On page 44 of the Big Book we are asked two qualifying questions:
If, when you honestly want to, you find you cannot quit entirely, or if when drinking¹, you have little control over the amount you take, you are probably alcoholic². If that be the case, you may be suffering from an illness which only a spiritual experience will conquer.
¹ Compulsive eating. ² Compulsive eater
The illness of compulsive eating manifests in various ways. Here are some of the ways it showed up in us:
. We ate when we weren’t hungry, even after we swore we wouldn’t
. We ate until we were stuffed or even sick
. We regularly ate foods we knew were bad for us or made us feel bad
. We ate for emotional reasons (e.g., to calm our nerves or soothe disappointment)
. We ate or behaved in ways around food that made us feel guilty, ashamed or embarrassed
. We ate in secret
. We obsessed over food, eating and/or our weight/shape
. We compulsively tracked calories/amounts of food or weight
. We exercised more than was reasonable, even when we couldn’t, shouldn’t or didn’t want to
. We avoided ingredients, foods or whole food groups in order to try to control our eating
When we realized we were out of control, these are some of the methods we tried to fix our compulsive eating problem:
. Diets/food plans
. Exercise
. Studying nutrition
. Accountability partners
. Scheduling meals
. Not eating alone
. Avoiding ingredients or food groups
. Changing jobs/partners/location
. Therapy
. Acupuncture
. Hypnosis
. Affirmations
. Self-help books
. Medications
. Cleanses
. Avoiding Triggers
. Throwing away/giving away/destroying food
. Laxatives
. Weight loss surgery
. everything else we could think of......
We found these methods required us to use will power we didn't seem to have.
If this describes your experience as a compulsive eater,
you may qualify for our program.
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