Twelve Steps For Overeaters Anonymous: An Interpretation Of The Twelve Steps Of Overeaters Anonymous

241 Pages·1996·0.61 MB·English

by  Elisabeth L.

Twelve Steps for Overeaters : An
title: Interpretation of the Twelve Steps of
Overeaters Anonymous
author: L., Elisabeth.
publisher: Hazelden Publishing
isbn10 | asin: 0894869051
print isbn13: 9780894869051
ebook isbn13: 9780585323244
language: English
Twelve steps (Self-help) , Compulsive
subject
eating.
publication date: 1995
lcc: RC552.C65.L 1993eb
ddc: 616.861
Twelve steps (Self-help) , Compulsive
subject: eating.
Page i
Twelve Steps for Overeaters
Page ii
HAZELDEN BOOKS OF RELATED INTEREST
Food for Thought: Daily Meditations for Overeaten, Elisabeth L.
Listen to the Hunger, Elisabeth L
Fat Is a Family Affair, Judi Hollis
Feeding the Empty Heart: Adult Children and Compulsive Eating,
Barbara McFarland and Tyeis Baker-Baumann
The Twelve Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous: Interpreted by the
Hazelden Foundation
Page iii
Twelve Steps for Overeaters
An Interpretation of the Twelve Steps of Overeaters
Anonymous
Elisabeth L.
Page iv
Hazelden
Center City, Minnesota 55012-0176
© 1993 by Hazelden Foundation. All rights
reserved. Published 1993. Printed in the United
States of America. No portion of this publication
may be reproduced in any manner without
the written permission of the publisher.
ISBN: 0-89486-905-1
Step One: When Willpower Is Not Enough is from the pamphlet Step
One: When Willpower Is Not Enough by Elisabeth L. © 1982 by
Hazelden Foundation. Step Two: You Are Not Alone is from the
pamphlet Step Two: You Are Not Alone by Elisabeth L. © 1982 by
Hazelden Foundation. Step Three: Giving Up the Game is from the
pamphlet Step Three: Giving Up the Game by Elisabeth L. © 1982 by
Hazelden Foundation. Step Four: Face to Face with Yourself is from
the pamphlet Step Four: Face to Face with Yourself by Elisabeth L. ©
1983 by Hazelden Foundation. Step Five: And the Truth Will Set You
Free is from the pamphlet Step Five: And the Truth Will Set You Free
by Elisabeth L. © 1983 by Hazelden Foundation. Step Six: Getting
Ready to Let Go is from the pamphlet Step Six: Getting Ready to Let
Go by Elisabeth L. © 1983 by Hazelden Foundation. Step Seven: Let
Go and Let God is from the pamphlet Let Go and Let God by
Elisabeth L. © 1983 by Hazelden Foundation. Step Eight: Getting
Honest is from the pamphlet Step Eight: Getting Honest by Elisabeth
L. © 1983 by Hazelden Foundation. Step Nine: Building Bridges is
from the pamphlet Step Nine: Building Bridges by Elisabeth L. ©
1983 by Hazelden Foundation. Step Ten: Accepting Ourselves is from
the pamphlet Step Ten: Accepting Ourselves by Elisabeth L. © 1983
by Hazelden Foundation. Step Eleven: Centering Ourselves is from
the pamphlet Step Eleven: Centering Ourselves by Elisabeth L. ©
1983 by Hazelden Foundation. Step Twelve: Living the Program is
from the pamphlet Step Twelve: Living the Program by Elisabeth L. ©
1983 by Hazelden Foundation.
The Twelve Steps are reprinted and adapted with permission of
Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc. Permission to reprint and
adapt the Twelve Steps does not mean that Alcoholics Anonymous
has reviewed or approved the contents of this publication, or that AA
agrees with the views expressed herein. The views expressed herein
are solely those of the author. AA is a program of recovery from
alcoholism. Use of the Twelve Steps in connection with programs and
activities that are patterned after AA, but that address other problems,
does not imply otherwise.
Page v
Contents
Introduction vii
Step One: When Willpower Is Not Enough 1
Step Two: You Are Not Alone 13
Step Three: Giving Up the Game 25
Step Four: Face to Pace with Yourself 37
Step Five: And the Truth Will Set You Free 57
Step Six: Getting Ready to Let Go 67
Step Seven: Let Go and Let God 77
Step Eight: Getting Honest 85
Step Nine: Building Bridges 93
Step Ten: Accepting Ourselves 103
Step Eleven: Centering Ourselves 113
Step Twelve: Living the Program 123
Page vii
Introduction
Some of us say we found the program. Others of us say the program
found us. Whichever way it happened, those of us who practice the
Twelve Steps of Overeaters Anonymous (OA) are very lucky. We
have the blueprint for a way of life that can free us from the obsession
with food.
Most of us struggled long and hard to control what we ate and to
escape the binge/diet trap. We tried all sorts of ways to stop using
food to solve emotional problems. We wanted to be rid of the
compulsion to overeat, to undereat, to binge and purge. When the
diets didn't work, and the exercise programs didn't work, either, and
nothing else we tried worked, some of us were ready to admit our
powerlessness over food and the unmanageability of our lives.
We felt an emptiness inside that no amount of food could fill. So when
we came to the Twelve Step program, we were desperate enough to
entertain the idea of a spiritual solution. For me, as for many of you, it
was the only way left.
I knew that the Twelve Step program worked for alcoholics. As I
began going to OA meetings, I saw those Steps changing the lives of
people who had been obsessed with food. I was a compulsive
overeater. Maybe the Twelve Steps could work for me.
Like most people with eating disorders, I knew what I should eat.
Knowing was not the problem; that was easy. It was the doing that
was difficult, if not impossible. One day I would eat twelve hundred
calories' worth of food, and the next day I would eat that much plus a
half gallon of ice cream. No matter how much I ate, it was never
enough.
When I got to the Twelve Step program, I was ready to concede that I
was powerless over food. It took considerably longer to accept the fact
that I was also powerless over people, places, and things, but in the
process of getting to that point, I was slowly discovering a new way of
life.