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MajestyJo
11-08-2013, 10:29 AM
Yesterday in the news, there was an interview with the family of the mayor of a city here in Ontario, who has been charged with many crimes, but the big one was crack, cocaine, and alcohol. His family are worried about his weight. Many don't realize that he uses food like he uses everything else. When I am addicted, my drug of choice is more. It doesn't matter what the substance is, the problem is me.

It doesn't matter if you use too much, or abuse by not taking (food, medication, exercise, etc.), it is all about looking outside of ourselves to make us feel better or succumbing to that stinking thinking that tells you that you are not worthy, that you are ugly, dumb, etc. For many years, I thought I had to justify my existence, it wasn't okay to be me.

http://www.animated-gifs.eu/kitchen-cooks/0032.gif

MAY YOU BE ABLE TO HANDLE EVERYTHING THAT IS DISHED UP TO YOU!

MajestyJo
11-17-2013, 12:04 PM
Monday, November 14, 2011
You are reading from the book Food for Thought

Waking Up to Truth

Our illusions were tied to our compulsive overeating behavior. Abstaining from the behavior makes it possible for us to let go of our illusions. It is the Higher Power that leads us into the truth, which penetrates and dispels illusions.

Working the Steps, reading the OA literature, and talking with other members prepares us to receive new truth. Our Higher Power gives us insights, sometimes-in quick flashes of perception and sometimes slowly over a long period of time. The experience of discovery is one of the most rewarding facets of our program. It is an ongoing process, since we continue to grow and become aware of new truth.

Too much food kept us in a fog. Now we are recovering from the physical effects of our addiction to refined sugars and carbohydrates and the emotional dependency on eating to avoid feeling pain. In the process, we wake up to more and more truth about others, our Higher Power, and ourselves.

May I live by the truth that You reveal.

Love the last line. I always like to think, that God is as He reveals Himself to me in today.

This reminded me of a cousin who always use to say "I am big boned" when people on the bus got in her face about being overweight. It sounds good in the telling, doesn't always apply in theory. I was always overweight for the size of my body. When I lost the swelling from medication, I said, "This body was hiding under there all the time." The reality is, that body could lose some weight too!

Again, like all addictions, it is a state of mind and needs a change in attitude.

It helps to share. When I vocalize, I can hear myself and what is coming out of my mouth and identify the feelings that are often hidden, stuffed, or covered up and need to be acknowledged.

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MajestyJo
12-03-2013, 12:10 PM
Converted from There is A Solution in the Big Book for people with eating disorders of all kinds.

We with eating disorders, know thousands of men and women who were once just as hopeless as a drunk. Nearly all have recovered. They have solved the eating disorder problem.

We are average Americans. All sections of this country and many of its occupations are represented, as well as many political, economic, social, and religious backgrounds. We are people who normally would not mix. But there exists among us a fellowship, a friendliness, and an understanding which is indescribably wonderful. We are like the passengers of a great liner the moment after rescue from shipwreck when camaraderie, joyousness and democracy pervade the vessel from steerage to the Captain's table. Unlike the feelings of the ship's passengers, however, our joy in escape from disaster does not subside as we go our individual ways. The feeling of having shared in a common peril is one element in the powerful cement which binds us. But that in itself would never have held us together as we are now joined.

The tremendous fact for every one of us is that we have discovered a common solution. We have a way out on which we can absolutely agree, and upon which we can join in sisterly and harmonious action. This is the great news this book carries to those who suffer from eating disorders.

An illness of this sort - and we have come to believe it an illness - involves those about us in a way no other human sickness can. If a person has cancer all are sorry for her and no one is angry or hurt. But not so with an eating disorder illness, for with it there goes annihilation of all the things worth while in life. It engulfs all whose lives touch the sufferer's. It brings misunderstanding, fierce resentment, financial insecurity, disgusted friends and employers, warped lives of blameless children, sad partners and parents - anyone can increase the list.

We hope this volume will inform and comfort those who are, or who may be affected. There are many. Highly competent psychiatrists who have dealt with us have found it sometimes impossible to persuade a compulsive eater or dieter to discuss her situation without reserve. Strangely enough, our partners, parents and intimate friends usually find us even more unapproachable than do the psychiatrist and the doctor.

But there are us with eating disorders who have found this solution, who are properly armed with facts about ourselves, can generally win the entire confidence of another person with an eating disorder in a few hours. Until such an understanding is reached, little or nothing can be accomplished.

That the woman who is making the approach has had the same difficulty, that she obviously knows what she is talking about, that her whole deportment shouts at the new prospect that she is a woman with a real answer, that she has no attitude of Holier Than Thou, nothing whatever except the sincere desire to be helpful; that there are no fees to pay, no axes to grind, no people to please, no lectures to be endured - these are the conditions we have found most effective. After such an approach many take up their beds and walk again.

None of us makes a sole vocation of this work, nor do we think its effectiveness would be increased if we did. We feel that elimination of our eating disorder is but a beginning. A much more important demonstration of our principles lies before us in our respective homes, occupations and affairs. All of us spend much of our spare time in the sort of effort which we are going to describe. A few are fortunate enough to be so situated that they can give nearly all their time to the work.

If we keep on the way we are going there is little doubt that much good will result, but the surface of the problem would hardly be scratched. Those of us who live in large cities are overcome by the reflection that close by hundreds are dropping into oblivion every day. Many could recover if they had the opportunity we have enjoyed. How then shall we present that which has been so freely given us?

We have concluded to publish an anonymous volume setting forth the problem as we see it. We shall bring to the task our combined experience and knowledge. This should suggest a useful program for anyone concerned with a eating disorder problem.

Of necessity there will have to be discussion of matters medical, psychiatric, social, and religious. We are aware that these matters are, from their very nature, controversial. Nothing would please us so much as to write a book which would contain no basis for contention or argument. We shall do our utmost to achieve that ideal. Most of us sense that real tolerance of other people's shortcomings and viewpoints and a respect for their opinions are attitudes which make us more useful to others. Our very lives, as ex-dieters, depend upon our constant thought of others and how we may help meet their needs.

You may already have asked yourself why it is that all of us became so very ill from our eating disorders. Doubtless you are curious to discover how and why, in the face of expert opinion to the contrary, we have recovered from a hopeless condition of mind and body. If you are a person with an eating disorder who wants to live in abstinence and freedom, you may already be asking -"What do I have to do?"

It is the purpose of this book to answer such questions specifically. We shall tell you what we have done. Before going into a detailed discussion, it may be well to summarize some points as we see them.

How many times people have said to us: "I can take it or leave it alone. Why can't she?" "Why don't you eat and exercise like normal people or quit eating compulsively?" "That girl can't handle her eating." "Why don't you try Atkins diet and join a gym?" "Lay off the starchy stuff." "Her will power must be weak." "She could stop if she wanted to." "He's such a great guy, I should think she'd stop for his sake." "The doctor told her that if she kept going through the binge/purge cycle again it would kill her, but there she is doing it all over again."

Now these are commonplace observations on people with eating disorders which we hear all the time. Back of them is a world of ignorance and misunderstanding. We see that these expressions refer to people whose reactions are very different from ours.

Moderate eaters have little trouble in giving up over dieting or over-eating entirely if they have good reason for it. They can take it or leave it alone

Then we have a certain type of compulsive dieter or over eater. She may have the habit badly enough to gradually impair her physically and mentally. It may cause her to die a few years before her time. If a sufficiently strong reason - ill health, falling in love, change of environment, or the warning of a doctor - becomes operative, this girl can also stop or moderate, although she may find it difficult and troublesome and may even need medical attention.

But what about the person with a real eating disorder? She may start off as a moderate eater; she may or may not have a continuous dieting or compulsive eating issue; but at some stage of her eating disorder career she begins to lose all control of her food consumption, or dieting and over exercising once she starts to eat compulsively or try to control her weight in some other way.

Here is the woman who has been puzzling you, especially in her lack of control. She does absurd, incredible, tragic things while eating or dieting. She is a real Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. She is seldom mildly intoxicated. She is always more or less insanely drunk on food or abstaining. Her disposition while eating or abstaining resembles her normal nature but little. She may be one of the finest girls in the world. Yet let her eat or abstain for a day, and she frequently becomes disgustingly, and even dangerously anti-social. She has a positive genius for getting into her disease at exactly the wrong moment, particularly when some important decision must be made or engagement kept. She is often perfectly sensible and well balanced concerning everything except her obsessions, but in that respect she is incredibly dishonest and selfish. She often possesses special abilities, skills, and aptitudes, and has a promising career ahead of her. She uses her gifts to build up a bright outlook for her family and herself, and then pulls the structure down on her head by a senseless series of sprees. She is the person who goes to bed so intoxicated she ought to sleep the clock around. Yet early next morning she searches madly for the hoarded food, laxatives and diet pills she misplaced the night before. If she can afford it, she may have food and laxatives or diet pills concealed all over his house to be certain no one gets her entire supply away from her to throw down the garbage. As matters grow worse, she begins to use a combination of high-powered sedative or diet pills, or food stuck in her pockets to quiet her nerves so she can go to work. Then comes the day when she simply cannot make it and she acts out all over again. Perhaps she goes to a doctor who gives her diet pills or some other means of helping her to abstain with which to taper off. She may use several doctors to get something to control her appetite. Then she begins to appear at hospitals and sanitariums.

This is by no means a comprehensive picture of the true compulsive eater or dieter, as our behavior patterns vary. But this description should identify her roughly.

Why does she behave like this? If hundreds of experiences have shown her that one binge/purge cycle means another debacle with all its attendant suffering and humiliation, why is it she takes that one compulsive bite? Why can't she stay on the healthy eating wagon? What has become of the common sense and will power that she still sometimes displays with respect to other matters?

Perhaps there never will be a full answer to these questions. Opinions vary considerably as to why the compulsive binger reacts differently from normal people. We are not sure why, once a certain point is reached, little can be done for her. We cannot answer the riddle.

We know that while the compulsive binger/dieter keeps away from trigger foods, as she may do for months or years, she reacts much like other women. We are equally positive that once she takes any trigger foods whatever into her system, or diets compulsively for a time, something happens, both in the bodily and mental sense, which makes it virtually impossible for her to stop.

The experience of any compulsive eater will abundantly confirm this. These observations would be academic and pointless if our friend never took her first compulsive bite, thereby setting the terrible cycle in motion. Therefore, the main problem of the person with an eating disorder centers in her mind, rather than in her body. If you ask her why she started on that last bender, the chances are she will offer you any one of a hundred alibis. Sometimes these excuses have a certain plausibility, but none of them really makes sense in the light of the havoc a compulsive eater’s behaviors create. They sound like the philosophy of the woman who, having a headache, beats herself on the head with a hammer so that she can't feel the ache. If you draw this fallacious reasoning to the attention of a compulsive eater, she will laugh it off, or become irritated and refuse to talk.

Once in a while she may tell the truth. And the truth, strange to say, is usually that she has no more idea why she took that first compulsive bite than you have. Some with eating disorders have excuses with which they are satisfied part of the time. But in their hearts they really do not know why they do it. Once this malady has a real hold, they are a baffled lot. There is the obsession that somehow, someday, they will beat the game. But they often suspect they are down for the count.

How true this is, few realize. In a vague way their families and friends sense that these people are abnormal, but everybody hopefully awaits the day when the sufferer will rouse herself from her lethargy and assert her power of will.

The tragic truth is that if the woman be a real compulsive eater, the happy day may not arrive. She has lost control. At a certain point in the food consumption of every compulsive eater, she passes into a state where the most powerful desire to stop eating or dieting is of absolutely no avail. This tragic situation has already arrived in practically every case long before it is suspected.

The fact is that most with eating disorder, for reasons yet obscure, have lost the power of choice in binging/purging. Our so-called will power becomes practically nonexistent. We are unable, at certain times, to bring into our consciousness with sufficient force the memory of the suffering and humiliation of even a week or a month ago. We are without defense against the first compulsive bite.

The almost certain consequences that follow eating even a donut do not crowd into the mind to deter us. If these thoughts occur, they are hazy and readily supplanted with the old threadbare idea that this time we shall handle ourselves like other people. There is a complete failure of the kind of defense that keeps one from putting her hand on a hot stove.

The eating disorder person may say to herself in the most casual way, "It won't burn me this time, so here's how!" Or perhaps she doesn't think at all. How often have some of us begun to eat in this nonchalant way, and after the third or fourth serving, pounded on the table and said to ourselves, "For God's sake, how did I ever get started again?" Only to have that thought supplanted by "Well, I'll stop with the second one." Or "What's the use anyhow?"
When this sort of thinking is fully established in an individual with over eating tendencies, she has probably placed herself beyond human aid, and unless locked up, may die or go permanently into isolation. These stark and ugly facts have been confirmed by legions of those with eating disorders throughout history. But for the grace of God, there would have been thousands more convincing demonstrations. So many want to stop but cannot.

There is a solution. Almost none of us liked the self-searching, the leveling of our pride, the confession of shortcomings which the process requires for its successful consummation. But we saw that it really worked in others, and we had come to believe in the hopelessness and futility of life as we had been living it. When, therefore, we were approached by those in whom the problem had been solved, there was nothing left for us but to pick up the simple kit of spiritual tools laid at our feet. We have found much of heaven and we have been rocketed into a fourth dimension of existence of which we had not even dreamed.

The great fact is just this, and nothing less: That we have had deep and effective spiritual experiences which have revolutionized our whole attitude toward life, toward our fellows and toward God's universe. The central fact of our lives today is the absolute certainty that our Creator has entered into our hearts and lives in a way which is indeed miraculous. He has commenced to accomplish those things for us which we could never do by ourselves.

If you are as seriously bulimic as we were, we believe there is no middle-of-the-road solution. We were in a position where life was becoming impossible, and if we had passed into the region from which there is no return through human aid, we had but two alternatives: One was to go on to the bitter end, blotting out the consciousness of our intolerable situation as best we could; and the other, to accept spiritual help. This we did because we honestly wanted to, and were willing to make the effort.

A certain American business man had ability, good sense, and high character. For years he had floundered from one sanitarium to another. He had consulted the best known American psychiatrists. Then he had gone to Europe, placing himself in the care of a celebrated physician (the psychiatrist, Dr. Jung) who prescribed an answer for him. Though experience had made him skeptical, he finished his treatment with unusual confidence. His physical and mental condition were unusually good. Above all, he believed he had acquired such a profound knowledge of the inner workings of his mind and its hidden springs that relapse was unthinkable. Nevertheless, he was binging in a short time. More baffling still, he could give himself no satisfactory explanation for his fall.

So he returned to this doctor, whom he admired, and asked him point-blank why he could not recover. He wished above all things to regain self-control. He seemed quite rational and well-balanced with respect to other problems. Yet he had no control whatever over food. Why was this?

He begged the doctor to tell him the whole truth, and he got it. In the doctor's judgment he was utterly hopeless; he could never regain his position in society and he would have to place himself under lock and key or hire a bodyguard if he expected to live long. That was a great physician's opinion.

But this man still lives, and is a free man. He does not need a bodyguard nor is he confined. He can go anywhere on this earth where other free men may go without disaster, provided he remains willing to maintain a certain simple attitude.

Some of our binge eater readers may think they can do without spiritual help. Let us tell you the rest of the conversation our friend had with his doctor.
The doctor said: "You have the mind of a person with a chronic eating disorder. I have never seen one single case recover, where that state of mind existed to the extent that it does in you." Our friend felt as though the gates of hell had closed on him with a clang.

He said to the doctor, "Is there no exception?"

"Yes," replied the doctor, "there is. Exceptions to cases such as yours have been occurring since early times. Here and there, once in a while, compulsive eaters have had what are called vital spiritual experiences. To me these occurrences are phenomena. They appear to be in the nature of huge emotional displacements and rearrangements. Ideas, emotions, and attitudes which were once the guiding forces of the lives of these men and women are suddenly cast to one side, and a completely new set of conceptions and motives begin to dominate them. In fact, I have been trying to produce some such emotional rearrangement within you. With many individuals the methods which I employed are successful, but I have never been successful with a person with an eating disorder of your description."

Upon hearing this, our friend was somewhat relieved, for he reflected that, after all, he was a good church member. This hope, however, was destroyed by the doctor's telling him that while his religious convictions were very good, in his case they did not spell the necessary vital spiritual experience.

Here was the terrible dilemma in which our friend found himself when he had the extraordinary experience, which as we have already told you, made him a free man.

We, in our turn, sought the same escape with all the desperation of drowning men. What seemed at first a flimsy reed, has proved to be the loving and powerful hand of God. A new life has been given us or, if you prefer, "a design for living "that really works.

The distinguished American psychologist, William James, in his book" Varieties of Religious Experience, "indicates a multitude of ways in which men have discovered God. We have no desire to convince anyone that there is only one way by which faith can be acquired. If what we have learned and felt and seen means anything at all, it means that all of us, whatever our race, creed, or color are the children of a living Creator with whom we may form a relationship upon simple and understandable terms as soon as we are willing and honest enough to try. Those having religious affiliations will find here nothing disturbing to their beliefs or ceremonies. There is no friction among us over such matters.

We think it no concern of ours what religious bodies our members identify themselves with as individuals. This should be an entirely personal affair which each one decides for herself in the light of past associations, or her present choice. Not all of us join religious bodies, but most of us favor such memberships.

In the following chapter, there appears an explanation of compulsive eating, as we understand it, then a chapter addressed to the agnostic. Many who once were in this class are now among our members. Surprisingly enough, we find such convictions no great obstacle to a spiritual experience.

Further on, clear-cut directions are given showing how we recovered. These are followed by forty-three personal experiences.

Each individual, in the personal stories, describes in his own language and from his own point of view the way he established his relationship with God. These give a fair cross section of our membership and a clear-cut idea of what has actually happened in their lives.

We hope no one will consider these self-revealing accounts in bad taste. Our hope is that many compulsive eaters, men and women, desperately in need, will see these pages, and we believe that it is only by fully disclosing ourselves and our problems that they will be persuaded to say, "Yes, I am one of them too; I must have this thing."

Original source unknown

MajestyJo
12-05-2013, 12:19 AM
You are reading from the book Food for Thought

Our Daily Bread

Doing the will of our Higher Power each day is what sustains us. We trust Him to provide the food we need, both physical and spiritual. We do not have to be anxious about our supply for the future. If we seek to do God's will today. He will take care of us in the future as well.

Anxiety over material things arises when we forget to stay in touch with the source of our existence. By ourselves, we cannot even assure an adequate intake of oxygen; much less all of the other elements we need for survival. Since we are dependent on our environment to sustain us, we make life extremely difficult when we try to live a self-centered existence.

Our daily sustenance comes from a Power greater than ourselves. As children of God, we have faith that He will take care of us. Exaggerated emotional dependence on physical food blocks us from the spiritual nourishment, which our Higher Power offers us today and every day.

Give us this day our daily bread.

It was important for me to remember that I needed mental, emotional, spiritual and physical food. Like with physical foods, I had to make healthy choices.

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MajestyJo
12-05-2013, 12:32 AM
A Dieter's Prayer

Lord, my soul is ripped with riot
I incited by my wicked diet.
"We Are What We Eat," said a wise old man
And Lord, if that's true, I'm a garbage can.

I want to rise on Judgment Day, that's plain!
But at my present weight, I'll need a crane.
So, grant me strength that I may not fall
Into the clutches of cholesterol.

May my flesh with carrot-curls be dated,
T hat my soul may be poly unsaturated.
And show me the light that I may bear witness
T o the President's Council on Physical Fitness.

And at margarine, I'll never mutter
For the road to Hell is spread with butter.
And cream is cursed; and cake is awful;
A nd Satan is hiding in every waffle.

Mephistopheles lurks in provolone;
The Devil is in each slice of baloney.
Beelzebub is a chocolate drop,
A nd Lucifer is a lollipop.

Give me this day my daily slice
But, cut it thin and toast it twice.
I beg upon my dimpled knees,
Deliver me from jujubees.

And when my days of trial are done,
And my war with malted milk is won,
Let me stand with Heavenly throng,
In a shining robe, size 30 long.

I can do it Lord, If You'll show to me,
The virtues of lettuce and celery.
If You'll teach me the evil of mayonnaise,
Of pasta a la Milannaise,
Potatoes a la Lyonnaise,
And crisp, fried chicken from the South.
Lord, if you love me, shut my mouth!

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MajestyJo
12-10-2013, 01:33 AM
Food has been a big problem for me, more a mental and emotional factor than a physical one. Stuffing, not wanting to eat because of the swelling in my body, looking at my body as fat when in truth it is fluid.

It also was a sign that I wasn't eating healthy, when I eat three times a day, eat good foods, eat balanced meals, I can stay healthy. I seem to have trouble maintaining that balance. I am so grateful for my program that allows me to surrender, turn this part of my addiction over to my HP and know that I will get help and healing.

I keep telling myself I am eating well. I look at what I eat and it seems okay, but when I get honest, I have to look at the quantity as well as the quality. For me it is generally less, not more like my other addictions. Yet I know, if I abuse it, I misuse it, I am using food and giving it the power.

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I know if I abuse it, I misuse it, I am using food and giving it the power.

I am suppose to eat small 5 times a day according to the Diabetic Clinic I went to. My small becomes larger in portion, and sometimes with my weird sleeping patterns, the times are generally less. The making of healthy choice often gets changed in the moment. I get the "I wants" and I know I have reverted to old behaviours. As I have said many times, I become a Wanna Bee and belong on Romper Room.

So glad this is a one day at a time program, and extra glad when I get new awareness, often on old situations that keep popping back up. I am grateful for that moment of pause that allows me to make a decision, and I think positive instead of negative.

It is so much better to have a buddy, a sponsor, or family that is supportive.

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MajestyJo
12-10-2013, 01:36 AM
When we don't feel like going to a meeting, it may be because our old overeating habit is trying to surface. We are never cured of our disease and we never outgrow our need for the strength, fellowship, and love we receive from OA meetings.

From today's Food for Thought


Have an eating disorder, what I call part of my thinking, behind my dis-ease. I never went to OA meetings, but my sponsor had. We had opposite concepts, for her to lose weight was to die because she had been annorexic and for me to gain weight was to die, because my mother used food to deal with my father's disease.

My sponsor had also been to Emotions Anonymous and ACoA.

Like all addictions, some is good, more is better. When I picked up a substance, be it food, pills, alcohol, men (attention), etc. one was not enough, and when I had more, I couldn't stop, I still wanted more. When I reached a feeling, I couldn't stop there, I always needed more.

When I had eaten to stuff a feeling, and the feeling was gone, the substance was still there, I needed more. I was only governed by the amount that was available.

At 41 I decided I couldn't afford to keep myself in the style I had become accustomed. I made the decision that men were my problem and swore off them. I tried quitting drinking, and my pill intake increased along with the food and the thinking behind it.

Going to meetings was what kept me alive and sober. Without meetings and the people in the group, I would not have stayed clean and sober. I had to quit all substances. It was my thinking not my drinking that was the problem. It wasn't my eating, it was my thinking behind the eating that made my life unmanageable.

It is good to talk to someone who has been there and done it. About the only rooms I don't qualify for is Pot and Introvenous drugs. I had pot once and had a big resentment that I lost my alcohol and food. To top it off, we were at a restaurant owned by a friend, and we had just built up a big tab for same, and I lost it.

I had to take the body and when I did, the mind followed. I didn't get this way overnight, so I didn't heal overnight. It was those beautiful people my God put in my life to help me along the way. The right person always seemed to arrive at the right time.

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MajestyJo
12-24-2013, 01:08 AM
Tuesday, December 24, 2013

You are reading from the book Food for Thought

Thinking Straight

Before we found this program, we did a great deal of thinking in circles. Since we did not know how to stop eating compulsively, we spent a lot of time thinking up reasons for our behavior, making plans for change, and rationalizing another day's failure to eat normally. Our thinking often wandered away into fantasy, spinning dreams of when we would be thin and on top of things. Since we had to have reasons for our inability to make the dreams materialize, we blamed our failure on the people around us. "If they were only more loving, considerate, capable, exciting, smarter..."

Such circular thinking got us nowhere. The more we fantasized, the more we ate, and the more we ate, the more we withdrew from reality.

When our minds are not muddled by too much food, our thinking is clarified. The Twelve Steps put us on the road to responsible action, rather than irresponsible rationalization. Accepting the fact that we have a disease keeps us in the world of reality instead of a fantasyland.

With Your truth, keep my thinking straight.

With the holiday, it is our thinking that often leads us astray. I found it so, especially with family.

When I went I tried to take my program with me. I didn't put expectations on others, and allowed them to be themselves. They don't have program, I do and I need to work it.

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MajestyJo
12-25-2013, 07:08 AM
Wednesday, December 25, 2013

You are reading from the book Food for Thought

Confidence

Our biggest problem was the inability to stop eating compulsively and the resultant obesity. This problem is never solved permanently, but it is overcome on a day-to-day basis. As we succeed in abstaining from compulsive overeating, we grow in confidence. Since by working the program we solve our biggest problem every day, we become confident that we can solve other problems as well.

Confidence is trust that our Higher Power and OA will not let us down. Confidence is the knowledge that however tough life gets, we have tools and resources for dealing with it. Confidence believes in ourselves as children of God and people of value. Confidence is the willingness to give what we have, with the faith that our gifts are needed and acceptable.

When we have confidence in our Higher Power and in ourselves, we are willing to try even though we may fail. If we fail, we are willing to try again. Since our will and our lives are turned over to God, as we understand Him, we have confidence that everything eventually works out for good.

You are the source of confidence.


This reminds me of what my co-sponsor said many years ago, "If you doubt yourself, you are doubting your God.

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MajestyJo
12-27-2013, 07:17 AM
Friday, December 27, 2013

You are reading from the book Food for Thought

Courage

We pray for the courage to change the things we can. We cannot change the fact that we are compulsive overeaters, but we can change our actions so that we are not destroyed by our disease. Making changes requires the courage to start out on a new, unknown course. Courage does not mean the elimination of fear. Courage means acting in spite of the fact that we are afraid.

It takes courage to learn to affirm one's rights as an individual, especially if the old way was to say yes to all demands and requests, reasonable and unreasonable. It takes courage to face the truth instead of continuing to live with comfortable illusions. Courage is necessary for working the steps of the OA program.

Sometimes courage comes when we are pressed to a wall of failure. There is nothing to do but turn around and step out in a new direction, even though we are afraid. The courage born of desperation can produce remarkable results.

This is what I needed when I was diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes. I never ate many sweets, loved my potatoes and gravy, then they wanted to take it all away or allow myself moderation, which isn't easy for an addict. Some is good, more is better, no matter what it is.

When I couldn't have sweets, I started to want and think about them. Don't tell an addict he/she can't have, that old mentality comes back, "Don't tell me 'No' watch me!"

The courage to change, something I can't always do myself, and that is why I need a Higher Power and a willingness to change.

MajestyJo
12-28-2013, 01:40 PM
Saturday, December 28, 2013
You are reading from the book Food for Thought
Minimizing Temptation

There are things we can do to minimize the temptations that are around us. We are constantly exposed to food advertisements if we watch television and read magazines. Most of us need to spend a certain amount of time purchasing and preparing food. Social gatherings usually involve refreshments. All of this exposure to food can be uncomfortable for compulsive overeaters if we do not find ways to minimize it.

It is a good idea to skip the recipe sections in the magazines we read. Unnecessary thinking about food only intensifies our obsession. Moving away from the television set during a food commercial is a way to minimize that kind of temptation. Grocery shopping is expedited by not considering any items other than those on a prepared list and by spending as little time as possible in the grocery store. Meal preparation can be simplified so that less rather than more time is spent in the kitchen. At parties, we can concentrate on people and conversation instead of food.

The best way to handle temptation is by remembering that we are compulsive overeaters and that nothing is worth activating our disease.

Guide us as we avoid temptation.

Didn't do this very well yesterday. I had a brownie with chocolate icing that I made (which shows I wasn't willing to avoid temptation), and topped it with whipped cream.

http://www.animated-gifs.eu/christmas-happy/0006.gif

MajestyJo
12-29-2013, 09:25 PM
Sunday, December 29, 2013

You are reading from the book Food for Thought

Working Compulsively

We do not want to turn from compulsive overeating to compulsive working. This, too, is an attempt to escape reality. Compulsive working holds a particular danger for us, since when we allow ourselves to get overtired, we run the risk of breaking our abstinence.

Working compulsively includes the fear that what we do will not be good enough. It is when we are unsure of our self worth that we have to continually prove how much we can accomplish. Compulsive work is also a way to avoid meaningful relationships with family and friends. If we fear intimacy and exposure, we sometimes try to hide behind a facade of busyness.

When God controls our will and our lives, we work according to His direction. We have the faith that what we do will be acceptable and enough. Believing that God cares for us, we do not rely only on our own abilities. Working for a Higher Power means that we work with serenity and confidence, knowing that He directs and sustains our efforts.

Teach me how to work productively for You.

Being addicted to busy, blocks me from the Spirit of the Fellowship.

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MajestyJo
12-30-2013, 01:25 AM
Monday, December 30, 2013

You are reading from the book Food for Thought

Fear of Failure

It is often the fear of failure, which prevents us from attempting what we really want to do. When we are new to OA, we may be reluctant to commit ourselves to abstinence because we fear we will break it. When we are able to maintain abstinence from compulsive overeating, we may be afraid to make some other kind of commitment for fear of not being able to succeed.

Our past failures can undermine our confidence in our present abilities. For this reason, we need to let go of the past and be willing to try something new. For many of us, belief in a Higher Power is a new commitment. The fear that we will be disappointed sometimes blocks us from the wholehearted trust that such a commitment entails.

The fear of failure is best dealt with by living one day at a time. We can risk a small failure today; it is the large failure in the future that terrifies us. By taking a small step today toward maintaining abstinence or working on an important project, we build the confidence that we can eventually succeed.

With Your support, may I be willing to risk failure.

All I am asked to do is try. The failure is in not trying. I was told to be pray and ask for the courage, strength and guidance to get out of my comfort zone.

MajestyJo
12-31-2013, 01:28 AM
Tuesday, December 31, 2013

You are reading from the book Food for Thought

No Exceptions

Abstinence is the most important thing in my life without exception. Since I am a compulsive overeater, any exception would mean that I might lose control. If I do not control my disease, it controls me. Therefore, there are no exceptions to the rule that abstinence is the most important thing in my life.

In order to follow this rule, I need to depend on a Power greater than myself. Alone, I am not strong enough to maintain abstinence at all times and in all places, but through the grace of God and the support of the OA fellowship, I can do it.

With abstinence, the rest of my life falls into place. I have an incurable illness, but one which can be controlled day by day through following the OA program, working the Twelve Steps, and staying in contact with my Higher Power. There are good days and bad days. but there is always abstinence. I am grateful to be an abstaining, recovering, compulsive overeater.

May I remember each day there are no exceptions to abstinence.

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MajestyJo
01-02-2014, 11:07 AM
Tuesday, January 1, 2013

You are reading from the book Food for Thought

Good News

There is good news for those of us who overeat compulsively. We do not have to be trapped by our appetites. We do not have to carry a load of unnecessary fat. We can have a new life.

Others have become free and are standing by, ready to show us the way. The more OA meetings we attend, the more we learn. The more phone calls we make, the more encouragement and support we are given in our fight to break old, self destructive patterns of thinking and acting. The more we rely on the Power greater than ourselves, the stronger we become.

Learning to live a new life requires time and patience. The good news is that change is possible. Others have done it. So can you.

Lord, make me willing to change.

When we don't have the willingness to change, we need to pray for the willingness to be willing to change.

http://www.animated-gifs.eu/holidays-seasons-greetings/64.gif

MajestyJo
01-02-2014, 11:09 AM
Thursday, January 2, 2014

You are reading from the book Food for Thought

Help!

When we hit bottom and are ready to swallow our pride, help is available. When we admit that by ourselves we are powerless, a Higher Power takes over. Most of us have tried for years to control what we eat by ourselves. Often it seems that the harder we try, the more miserably we fail. We despair. When we are truly desperate and ask for help, OA can help us.

We have proven that we cannot solve our problem alone. A diet is not enough. We need a program that fills our emotional and spiritual needs as well as our physical ones.

Step by step and day by day we can learn to live without overeating. We will gradually become convinced that no amount of physical food will ever satisfy our emotional and spiritual hunger. The Higher Power, which infuses each OA GROUP, becomes our lifesaver and our nourishment.

God, save me from myself.

Amen to that!

MajestyJo
01-03-2014, 01:19 AM
Friday, January 3, 2014

You are reading from the book Food for Thought

Responding

Many of us find it difficult to accept the OA program at the beginning. Many of us cannot believe or are afraid to believe the good news at first. All we need to start is the desire to stop eating compulsively.

If we will be open to the program, we will find that it gradually unfolds. What we do not understand at the beginning becomes clear as we become ready to accept it. We shall never achieve perfection, but we can make progress every day.

When we are willing to grow and to change, God can work His miracles. OA is filled with members whose stories attest to the Power that has changed their lives.

I open myself to Your power, Lord.

Sometimes we don't realize we are shutting ourselves down and not open to receiving the message, energy healing, and direction we need. How many times have you sat with your arms crossed on your chest, your hands clasped together instead of opening and uplifting, your mind shut down, stubbornly not willing to let go and receive what our Higher Power sends us in today.

MajestyJo
01-04-2014, 01:26 AM
Saturday, January 4, 2014

You are reading from the book Food for Thought

Three Meals a Day

For most of us, abstinence from compulsive overeating means three measured meals a day with nothing in between. Before we joined OA we often ate one enormous meal, all day long. Through this program, we find the discipline to eat according to our needs rather than our self-destructive cravings.

Unless a doctor has told us differently, we do not need more than three meals a day. As we practice this pattern, we retrain our overgrown appetites and learn to function in the real world. We can eat with our families instead of secretly snacking and bingeing.

We plan our three meals for the day, write them down, and report them to our food sponsor. Then, instead of nibbling here and there and thinking about food all day, we can forget about eating except when it is time for a planned, measured meal. As we acquire disciplined eating habits, we find that other areas of our lives become more ordered and productive. Freed from the bondage of self-will and impulse, we are guided by the sure hand of our Higher Power.

I am grateful for the order and sanity OA has brought into my life.

New awareness and reality, made it hard to stay in my denial. I was eating 2 meals a day, then when I went to the diabetic clinic, I was told 5 times a day. I found that my once a day eating with a small brunch put on weight. I had to make my portions smaller and have healthy snacks.

I had to stick close to the program and my God or I would have been grazing all day long. Some is good, more is not always better.

MajestyJo
01-05-2014, 01:00 PM
Sunday, January 5, 2014

You are reading from the book Food for Thought

Less Food, More Energy

When we have used excess food as a crutch for years, we think we need it to "keep up our energy." We have become especially dependent on the refined carbohydrates, sugar and flour, to give us a quick pickup when we are tired.

The truth of the matter is that the pickup, that sharp rise in blood sugar we got when we ate refined sugar and flour, was soon followed by an even sharper letdown. We ended up more tired than when we began! Excess food of any kind makes us groggy and lethargic.

When we eliminate the wrong kind of food and eat only the amount, which our bodies need for optimum functioning, we are amazed at the supply of energy we suddenly have. Jobs, which we have put off doing for years, begin to get done. We feel good. Instead of spending unnecessary time for extra eating and digesting, we have that time to use in productive, enjoyable activity.

Try it and see.

Lord, strengthen my body to serve You.

https://encrypted-tbn1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQ7Pb8Dldb2CykQbGKgoKu2sJNIhhYzd FHHablNzb3FxAdx4gTr

MajestyJo
01-06-2014, 01:19 AM
Monday, January 6, 2014

You are reading from the book Food for Thought

Withdrawal

Eliminating all refined sugar and flour may seem difficult, if not impossible at the beginning. Making the decision to avoid these foods, which trigger the craving for more and more, is what opens the door to freedom - freedom from the craving and freedom from fat.

We do not become free immediately. Some of us experience withdrawal discomfort, which is sometimes physical, sometimes psychological, and sometimes both. It is important to remember that the discomfort will pass, the craving will pass, and that if we remain abstinent, we will eventually feel much better. So much better that our bodies and our lives will seem new.

In order to walk into the world of freedom, we must go through the door of abstinence. We need not fear the pains of withdrawal. Growth is often painful. Many have gone before us and report that the eventual freedom is well worth the temporary suffering. Our Higher Power will give us the strength to endure and will never push us farther than we can go. When we are tempted to give in, a prayer and a phone call can save us.

Lead us into freedom, we pray.

http://www.animated-gifs.eu/mammals-mice-series/0010.gif

MajestyJo
01-07-2014, 02:26 PM
Tuesday, January 7, 2014

You are reading from the book Food for Thought

Don't Take the First Compulsive Bite

OA says that if you don't take the first compulsive bite, you won't overeat. It is that first extra bite that gets us into trouble. The first bite may be as "harmless" as a piece of lettuce, but when eaten between meals and not as part of our daily plan, it invariably leads to another bite. And another, and another. And we have lost control. And there is no stopping.

It is the first compulsive bite that breaks abstinence. When we take it, we cheat ourselves and fall back into slavery to our appetites. To rationalize by saying that just a little deviation won't make any difference is like saying that someone is just a little bit pregnant.

All we have to give up is the first compulsive bite. Then we do not have to worry about the rest of them. Simple. Once we decide not to take the first one, our problem is solved. Abstinence is a lifeboat. It is possible to stay afloat in the lifeboat as long as we do not jump out by taking the first compulsive bite.

Thank you; Lord, for the saving gift of abstinence.

Like all substances, one is too many, a thousand is too much. I was given a box of chocolates for Christmas. I had that one, then two, and finally gave my son 2/3s of the box, yet that means I had 1/3 of the box, even though it was a small box, it was too many, considering I am diabetic.

MajestyJo
01-08-2014, 02:16 AM
Wednesday, January 8, 2014

You are reading from the book Food for Though

The Bottom Line

For everything worthwhile in life, there is a price to pay. The price is the bottom line. There is no free lunch. While we have learned that we cannot overcome compulsive eating without the support of our Higher Power and the OA group, we also know that OA is not a free ride to ideal weight maintenance. Each of us must look at the bottom line.

The price of freedom from compulsive overeating is the avoidance of all personal binge foods. It is the discipline of measured meals every day. We cannot have a new life of freedom from compulsion if we continue to cling to our old excesses. We cannot be free and overeat at the same time. We must be willing to pay the price.

As we move along each day in abstinence, we form new habits and we become accustomed to living without extra, unnecessary food. We begin to change in positive, constructive ways. One day at a time, in small installments, we pay the price of our new growth and progress. What we gain is infinitely more than worth the cost!

May I be willing to pay the price today.

The bottom line is I can't use safely. There are some things that are a trigger for me. As I shared with a friend tonight, food is an inanimate object until such a time as I choose to pick it up and partake of it. Even though it wasn't good for me, I ate a big brownie with icing and whipped cream. I chose to eat it any way. I can justify the whipping cream as dairy, the chocolate was dark and not harmful to my diabetes, when I honestly look at the sugar, it affects my blood sugar, the neuropathy in my feet, and my all round well being; no matter way I look at it, it was not a healthy choice.

Am I willing to pay the price? Do I have the willingness to change? Am I willing to pray for the willingness to be willing? Just for today I am, yesterday I wasn't, I had chocolate pudding and a chocolate bar. I didn't test my blood sugar, because if it was low, I did need something, but not the whole thing. Like everything else, more is good but not better.

MajestyJo
01-09-2014, 01:09 AM
Thursday, January 9, 2014

You are reading from the book Food for Thought

Use the Telephone

When we join OA, we discover that we are not alone. We become part of a large network of individuals who share a common problem, compulsive overeating, and who gain strength and support from each other. The telephone is our lifeline. A phone conversation is a mini meeting, and most of us find that we need several each day.

It is suggested that we make at least three phone calls every day, in addition to calling our food sponsor. We call in times of temptation and difficulty, and we also call when we have good news to share. A phone call may be a means of preventing problems later in the day or it may be simply a gesture of friendship and fellowship - keeping in touch.

Whatever the reason, the person called is helped as much as the caller. The telephone call is a reminder that none of us is alone, that we have a program, which sustains us, and that together we shall succeed.

May I not be too proud or too shy or too busy to use the telephone.

This is a we program. You no longer have to be alone. Pick up the phone. If you don't have phone numbers, get them. By reaching out, you help someone else, just as much as you are helping and asking for yourself.

MajestyJo
01-10-2014, 03:22 AM
Friday, January 10, 2014

You are reading from the book Food for Thought

Decision

Someone has said that the hardest part of the OA program is making the decision to follow it. You can do just about anything once you make up your mind to do it! But the decision has to be firm and it must be the kind of commitment, which involves our deepest self.

Many of us who are compulsive overeaters have spent our lives looking for an easier way to lose weight. We feel that there should be a magic solution somewhere, which will enable us to eat our cake and be thin at the same time. Our first reaction to the OA program is often one of dismay. It seems so drastic, and we protest that there must be an easier way.

The OA program is not easy. Life is not easy. Rather than solving the problems and difficulties in our lives, overeating multiplies them. We in OA have been offered a new way of life. Each of us decides every day - and many times every day - whether or not we will choose the new life.

May I decide to follow the program today.

MajestyJo
01-11-2014, 07:46 AM
Saturday, January 11, 2014

You are reading from the book Food for Thought

No Amount Is Enough

For the compulsive overeater, one extra bite is too much and a thousand are not enough. No matter how much we eat, we are never "satisfied." We think we remember a time when a small extra treat made us feel completely satisfied and content, and we try desperately to recapture that sensation.

The more we eat, the worse we feel. Now, rather than satisfying us, the one extra, compulsive bite triggers an insatiable craving which drives us to consume enormous quantities of unnecessary food. Sometimes we stuff ourselves until we are exhausted, physically ill, or have run out of things to eat, but we are still not satisfied.

The more we eat, the more we want to eat. Each excess increases an already out of control appetite. Since no amount will ever be enough to produce the kind of satisfaction we seek, our only hope is to abstain from the first extra, compulsive bite. Honestly following a food plan and eliminating all excesses and binge foods will eventually bring our runaway appetites under control. Conscientiously working the steps of the OA program will day by day bring us the emotional and spiritual satisfactions, which we can never acquire from food.

Lord, show me how to work for true satisfaction.

MajestyJo
01-12-2014, 01:58 AM
Sunday, January 12, 2014

You are reading from the book Food for Thought

Gratitude

I am grateful to have found OA. Without it, I would still be floundering in despair. I would still be alone, without understanding friends, without purpose, and without hope.

I am grateful to be abstaining just for today. I do not have to worry about tomorrow, because if I live well today, tomorrow will take care of itself.

I am grateful for a new life, for new strength growing out of old weakness.

When I am full of gratitude, there is no room left for anger, envy, fear, or hatred. Nor is there room for pride, since when I am grateful I am humbly aware of my dependence on my Higher Power. Being filled with gratitude is ever so much better than being filled with food!

May I gratefully abstain today and every day.

Was brought up to give thanks for me food at every meal. It was something that I got away from, and had to re-introduce back into my daily routine.

When I saw this tonight, I had the thought that I had needed to put more thought into this, because I not only slack off occasionally, but when it is said in rote, it doesn't have as much meaning.

MajestyJo
01-13-2014, 04:34 AM
Monday, January 13, 2014

You are reading from the book Food for Thought

Overeating is Hell

When we fall into the trap of compulsive overeating, it is as though we are driven by some malevolent, diabolical force against which we are powerless. We know with our minds that we should stop eating, but by ourselves we cannot. A binge may start out pleasantly enough - just a taste here and there - but it eventually becomes torture.

Because we know what we are doing to ourselves, we feel guilty while we are bingeing. We hate ourselves because we cannot stop. The more we eat, the more uncomfortable we become physically and mentally. Clothes constrict and we are stuffed and bloated. Our minds begin to race along old, negative, and irrational tracks. Anyone who gets in our way can be the object of our anger. We lose control, we are separated from our Higher Power, and we are in Hell.

Let us not forget every day that the first compulsive bite opens the gates of Hell.

Lord, deliver me from the Hell of overeating.

MajestyJo
01-14-2014, 01:11 AM
Tuesday, January 14, 2014

You are reading from the book Food for Thought

Willing to Go to Any Lengths

To achieve success in this program, we are willing to go to any lengths. We want to stop eating compulsively more than anything else. We are willing to take the steps, which led to success for hundreds of others who have gone before us.

When we put abstinence first in our lives, then we are willing to experience periods of hunger and craving as our appetites and our bodies adjust to the new food plan. We are willing to eat according to need, not greed.

In times of stress and difficulty, we are willing to go to any lengths to stay on our program. This may involve going to extra meetings, making more phone calls, spending more time reading the literature and meditating. Whatever it takes to keep us abstinent is what we are willing to do.

Most important, we are willing to turn our lives over to the care of God, as each of us understands Him. As we let ourselves be led hour-by-hour and day-by-day, our lives fall into place, and we are given inner joy and serenity.

I pray that I may always be willing.

MajestyJo
01-15-2014, 02:37 AM
Wednesday, January 15, 2014

You are reading from the book Food for Thought

Slips

Each time we give in to our giant appetite and go off the program, it is just as hard to get back on as when we first began. If we forget that we are compulsive overeaters and think that we can handle a little extra food like a "normal" person, we are deceiving ourselves. For us, one extra bite invariably leads to another, and we begin to slide downhill back into despair.

The longer we wait to get back on abstinence, the harder it becomes. If we slip, we sometimes feel that since we haven't been perfect we might as well go ahead and eat a lot, since we have blown our food plan anyway. When we do this, we punish ourselves.

If a slip occurs, we need to put it behind us. It is over and done. We cannot undo it, but we can at this moment stop eating and start abstaining again. We do not need to wait until another day. Every moment we have the choice of abstaining or overeating. Which do you choose right now?

May I choose to abstain now and always.

SLIP - Sobriety Loses It's Priority.

MajestyJo
01-16-2014, 01:23 AM
Thursday, January 16, 2014

You are reading from the book Food for Thought

Act Your Way into Right Thinking

The OA program is one of action. For years, many of us have tried to analyze why we overate. The fact is that no amount of thinking will change our habits. To change, we must act.

We act by writing down a food plan, by picking up the telephone and calling a food sponsor, by going to a meeting. We act by buying the kind of food we need for our program. We act by planning our day so that we spend as little time as possible in the kitchen during those periods when we are likely to be tempted.

We act by walking away from food, which is not on our plan.

As we work the Twelve Steps, we take actions, which result in concrete character changes. As we take the right action, our thinking changes and right thoughts come. But first we must act. What actions shall I take today?

Lord, direct my actions.

My sponsor told me to play the tape to the end. Think of what will happen and where the next bite will take you. Found myself in the "I don't care" mode several times over the years and I knew that I was heading for relapse; and I had to get back to basics.

SLIP: Sobriety (Soundness of Mind) Loses It`s Priority.

MajestyJo
01-17-2014, 01:07 AM
Friday, January 17, 2014

You are reading from the book Food for Thought

All We Have Is Now

We can only live now, this moment. We cannot erase the mistakes we made yesterday or bring back the good times we had. We cannot know what tomorrow will require of us, nor can we ensure future security and happiness. Now is what we have, and now is everything.

We can follow our food plan now. We can abstain this moment. We can deal with the problems, which confront us today as best we can, trusting God to guide us. We can be in touch with our Higher Power only in the present.

As we focus on the present moment, we live it deeper, and we derive a satisfaction that we did not know when we were regretting the past and worrying about the future. Whatever happens now is all I can manage and all I need.

Thank you; Lord, for this present moment.

Some times we figure we have lots of time, and start thinking, it's not going away, I'll do it tomorrow.

Sometimes, tomorrow doesn't come and the opportunity is missed.

MajestyJo
01-18-2014, 08:41 PM
Saturday, January 18, 2014

You are reading from the book Food for Thought

Abstain or Overeat

For the compulsive overeater, there is always one primary choice to be made. Will I abstain or will I overeat? For us, there is nothing in between. If we have hundreds of pounds to lose or if we have reached and are maintaining our goal weight, the choice is still the same. It is the key decision we make many, many times each day.

We are free at each moment to choose which we will do. There is no magic, which will make us, abstains, and there is no force, which can compel us to swallow food we do not need. The choice is ours alone.

No one graduates from OA. There is no point at which one can say, "This is it. I've got it made now." We are always aware of the fact that we are compulsive overeaters and are always one bite away from a binge. When we remember that abstaining or overeating is our primary choice, then other decisions become easier. To abstain is to choose life. To overeat is to choose death.

May I maintain constant awareness of my primary choice.

MajestyJo
01-18-2014, 08:43 PM
Saturday, January 18, 2014

You are reading from the book Food for Thought

Abstain or Overeat

For the compulsive overeater, there is always one primary choice to be made. Will I abstain or will I overeat? For us, there is nothing in between. If we have hundreds of pounds to lose or if we have reached and are maintaining our goal weight, the choice is still the same. It is the key decision we make many, many times each day.

We are free at each moment to choose which we will do. There is no magic, which will make us, abstains, and there is no force, which can compel us to swallow food we do not need. The choice is ours alone.

No one graduates from OA. There is no point at which one can say, "This is it. I've got it made now." We are always aware of the fact that we are compulsive overeaters and are always one bite away from a binge. When we remember that abstaining or overeating is our primary choice, then other decisions become easier. To abstain is to choose life. To overeat is to choose death.

May I maintain constant awareness of my primary choice.

MajestyJo
01-19-2014, 03:53 AM
Sunday, January 19, 2014

You are reading from the book Food for Thought

Be Not Anxious

If we are conscientiously working the OA program, we may leave the results to our Higher Power. To worry is to insult God. When we admit that we are powerless over food and that our lives have become unmanageable, we can then ask for and receive strength and power beyond ourselves. When we turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understand Him, we are free to live without anxiety.

At first, we are awkward. We turn over our problems and anxieties one minute and take them back the next. We forget that the Twelve Step program has worked for countless other compulsive people--alcoholics and drug addicts as well as overeaters. Doubting God's strength, we fall back on our own weakness, and the result is trouble.

Through our contacts with OA members, we can see lives changed and people made new in body, mind, and spirit. These examples are convincing testimony to the efficiency of our Higher Power. The more we trust His will for us, the more He is able to work miracles in our lives.

Take my anxieties, Lord. I pray that Thy will may be done.

At the age of 16, I was put on medication for anxiety. Thanks to the program, that has lessened in some areas and gone in others. It is a daily thing, and today I have the tools to apply to my life, so that I don't have to stay there.

MajestyJo
01-20-2014, 01:42 AM
Monday, January 20, 2014

You are reading from the book Food for Thought

Avoiding Binge Foods

Most compulsive overeaters react to refined sugar and flour the way an alcoholic reacts to alcohol. One bite and we sooner or later go on a binge. We find it impossible to eat a controlled amount of food, which contains refined sugar or flour, and we inevitably end up with a hangover from our excesses.

Many of us have other binge foods as well. We have learned from sad experience that it is easier to avoid these foods entirely than to try to eat them in reasonable amounts. We have to be rigorously honest with ourselves in order to determine which food plan is best for each of us as an individual.

No food is worth the anguish of a binge. Once we accept this, we can accept the necessity of abstaining from personal binge foods. Abstinence means freedom from the obsession with food and from the compulsion to overeat. Freedom to live without overeating is the reward we gain when we avoid the foods that trigger our compulsion.

May I realize that avoiding binge foods is a small price to pay for freedom.

When I see or hear the word binge, I remember a counsellor in the recovery house say to a client, "What does binge taste like." The client had stated, "I don't think I am an alcoholic, I am a binge drinker." The counsellor asked me to take her for a walk around the block and have a little talk with her. When we got back, she realized she belonged in AA and not a mental hospital.

The same with food, there are comfort foods that we like to indulge in, but for me, food is food, and anything that I eat in access, can be a problem, be it sweet or savoury.

MajestyJo
01-21-2014, 01:40 AM
Tuesday, January 21, 2014

You are reading from the book Food for Thought

Service

We compulsive overeaters have often spent our lifetimes being most concerned with getting, taking in, and consuming. Nourishing ourselves is necessary, but it is also necessary that we give. To stay alive, one must breathe out as well as in.

As we recover, we become stronger each day and better able to serve others. When we stop eating compulsively, we are amazed at the amount of time and energy we have available for useful activities. For one thing, we feel much better physically, since we are eating the amount and type of food, which our bodies need for optimum functioning. For another, we become stronger emotionally and spiritually as we work the Twelve Steps.

Each day, we can be open to opportunities to serve our OA groups, families, and friends. As we give out more and take in less, we gain new satisfaction and self-respect.

Show me where I may serve, Lord.

By going to meetings, I learned to identify instead of compare. When I share with others, I find myself in others. It isn't about what food I ate or how much I ate, it is about why I ate it in the first place.

MajestyJo
01-22-2014, 01:05 AM
Wednesday, January 22, 2014

You are reading from the book Food for Thought

There Is No Such Thing as "Have To"

The serenity and insight, which we gain from this program, help us realize that we do not have to do anything. There is always a choice. We may even choose not to live.

Our lives are gifts from our Higher Power, and the choice of what to do with them is ours. We can continue to overeat and watch our illness get progressively worse. We can isolate ourselves from other people and console ourselves with food. We can do as little as possible each day just in order to survive.

We do not have to follow the program; we also do not have to overeat. We do not have to turn our lives over to God; we also do not have to continue to bear the burden of self and self-will. It is a proven fact of experience for countless people that the most satisfying thing to do with the life given to each of us is to give it back to our Higher Power to use as He wills.

Thank You for my freedom, Lord.

MajestyJo
01-23-2014, 04:47 AM
Thursday, January 23, 2014

You are reading from the book Food for Thought

Working the Steps

The OA program operates on three levels. Abstaining from compulsive overeating takes care of the physical aspect of our disease. For our emotional and spiritual health, we need to work the Twelve Steps.

In each of us, there is a need and desire to grow spiritually. At first, we may not acknowledge this need, but as our physical illness improves and our emotions begin to stabilize, we become aware of inner urgings and promptings that can come only from our Higher Power. If we set aside time each day to listen to this inner voice, we facilitate our spiritual growth.

Working the Steps requires that we be as honest as possible with ourselves at each stage of our development. A program sponsor who has walked the way before us is an invaluable aid. Above all, we must desire to grow. We have spent much of our lives overgrowing physically. Now is the time to catch up emotionally and spiritually. If we make a sincere beginning, our Higher Power will lead us through each Step as we become ready to take it.

Lead me, Lord, and bless my work.

The Steps are applicable to all areas of my life. I don't need to be an alcoholic for them to work for me.

MajestyJo
01-24-2014, 02:52 AM
Friday, January 24, 2014

You are reading from the book Food for Thought

Humility

It is the suffering we experience as a result of overeating compulsively, which eventually makes us humble enough to admit that we are powerless over food. Until we have the necessary humility, recovery is impossible. As long as we think we can successfully control and direct our lives by ourselves, we shall continue to fail.

Some of us hit bottom sooner than others. If we are lucky, we can see where the disease is leading us and what the inevitable result will be if we do not find help from a source outside ourselves. Whether we hit a high bottom or a low bottom, when we finally reach it the only way to go is up. When we are humble enough to seek help by turning over our will, we shall find the help we need.

Maintaining an attitude of humility is essential for our recovery. If we allow ourselves to fall into the trap of pride and egotism, we are headed for a slip. Understanding our weakness and dependence on God is the beginning of strength.

May I be granted humility.

MajestyJo
01-25-2014, 03:45 AM
Saturday, January 25, 2014

You are reading from the book The Language of Letting Go

Step One

We admitted we were powerless over alcohol - that our lives had become unmanageable.
—Step One of Al-Anon

There are many different versions of the First Step for recovering codependents. Some of us admit powerlessness over alcohol or another's alcoholism. Some of us admit powerlessness over people; some over the impact of growing up in an alcoholic family.

One of the most significant words in the First Step is the word we. We come together because of a common problem, and, in the coming together, we find a common solution.

Through the fellowship of Twelve Step programs, many of us discover that although we may have felt alone in our pain, others have experienced a similar suffering. And now many are joining hands in a similar recovery.

We. A significant part of recovery. A shared experience. A shared strength, stronger for the sharing. A shared hope - for better lives and relationships.

Today, I will be grateful for the many people across the world who call themselves "recovering codependents." Help me know that each time one of us takes a step forward, we pull the entire group forward.

MajestyJo
01-26-2014, 01:56 AM
Sunday, January 26, 2014

You are reading from the book Food for Thought

Planning

There is a saying in our group to the effect that if we fail to plan, we plan to fail. If we do not have a food plan each day, we leave ourselves vulnerable to the attack of impulse and old habit.

Most of us find that we need to write down our three measured meals. Many of us continue to call them in to a food sponsor, even after the initial twenty-one days of abstinence. We can then go about the activities of the day without worrying about what we will eat. We become free to live without being obsessed with food.

Our pride often balks at the thought of calling another person and asking for help. We do not like to be committed to an eating plan. Let's remember that we tried to go it alone our own way, and that old way did not work. Let's be willing to try a new way that has worked for hundreds of OA members who are now at normal weight.

By Thy Grace, Lord, may I follow my food plan today.

Maybe this is a solution for me, don't always plan my food. If I do, and not feeling good or don't get much sleep, don't feel like eating and can never seem to finish what is on my plate.

I hope to get another test at the sleep disorder clinic, yet that could be many months away. I just grab sleep when I can, which in turns puts my eating routine all out of whack. Often want breakfast instead of dinner and quite often it is brunch and I end up missing a meal.

MajestyJo
01-27-2014, 01:09 AM
Monday, January 27, 2014

You are reading from the book Food for Thought

Enough Is a Feast

The frantic search for more and more has characterized many of our lives. We believed that if only we had more money, more clothes, more sex, more food, and more things - we would be happy and satisfied.

The more we consume, the more miserable we become. No amount of material things will satisfy our emotional and spiritual hunger. We learn to know our Higher Power, and we learn that He satisfies our need, not our greed. He feeds our hearts and our spirits with the abundance of His love, and when we are strengthened spiritually, physical control is possible.

Our measured food plan fills our bodily needs. The measured amount is enough. We accept it and become comfortable with it. More than that, we learn the truth of the ancient Zen saying that "Enough is a feast."

May I be content with enough instead of grasping for more.

Love this, it affirms my belief that my disease is thinking more.

MajestyJo
01-28-2014, 01:12 AM
Tuesday, January 28, 2014

You are reading from the book Food for Thought

Blessed Are the Hungry

When we are sated and overly full of food, there is no room left for the spirit. We feel like taking a nap, rather than working productively or playing enjoyably. During our overeating careers, how many hours have we wasted in bed, sleeping off the effects of a binge?

To eat no more than is necessary is to maintain our minds and bodies in a state of alertness and readiness for action. To say no to the sugars and starches which throw our blood sugar out of balance is to keep our energy level on an even keel.

As we lose excess weight and get rid of debilitating fat, we will probably experience some periods of hunger. There is nothing wrong with being hungry. Often it is when we are hungry that we are most humble and ready to listen to our Higher Power.

To accept physical hunger with serenity is to be spiritually strong.

I pray that my hunger may bring me closer to You, Lord.

Reminds me that emotional feelings can make themselves known physically. Sometimes I am emotionally and physically in pain, because of a spiritual deficit in today. Then it is time to connect with my God. The Serenity Prayer is a good start.

MajestyJo
01-29-2014, 02:58 AM
Wednesday, January 29, 2014
You are reading from the book Food for Thought
Love Has No Calories

Moving through the Twelve Steps develops new ability to love. When pride and guilt are reduced, we can relate more genuinely to those we care about. OA gives us tools, which we may use to escape the prison of self.

Our false defenses begin to crumble. As we learn to accept and love ourselves by the grace of God, we can reach out to others and give to them. Overeating destroys us; loving makes us strong. Growing in the program, we love more and give more. In return, we are given new joy and satisfaction.

Loving more may begin with the simple act of writing down the phone number of a fellow OA member and calling sometime during the week. It may mean taking five minutes to fully concentrate on what a child or a friend is trying to say. Food is no substitute for interpersonal relationships. We need to nurture the ones we have and build new ones as we become less dependent on eating and more committed to loving.

Teach me Your love, dear God.

One of the reasons I used was because I didn`t feel lovable. I was so isolated in my disease that I could not find it within myself and used food and other substances to stuff the feelings. I wanted comfort food to make it all better. I thought it was a way of showing myself love. What was a comfort, became a necessity.

MajestyJo
01-30-2014, 01:05 AM
Thursday, January 30, 2014

You are reading from the book Food for Thought

Eat Less, Enjoy More

Before we joined OA, we were eating more and enjoying it less. The more we ate, the more fat we had to lug around, and the harder it was to do anything, much less enjoy doing it. Feeling stuffed and guilty, we often did not even enjoy what it was that we were eating.

When our bodies are not overloaded with too much food and fat, we have energy for new activities. Our minds are sharper when they are not drugged with refined carbohydrates. Our emotions are more serene and positive when we are not full of despair and self-hatred.

Freed from the terrible compulsion to eat more and more, we have time and energy to spend learning a new sport, reading a story to a child, writing a poem. Whatever we choose to do, we enjoy it more when we are not overeating.

When we abstain, we feel good about ourselves. When we feel good about ourselves, we feel good about life.

May I understand that for me, less food means more enjoyment.

Tonight I was talking to a couple of people on the elevator. A woman comment to a young guy that he was big. He said, "I am fat." I told him of my cousin who told someone on our school bus many years ago, "I am not fat, I am big boned." On his way out, "I said you know it is what you eat, try to make healthy choices." I didn't tell him that it was about what was eating him, that caused him to overeat.

MajestyJo
01-31-2014, 05:05 PM
Friday, January 31, 2014

You are reading from the book Food for Thought

Don't Be a Garbage Can

A garbage can is round and unprotesting as it accepts the leftovers which are stuffed into it. How many times have you treated yourself as a garbage can? As we stood up at the sink scraping what was left on the plates into ourselves, we rationalized that we just couldn't bear to waste good food. Why did we not remember the harm we were doing to our own bodies? "Is not the body more than food?" Certainly, it is more than a garbage can.

One way to eliminate waste is to prepare only what is needed for the meal. Sometimes we compulsive overeaters catch ourselves unconsciously overestimating quantities just so there will be something left to tempt us! Another way to avoid throwing out useable food is to keep a bowl in the refrigerator or freezer for scraps which can later be made into soup. We all know how to store complete servings for later use. It is the little bits here and there that get us into trouble.

If there is nothing that can be done with what is left in the bottom of the pan, then throw it away. Better to waste a small amount of food than to break abstinence, which is the most important thing in our lives.

Teach me to value my body more than food.

The title was a remember when for me. I use to eat what was left over, so it wouldn`t go to waste, but it went to my waist.

My son does the same thing in today. He and my ex-husband gave me an in grained resentment for years, they were slim and didn`t put on a pound and I got fat looking at what they ate.

MajestyJo
03-26-2014, 04:25 AM
Thanks for your shares. I was trying to show how the mind can take over, and our dis-ease can sneak in, and until we become aware, the issue is there, then we can recognize it as an old behaviour, habit and way of thinking.

I didn't think I had an eating disorder, until I learned to look at the feeling and thinking behind my disease of addiction, it doesn't matter what subject I used.

I would look at myself and think "Fat!" and wouldn't eat; or I would think, "What is the use, I am fat any way." Most of the time, it wasn't fat, or no more than usual, but the swelling from my body as a result of diabetes and arthritis.

What addict ever thought of throwing away and substance instead of using it first. One time a 12 Step call came into our group. No one else there had ever been on one, so I was elected to go with another member who had a car. It was my second 12 Step call. The lady was 70 years old and was upset with herself for throwing 1/3 of a 40 oz. bottle of vodka down the drain. I took one look at her and said, "It looks like you could use a hug." She got over a year in recovery, she joined the Women's Group, and she died sober. She also had food issues too. We were meant to cross paths.

It made me aware that I had to apply the program to all parts of my life.

ScaryCarrrie
04-25-2014, 10:06 AM
Hi - I'm Carrie B, a food addict fo sho.... Have you stopped posting the Food for Thought? I love that little book. I have really enjoyed reading this thread. Thanks!

MajestyJo
04-25-2014, 03:27 PM
Haven't stopped, start a new post monthly. Feel free to share, this is something I need to work on daily. It was the getting on honesty about my eating disorder that kept me from being fully recovery. The 12 Steps are applicable to all areas of my life. That meant, get real! When you reach for that second helping, are you really hungry, or are you just filling or stuffing?

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