Who we are....
We are compulsive eaters who have recovered. This means that our obsession has been removed. It means we do not have to be shielded from temptation. We do not manage triggers. We do not control our travels so that we won't be tempted. We do not have to be obsessively working our food plans. We do not have to snap rubber bands on our wrists. We do not worry if illness, being out of town or other circumstances cause us to miss a meeting. We do not have to try to keep fresh in our mind the past consequences of our last debacle or imagine the potential consequences in order to keep ourselves sober.
We are free.
When temptation does arise, we found we have been given the ability to react like we are about to hurt ourselves. We have access to this gift as long as we practice specific principles in every aspect our lives.
Our recovery was not accomplished by methods that are commonly used today, though many of us first tried those methods, unsuccessfully. We found freedom by the methods used by the pioneers of the 12 Step program. The precise methods we used are found in the Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous. As far as we are concerned, it is what worked for us. Humility demands that we are only equipped to pass along that with which we were successful.
This process was not easy, soft or gentle for any of us. It is a difficult program because it demands that we take actions that we really didn't want to do. We worked these Steps only because going back to our addiction was our only other choice. Going back to compulsive eating behaviors was too painful for us.
We recommend this program only to those who are without other options, who are without hope of recovery by any other method. After all, if we were to be successful, we had to completely give ourselves to this simple program. This meant the elimination of all other options by actually testing them.
As time has passed our numbers have grown. Persistence in our way of living, faith in the Power which keeps our obsession at bay and keeping our focus on the fundamentals has paid off. We continue to live free of the obsession and now our lives have taken on a real purpose. This is the greatest gift we have received.
The 10th Step Promises:
“And we have ceased fighting anything or anyone even alcohol¹. For by this time sanity will have returned. We will seldom be interested in liquor¹. If tempted, we recoil from it as from a hot flame. We react sanely and normally, and we will find that this has happened automatically. We will see that our new attitude toward liquor¹ has been given to us without any thought or effort on our part. It just comes! That is the miracle of it. We are not fighting it, neither are we avoiding temptation. We feel as though we had been placed in a position of neutrality safe and protected. We have not even sworn off. Instead, the problem has been removed. It does not exist for us. We are neither cocky nor are we afraid. That is our experience. That is how we react so long as we keep in fit spiritual condition.”
(Big Book, ps. 84-85)
¹ Compulsive eating