Orange County Intergroup of Overeaters Anonymous, Inc.
1905 E. 17th St., Suite 322 • Santa Ana, CA 92705
Office Hours: Monday-Thursday: 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., and
1st & 3rd Saturdays: 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Main Office: 714-953-5159
Newcomers & Meeting Information: 714-953-0900.
I find myself wandering around in The Doctor's Opinion.
Something more than human powerPage xxvii of Alcoholics Anonymous (the Big Book) talks about the phenomenon of craving, the stages of a spree, and a necessary psychic change. I finally came to the statement, ”something more than human power is needed to produce the essential psychic change.”
Now, here's what I know from my own experience: I was a heavy child, a heavy teen and a heavy adult. My whole life seemed to revolve around food. Once a thought came into my mind about food, I couldn't let it go until I had made that food my own. I was either thinking about eating, preparing to eat, eating, feeling badly about what I had just eaten, or devising my new eating strategy for the next time.
And through it all, my body made it clear to the world that I had this problem.
The “something more than human power” and “a few simple rules” (i.e., the 12 Steps) mentioned on the same page have to be what did it for me. I had tried everything else. My life changed when I came into this Program. I worked my way through the 12 Steps and I came to rely on something more than human power. And, I absolutely experienced an essential psychic change. That's the only explanation I have for what happened to me. I lost the constant dialog in my head about food. I had peace. I lost 125 pounds. I became a new person.
I'm writing this for my own benefit. I need a kick in the butt right now. The preoccupation with food and eating has been plaguing me again. The peace I had is being interrupted with greater frequency. I know a psychic change is the ticket and I know only “something greater than human power” can bring about the psychic change.
So if you're looking for me, I'll be with my Higher Power, the safest place for me to be right now.
Laurie R., Atlanta
from the Central Atlanta Intergroup's Toolbox
Why is it so hard?
Staying abstinent on vacation
The truth is we wish to God we could be normal, like everybody else, for just a few days, once in awhile. The problem is: we can't.
- Eating is the national pastime. All those normal folks who lead nice, ordinary lives without indulging themselves in drink, drugs or other addictive behavior, eat extraordinary amounts and types of food during their vacations and other joyous events.
- In order to stay abstinent we have to remain eternally vigilant, but a vacation is a time when we wish to relax, cut loose, let it all hang out. We don't want to work on our program while we're on vacation: we want to have fun.
- We don't want to feel left out, when our friends and families are making “smores” over the campfire, having a sundae, or munching potato chips.
I guess it all comes down to the First Step: We admitted that our lives had become unmanageable, that we were powerless over food. As long as I'm not really admitting that then I continue to long for, to try to be normal, and guess what? I can't do it! How many times will I have to fail before I get it? I didn't ask for this disease, but I do have it; I am, therefore, not ever going to be normal or be able to eat the way a normal person does. I will never be able to partake in the national pastime or relax my vigilance and I am already left out, because if I don't eat I'm different and if I do I'm lost into the food: The only way I can win is to be abstinent.
But.. What if I blow it?
Well, okay, I've blown it, I had a “smore.” So I guess I should just eat everything in sight? NOT! I just move on to the next abstinent meal, the next abstinent day.
Well, okay, I blew it all through my vacation, might just as well eat my way through the next couple of weeks; I'm such a loser! I might just as well giver up! I can't win! NOT!
There's no point in persecuting myself, the truth is I'm not a bad or weak person; or a loser: I'm just one of thousands of real compulsive overeaters.
Yesterday is gone: yes, I blew my abstinence and now I will pay the price with cravings, but for this one moment, this one meal, this one day, I can be abstinent.
Alan
Sunlight of the Spirit
San Joaquin Valley Intergroup
