Eating Disorders - OA June 2014

[MajestyJo]

Monday, June 16, 2014

You are reading from the book Food for Thought

Satisfaction Comes from Inside

Why do we continually expect to be satisfied by taking in and possessing things from the outside? Amassing material goods and possessions more often than not stimulates rather than satisfies our appetite. What we do and contribute satisfies us more than what we have and consume.

When we are at peace within ourselves and in contact with our Higher Power, we make fewer demands on the outside world. When we are able to use our abilities in productive work and can give of our emotional and spiritual strength to other people, we feel replete.

Nothing from the outside can bring us happiness if we are at war with ourselves. Chronic dissatisfaction indicates that we have not turned our will and our lives over to God's care, but are still trying to run the show egotistically. Complete surrender opens the way to satisfaction.

I want to surrender to the inner needs of my spirit.

So true, love the quote at the bottom. That empty feeling, that big void isn't always about what we eat and drink.

[MajestyJo]

Tuesday, June 17, 2014

You are reading from the book Food for Thought

Conflicts

To be alive is to have conflicts. We find ourselves in disagreement with other people and in conflict with ourselves. Often, the things we want seem mutually exclusive, such as more money and more free time, more food and fewer pounds.

Our Higher Power does not promise us freedom from conflict, at any rate, not in this life. Like all growing organisms, we struggle with opposing forces. Frequently, our overeating is an attempt to escape the conflicts, which we should be facing. Sometimes we need to be more self-assertive with those around us instead of futilely trying to suppress justifiable indignation with food. There are times when we need to fight for our legitimate requirements.

We cannot always resolve our internal conflicts without a long and difficult battle. Time and maturity are often necessary before a problem is seen in its proper perspective. Some problems we may expect to wrestle with as long as we live. Having faith in the light, even when we cannot see it, makes our darkness bearable.

Lighten our darkness, Lord.

As my sponsor told me many years ago,"You didn't get this way over night, you can't expect to heal overnight.

The biggest thing I had to learn, was to bring that conflict out of the darkness into the light and allow the healing to take place. It isn't going to change and get better, if we internalize and keep it there. It needs to be acknowledged, the feelings felt, in order to be able to let go of the conflict and not feed into it.

[MajestyJo]

Wednesday, June 18, 2014

You are reading from the book Food for Thought

Homesickness

There are certain foods, which we will always associate with home and which make us nostalgic to recapture the past. No matter how much we eat, we cannot go back home and again be the babies and little children we were. No food will satisfy our longing for the love, care, and safety most of us associate with home. Even (and especially) if our dependency needs were not met when we were young, eating unnecessary food now will not help.

As we grow in relationship with our Higher Power, we begin to believe that home lies ahead, rather than behind us. We begin to see that our homesickness is for a spiritual state instead of a physical place. Wherever we are, we are pilgrims and travelers, not sure of our final destination but drawn toward something more than what we know in this world. We sense that though we are in the world, we are not of it, that we are homesick for a spiritual fulfillment.

May our homesickness bring us closer to You.

Never thought of it as homesickness. My mother was an awesome cook. One night my mom put spaghetti and meat balls in front of my dad for dinner. My father replied, `What kind of an excuse for a meal is this?` Everything was made from scratch. We had our own cattle, chicken, ducks, pigs, and a hug vegetable garden. We picked wild berries and had our own raspberry and strawberry patches.

Never though of the food being a body memory.

[MajestyJo]

Thursday, June 19, 2014

You are reading from the book Food for Thought

Taking Inventory

Blaming circumstances and other people for our difficulties, including compulsive overeating, is counterproductive. We cannot control external circumstances or other people, but we can work on changing ourselves. In order to change, we first need to be aware of the attitudes and characteristics, which get us into trouble. If we overeat or have a tantrum when we do not get our own way, then we need to learn how to function without demanding that everything should go according to our personal schedule and preference.

We take inventory in Step Four and we continue to take it in Step Ten. It is a valuable tool for our growth. The amazing result is that as we recognize and begin to correct personal defects, our relationships with others improve tremendously. With a positive change in our attitude and behavior, there is a corresponding change in the way other people respond to us.

Taking inventory involves recognizing our good qualities as well as our weaknesses. In OA, we measure our wealth not by what we have but by what we have given.

Teach me to give.

Until I could do an honest Step 4, I was told to work Step 10. Remember recovery starts with me. No one else can do it for me. I am the one who needs to be honest, open, and willing.

[MajestyJo]

Friday, June 20, 2014

You are reading from the book Food for Thought

Head Hunger

Those of us who overeat are responding to distorted signals. When we consume food that harms rather than helps our bodies, we are eating in response to some irrational demand in our head rather than because of legitimate physical hunger. The mental obsession with food is an illusion, but one to which we cling with great tenacity.

When we feel "hungry," we need to stop and evaluate the signal. Is it coming from our stomach or from our head? Often, it is after a meal that we most strongly crave something more to eat. This is either because we ate so fast that our stomach has not had time to register satisfaction or because eating has awakened a giant, insatiable appetite for more. It is frequently our mind that wants more, even after our body has had quite enough.

Emotions such as fear, anger, and anxiety can trigger "head hunger." We need perception and insight to know whether the hunger comes from our body or our mind.

May I learn to respond to the legitimate needs of my body.

Hunger can be a void. Something that needs to be filled with spiritual food.

[MajestyJo]

Saturday, June 21, 2014

You are reading from the book Food for Thought

Discipline

If we think of discipline in terms of punishment, we miss the more constructive meanings of the word. Discipline is order, training, practice, and study. Without it, our lives are ineffective and full of chaos. Before we came to OA, our eating patterns were probably chaotic. We may have been short of order in other areas, too.

Discipline is a tool, which produces self-respect and a feeling of accomplishment and satisfaction. When we discipline ourselves to eat three measured meals a day, we achieve physical and emotional results, which make our spirits, sing! The discipline of the OA program liberates us from the tyranny of self-will and self-indulgence.

As we develop trust in our Higher Power, we begin to see that the hardships and difficulties we face are means to spiritual development. Through them, we acquire self-discipline and strength. Our lives become ordered according to God's plan.

Make me willing, Lord, to accept the discipline of an ordered life.

This is something that I don't do well. I believe I need to go with the flow. When it doesn't flow, they I need the discipline to sit down, take an inventory and see what I did wrong or what I didn't do.

Perhaps if I had the discipline first, I wouldn't have walls, barriers, and structures built that dam the flow of the spirit.

Have to give this some pause for thought.

[MajestyJo]

Sunday, June 22, 2014

You are reading from the book Food for Thought

God Is a Verb

We cannot contain our Higher Power at a fixed point or in a closed system. However we may understand God, our understanding is always limited. The Power that rescues us from compulsive overeating is an active force, which constantly beckons us to move on. What we were to do yesterday is past; a new day brings new challenges and opportunities.

Our compulsion had us trapped in a pattern of self-destructive repetition. We did the same dumb thing over and over again. When we turn our will and our lives over to the care of God, as we understand Him, we are linking up with the source of newness and creativity. God moves, and if we are linked with Him, we also move. His spirit changes us, and what we thought and did yesterday is not adequate to the demands of today.

Trusting our Higher Power means acting according to His promptings. We follow Him as He leads us into new tasks and activities and ideas. We learn from experience that He is always more than adequate for our needs.

May I follow where You lead.

Ironically, I posted this same reading yesterday. I saw it and it spoke to me and didn`t look at the date. This is a reinsurance that it was something I needed to read and give it some thought for my own recovery.

[MajestyJo]

Monday, June 23, 2014

You are reading from the book Food for Thought

The Everlasting Arms

God moves, and yet He is always here. "Underneath are the everlasting arms." Our former support systems failed us or proved inadequate. We overate because we had no firm ground of support to rely on.

Now we see that since our lives belong to a Higher Power, there is nothing temporal which can remove us from His care and protection. Whatever happens, the everlasting arms are there to uphold us. Knowing that, we no longer need to overeat. We are able to endure whatever comes, whether it is physical hunger, emotional anguish, or spiritual depression.

To experience God's support, all we need to do is admit that we are powerless to sustain ourselves by our own efforts. What a relief not to have to depend on our own ego! If, when we are perplexed and upset, we will stop struggling and take time to be quiet, we will feel the inner peace and support which comes from our Higher Power. The everlasting arms are always here, underneath us.

I need You, Lord.

We don't have to do this program alone. We are not alone. There are others out there who have gone through what we have gone through. One addict sharing with an other, leads to recovery.

Our God of our own understanding is there when we put our day into His Care.

[MajestyJo]

Tuesday, June 24, 2014

You are reading from the book Food for Thought

A Program for Living

The OA program does much more than promote our recovery from compulsive overeating, essential as that is. It gives us a structure for our daily lives. Before OA, we chased illusions and despaired when they let us down. Now we have a concrete plan of action for living richer, fuller lives.

We have found like-minded friends who help and encourage us. Instead of isolating ourselves and consuming, we are experiencing the fellowship of sharing. We find that the more we contribute to OA, the more we get out of it.

Practicing the Twelve Steps involves every aspect of our lives. We cannot be honest in our efforts to work this program without being honest in all our affairs. What we learn about ourselves through OA can be applied to our other activities as well. We were eating compulsively because we did not know how to cope with the rest of life. As we become better equipped for living through the guidance of our Higher Power, we recover from our disease.

Bless our program, we pray.

Love the words "A Program for Living." When I was using, I was existing, from one bite to the next, one drink to the next, one pill to the next, and when I wasn`t using, it was on my mind and took up my whole being and my thought of my substance of choice took over my mind, body, and spirit. I stuffed and didn`t allow myself to feel.

They say work the Steps and that is true. What I had to do was take the words off the pages of the literature and apply them to my life.

[MajestyJo]

Wednesday, June 25, 2014

You are reading from the book Food for Thought

Accepting Change

One day my mother and I were working together in the garden. We were transplanting some plant for the third time. Grown from seed in a small container, the plants had been transferred to a larger container; then transplanted into the garden. Now, because I was moving, we were transplanting them again.

Inexperienced as a gardener, I turned to my green-thumbed mother. "Isn't this bad for them?" I asked, as we dug them up and shook the dirt from their roots. "Won't it hurt these plants, being uprooted and transplanted so many times?"

"Oh, no," my mother replied. "Transplanting doesn't hurt them. In fact, it's good for the ones that survive. That's how their roots grow strong. Their roots will grow deep, and they'll make strong plants."

Often, I've felt like those small plants - uprooted and turned upside down. Sometimes, I've endured the change willingly, sometimes reluctantly, but usually my reaction has been a combination.

Won't this be hard on me? I ask. Wouldn't it be better if things remained the same? That's when I remember my mother's words - that's how the roots grow deep and strong.

Today, God, help me remember that during times of transition, my faith and my self are being strengthened.

A good reading, which bring to mind, that if I seem to be in a strange place or things don't feel just right, we could be going through transition which leads to change and growth.

Accepting change is the key to recovery. Just not my eating, but my life as a whole. I found that often, I was the last one to notice.

[MajestyJo]

Thursday, June 26, 2014

You are reading from the book Food for Thought

Abstaining Is Not Easy

Abstaining is not easy, but it is much easier than overeating! The reason that we think it easy to overeat is because overeating was a habit. In actuality, processing the extra food was hard on us physically, emotionally, and spiritually.

When we abstain, we break an old habit and learn a new one. The transition requires concentration and dedication. We abstain every minute of the day and night. Even when we are eating, we are abstaining, because we are eating only planned, moderate meals. We are not overeating compulsively, according to whim and irrational pressure.

Some of us apparently have to go through a certain amount of "white knuckled abstinence" before we arrive at the point where abstaining is easier than not abstaining. Others of us are able from the beginning to relax and abstain comfortably. Whatever our individual experience, we each have available to us the Higher Power that sees us through.

May I stay with You when the way is hard.

It isn't easy, but it is simple. Don't pick up no matter what.

When I surrender my thoughts and actions over to my Higher Power, they are made easier.

[MajestyJo]

Friday, June 27, 2014

You are reading from the book Food for Thought

You Can Do It

If you really want what OA has to offer; there is nothing that can stop you from succeeding with the program. The program works if we work it. OA does not pass out recovery on a platter, but the tools for recovery are available and proven effective if we are willing to use them.

Go to a meeting today. Re-read your literature. Call another member. Call several members. Get a sponsor, if you do not already have one. Write out what is troubling you. Find a way to be of service to someone else. Abstain now.

Most important, take time to listen to your Higher Power. Ask for the spiritual insight, which you need. Remember that you are now committed to following God's will for your life, not your own way. Seek the inspiration that comes from the people and the books, which lift up your spirit and show you the way. Then follow.

Lead me, Lord.

Loved the title, "We can do it." Through the God of out own understanding, all things are possible. He doesn't do it for us. He leads, guides and directs us. We have to be willing to be willing to quit using.

[MajestyJo]

Saturday, June 28, 2014

You are reading from the book Food for Thought

Spiritual Awakening

Many of us remember back to a vague time in childhood when our world seemed right and we were full of enthusiasm. Somehow, somewhere along the way, we lost that feeling of rightness and security.

For some of us who experience a spiritual awakening through the OA program, childhood faith is rediscovered and takes on new meaning. We may have lost sight of our real selves and abandoned our original faith in a Higher Power. When we have a spiritual awakening as a result of the Twelve Steps, everything falls into place, and what was lost is recovered, plus much more.

This spiritual awakening continues as we continue to work the program. It gives new meaning to our present lives and new hope for the future. We see that spiritual growth is "where it's at" and that nothing else will satisfy our needs and our longing.

May I continue to awaken.

One of the benefits of recovery, we grow in awareness and experience, one day at a time.

[MajestyJo]

Sunday, June 29, 2014

You are reading from the book Food for Thought

The Joy of Abstaining


For someone who has suffered the physical, emotional, and spiritual anguish of compulsive overeating, abstaining is not a restriction but a release. We are released from indigestion, lethargy, fat, and the torment of never-satisfied craving.

If we dwell on the negative aspects of abstaining, such as the foods we are not eating, we will be unhappy. If we continue to concentrate on food, rather than on life and the spirit, we will find it difficult to abstain. The OA program gives us a new set of priorities and opens the door to new life if we are willing to leave our preoccupation with food outside and walk in.

It is good to feel full of energy rather than full of food. It is satisfying to discover new ways to give. There is deep joy in day-by-day spiritual growth. All of these joys become ours through abstaining.

We give thanks for the joy of abstaining.

If I abstain, I don't have to have hang overs or go through detox.

Chocolate hangovers are the worst.

[Lady1021]

Since I tend to choose dark chocolate over any other kind I tend to not have chocolate hangovers. I do however have dairy hangovers. They are the worst for me. They take over my mornings and I sometimes miss my beloved (7 am) meetings. The ones I go to in place of my homegroup don't measure up at all. I'm so glad you have this thread. Overeating is something I have been doing since long before I even started drinking. It is also something I have struggled to admit to or talk about far more than my alcoholism. For the first time in my life I have hope that I can someday recover from it. I even feel that I have the willingness to do so.