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.”
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.”
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.
Even after weight-loss surgery, Kaveh from Tehran, Iran, discovered that he could not overcome the feelings of inadequacy that had led him to overeat. He tried books and therapy, but ultimately found emotional recovery in OA. Working all Twelve Steps, Kaveh learned to “heal the overeater not only physically but emotionally and spiritually.”
“I can say without a shadow of a doubt that OA has completely saved my life,” says Renee D. from California USA. “I can’t wait to see what the next 900 days has in store for me.”
“I will be the first to admit that I have been a control freak,” says Beth. “As I worked the Twelve Steps, I learned to let go of thoughts about how someone should have acted or how things should have gone.”
Feeling grumpy due to a bout with Covid, H.E. from New Zealand knows the best thing to do is to use OA’s Tools of Recovery to find acceptance. “I know the only way out of this space is to get out of my own head and take action.”
This podcast features an Asian, Pacific, Islander, and Desi (APID) specific-focus workshop that was made open to visitors outside OA. The podcast highlights the experience, strength, and hope that APID members have to share within the OA Fellowship and to those outside OA who are still suffering from compulsive eating and compulsive food behaviors. 0:00–7:11Introductions … Continued
A medical doctor asserts that compulsive eating is a disease that precedes other chronic disorders. The disease can be successfully treated by applying treatment principles similar to those used for alcoholism.
“It was only a few moments into my first meeting that I realized it was not about the weight, but the way I was leading my life,” says Marti, who reflects on her one-year anniversary of abstinence from compulsive overeating.