A healthy check-in from Rosanne’s sponsee leads Rosanne to reflect on what it was like for her before she found OA. “I wanted to be thin but not give up the food. . . . OA encouraged me with more than just food issues—I no longer felt alone.”
How many times have I thought “I don’t belong in OA.” Yet I’ve been coming back for more than six years and I’m so glad I’ve stayed, writes Elaine. “I am so much happier now.”
Jennifer’s childhood left her hungry for love, and that opened the door to an obsession with food. After thirty years of binge eating and diets another door opened: the door to recovery through OA. A year later, Jennifer can say, “I know I am worthy, and I want to nurture my authentic self and heal old wounds.”
“Many of us come to OA feeling like this is the ‘last house on the block,’” Andrea writes. ”Thank God we find acceptance and understanding in OA.” Read about Andrea’s journey through food obsession, recovery, relapse, and finding serenity in our program.
Cyndy, compulsive eater, and Meg, food and sugar addict, host this workshop on Step Twelve: “Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these Steps, we tried to carry this message to compulsive overeaters and to practice these principles in all our affairs.” This workshop includes great shares about the value of giving service.
Gloria, a compulsive overeater, and Gerri, an abstinent food addict and compulsive overeater, host this episode on Step Six: “Were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character.”
Stephanie, a compulsive overeating, and Nancy, a gratefully recovering compulsive overeater, host this workshop on OA’s Fifth Step: “Admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.”
“No matter what walks of life the members come from, each is entitled to experience the fellowship our program offers,” says Anonymous, who showed up to their first OA meeting only wanting to be thin and for the emotional pain to stop and found themselves “loved and accepted as I was.”
Tina, recovering compulsive overeater, and Ronnie, a compulsive overeater, host this workshop on OA’s First Step: “We admitted we were powerless over food; that our lives had become unmanageable.”
This episode explores the nature of the disease of compulsive eating and the willingness it takes to begin the recovery journey. Some refer to the state of being just before accepting the OA program as “Step Zero.”