See If Overeaters Anonymous Is For You!

I went to several OA meetings during the first week of December to see what OA was all about. I also read numerous OA pamphlets and books. There are meetings throughout the US and different groups have different focuses (i.e. newcomer, literature study, OA steps), so there is a meeting for almost everyone’s needs. The meetings are especially good for the type of overeater who likes community and fellowship and enjoys sharing in groups. If you are not the type of individual that likes sharing in groups, like me, there are also online and telephone meetings available.  You can also read their literature which is phenomenal. When I read the book, The Twelve Steps and The Twelve Traditions of OA I was faced with the realization that the cause of being overweight or obese is not “willpower” but can be for many people addiction. 

Overeaters Anonymous has 12 steps that guide the program. The OA website states the following:

"The Twelve Steps are the heart of the OA recovery program. They offer a new way of life that enables the compulsive eater to live without the need for excess food.The ideas expressed in the Twelve Steps, which originated in Alcoholics Anonymous, reflect practical experience and application of spiritual insights recorded by thinkers throughout the ages. Their greatest importance lies in the fact that they work! They enable compulsive eaters and millions of other Twelve-Steppers to lead happy, productive lives. They represent the foundation upon which OA is built."

The Twelve Steps of Overeaters Anonymous 

1. We admitted we were powerless over food — that our lives had become unmanageable
2. Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity
3. Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him.
4. Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves
5. Admitted to God, to ourselves and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.
6. Were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character.
7. Humbly asked Him to remove our shortcomings.
8. Made a list of all persons we had harmed and became willing to make amends to them all.
9. Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.
10. Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong, promptly admitted it.
11. Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God as we understood Him, praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out. 
12. 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.  

If this sounds interesting to you you can go to the Overeaters Anonymous website oa.org for more information.