking …

I must confess: After nearly three years in this program, Step Three is the one I’ve struggled with most. Naturally, that’s the Step I’ve been asked to write about. I wonder if my Higher Power has anything to do with that! Like a lot of people, I experienced a childhood of abuse. I guess you could say I had a bone …

Two years ago today, I took a plane to Brisbane, Australia, with two bags and a lot of dreams. The bags held clothes to last six months, the time I planned to stay. When I arrived, it was amazing: a new country, new culture, new language, and new life. But I was the same person, so one of the first things I …

I have learned that the thought precedes the bite. So to get rid of a thought, I must employ a replacement thought. Slogans are either pithy (clever) or humorous, they’re easy to remember, and they can be counted on in hungry moments and emergencies. Sometimes the impulse to eat can feel so urgent that getting literature or making a phone …