Many food addicts recover by abstaining from their binge foods without any support and some use the support of counselors, churches, and friends. However, the food related 12 step fellowships can be an important resource. This is where one finds the most concentrated number of food addicts actively working on their own recovery, a number of useful publications, and regular support meetings. The 12 Step fellowships look at food addiction as a physical, emotional and spiritual disease with an emphasis on each person developing their own understanding of spirituality; these programs are not religious so that all individuals — whether religious, agnostic or atheist – can adapt them to their own beliefs. For those unfamiliar with 12 step programs, we have printed a copy of the 12 steps as adapted by Overeaters Anonymous at the end of this resource list. (There is one organization listed below which combines the 12 steps with Christianity.)
| COMPULSIVE EATERS ANONYMOUS – HOW (CEA-HOW) www.ceahow.org CEA-HOW 5500 East Atherton St. Suite 227-B Long Beach, CA 90815-4017 562-342-9344 FOOD ADDICTS ANONYMOUS (FAA) GREYSHEETERS ANONYMOUS (GSA) FOOD ADDICTS IN RECOVERY ANONYMOUS (FA) OVERCOMERS OUTREACH (Christian-based) |
*OVEREATERS ANONYMOUS (OA) www.overeatersanonymous.org Overeaters Anonymous P.O.Box 44020 Rio Rancho, NM 87174-4020 505-891-2664 OVEREATERS ANONYMOUS – HOW (OA-HOW) OVEREATERS ANONYMOUS 90-DAY MEETINGS RECOVERY FROM FOOD ADDICTION, Inc. *By far, the oldest, largest and most diverse |
The Twelve Steps of Overeaters Anonymous
- We admitted we were powerless over food — that our lives had become unmanageable.
- Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.
- Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him.
- Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.
- Admitted to God, to ourselves and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.
- Were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character.
- Humbly asked Him to remove our shortcomings.
- Made a list of all persons we had harmed and became willing to make amends to them all.
- Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.
- Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong, promptly admitted it.
- 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.
- 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.
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