OA's Invitation to You

We of Overeaters Anonymous have made a discovery. At the very first meeting we attended, we learned that we're in the clutches of a dangerous illness, and that willpower, emotional health, and self-confidence,  which some of us had once possessed, were no defense against it.

We've found that the reasons for the illness are unimportant.  What deserves the attention of the still-suffering food addict is this: There is a proven, workable method by which we can arrest our illness.

The OA recovery program is patterned after that of Alcoholic Anonymous. We use AA's Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, changing only the words "alcohol" and "alcoholic" to "food" and "compulsive overeater." As our personal stories attest,  the Twelve Step program of recovery works as well for compulsive overeaters as it does for alcoholics. 

Can we guarantee you this recovery? The answer is simple. If you'll honestly face the truth about yourself and the illness; if you'll keep coming back to meetings to talk and listen to other recovering compulsive overeaters;  if you'll read our literature and that of  Alcoholics Anonymous with an open mind;  and most important,  if you're willing to rely on a power greater than yourself for direction in your life, and to take the Twelve Steps to the best of your ability, we believe you can indeed join the ranks of those who recover.

To remedy the emotional, physical and spiritual illness of compulsive overeating we offer several suggestions, but keep in mind that the basis of the program is spiritual, as evidenced by the Twelve Steps. We aren't a "diet and calories" club. We don't endorse any particular plan of eating. Once we become abstinent, the preoccupation with food diminishes and in many cases leaves us entirely. We then find that, to deal with our inner turmoil, we have to have a new way of thinking, of acting on life rather than reacting to it - in essence, a new way of living.

From this vantage point, we begin the Twelve Step program of recovery, moving beyond the food and the emotional havoc to a fuller  living experience.   As a result of practicing the Steps,  the symptom of food addiction is removed on a daily basis, achieved through the process of surrendering to something greater than ourselves;  the more total our surrender, the more fully realized our freedom from food addiction.

Here are the Steps as adapted for Overeaters Anonymous: