My Prayer for Healthy Eating, Just for Today
Mimi D. from California USA shares a personal prayer she uses to practice the first three Steps and Step Eleven by surrendering her compulsive eating to her Higher Power just for today.
Emotions
I Couldn’t Control Bingeing on Leftover Foods Until I Understood Surrender in OA
“I have always been an emotional eater,” says Kerry from Michigan USA, and as an advocate for social justice, strong emotions are part of her work life. When she recognized that she couldn’t control her binge eating behaviors, Kerry turned to OA and discovered the key to overcoming her compulsion.
I Was Transformed from a Lifetime of Compulsive Eating to a World of Recovery by Working OA’s Twelve Steps
“I am not like normal eaters,” says Lori B. from Canada, who joined OA at age 62. Learning this in her first OA meeting “lifted a huge weight from my shoulders,” she says, “as I could hear the promise of a solution.” It has taken 6 years, including one bout of relapse, but today Lori has found her secret to recovery.
I Am Convinced God Prompted Me to See This Path to Recovery, but I Had to Do the Footwork.
When Judy E. fell into relapse, she never stopped working her program. She used all the Tools and worked the Steps, but she just couldn’t stop herself in the moments leading up to that first compulsive bite. Then she heard a message from her Higher Power and set a goal to improve her awareness. Read on to find out how she did it.
Stop Baby Girl: You Cannot Reason a Binge
When the thought of binge eating comes to Jacki A., she turns to writing to remind herself of her inherent self worth.
I Couldn’t Bypass My Emotional Recovery
Weight-loss surgery (actually 2 surgeries) was not a magic bullet for Anonymous who writes after having joined OA in the last few years. Not only did she gain weight in the process, but when she lost weight, she “struggled with the comments abut the weight I was losing and the flirty attention I was receiving.” With OA, she has found emotional recovery and a sensible plan of eating.
I’d Always Had an Abnormal Relationship with Food. When I Started Searching for Help, Overeaters Anonymous Saved My Life.
“Before OA, I had tried every diet, every exercise, every new ‘thing’ to lose weight. What I hadn’t tried was fixing myself from the inside out.” Join Agnes, a compulsive overeater, as she shares how OA helped her find a workable plan for freedom from her food behaviors.
Freedom Ride: Abstinence from Binge Eating on the Drive Home from Work
Martine from Texas USA used to binge eat on the way home from work, stopping at multiple fast food drive-thrus. “But tonight . . .,” she says, ”I thanked my Higher Power . . . and the OA program for giving me the freedom . . . to look back on my day of healthy and abstinent eating.”
My Compulsive Physical Hunger Was Impersonating a Spiritual Hunger
Sepidah, an OA member from Iran, came into the program feeling physically, mentally, and spiritually bankrupt. “I could barely bear the weight of my soul,” she says. Through OA and working the Twelve Steps, however, she has found a workable solution. “I am calm,” she says. “I sleep more peacefully . . . and I have better balance in working the Steps.”
It Took Me Eight Years to Work Step One, and then Life Opened Up for Me in Amazing Ways
Laura from Connecticut USA originally thought that coming to an OA meeting was the same as taking the First Step. But for eight years, she never found a lasting abstinence. It wasn’t until she faced the prospect of an early death from obesity that she came to understand what it truly means to work Step One.