Author: Keri

Hello Fellow Food Addicts!

I’m so grateful to be able to say that and know I am talking to people who understand that staying out of the food is about more than “ being on a diet”!

My name is Andrea F. I have been in OA for 40.5 years. It has saved my life in many ways and given me a whole new relationship with the Higher Power ( Who I call God) of my entire life. I always thought that God and food were two separate issues. Before program i practiced my religion of choice but continued to binge on a daily basis. It never dawned on me what was happening, but Program and working the Steps changed my insights and behaviors.

I had always pictured my HP ( God) in a certain place. Whenever I prayed I had a certain scenario in my head where God was. After working my program I realized that when I was binging or overeating, I was removing my HP from that scenario and placing food in His place! Food was displacing God in my life when I chose to eat. When I took the time to compare the benefits of God in that moment to the benefits of extra food the results were astounding!

Choosing God: peace, serenity, knowing I’m enough, knowing the power to live a sane and happy life comes from Him ( HP).

Choosing Food: fear, not enoughness, never being full, knowing food will only take more and more to even achieve a false serenity.

This is true in many other areas of my life as well. When I pull HP from the place I envision Him and replace Him with people pleasing and trying to be accepted , I am instantly drawn again into fear, never being enough and knowing it will only take more and more to achieve a false serenity.

This is true also of acquiring stuff, buying things on sale (because it’s a bargain, right?)!, and excess spending. All leave me wanting more and never enough!

The 12 Steps have given me the ability to see and hear( from sponsors and other fellow food addicts) when I am displacing my Higher Power with something else that will give me far, far less and even harm me. My God has never in my entire life caused me harm. Only love, goodness, acceptance and the knowledge that where I am today is ok. As long as I am willing to ask His will for me today and follow through with that, I will be ok: even at peace.

Excess food( our disease) and people pleasing, excess spending and acquiring “ stuff” will never ever give me the peace He ( my HP) brings.

Today I wish for you the willingness to keep God in His God Place. Displacing HP with the false things that bring us that false sense of peace will only feed The Disease and make it grow.

Much Love To All My Fellows,

– Andrea F., Indianapolis, IN

I was a little anxious about how the Spring Region 5 assembly would go. I had my agenda and all my other papers but I felt new and inexperienced. I knew everyone would be friendly and that I would at least know the people I was traveling with but what would it be like to do a 3 day business meeting?

I am half way through the weekend and I find myself pleasantly surprised. Everyone has good questions and the topics discussed are relevant.

How did I end up here? I have one and a half years of abstinence and I”ve been in OA for 4 years. I’ve lost and and kept off 57 pounds. I am committed to the OA way of life. HP has given me a life that has purpose and joy and I don’t ever want to go back to the depression, self pity and selfishness of my life before OA. I had been an intergroup representative for 2 years when the call came for a delegate. I thought “What’s a delegate?” I asked a couple of board members and a former WSO trustee what a delegate does. I found out that a delegate represents intergroup at Region 5 Assemblies and World Service Business Conference. We vote on policies that affect OA as a whole. I was voted in by my fellows in December and now I’m sitting here at my first Region Assembly. And I am going to WSBC in April.

Since its my first assembly and will be my first World Service Business Conference, I’m considered a “Green Dot”. My name tag has an actual green dot on it which signifies that I am new and might ask questions or need direction during the meetings. Everyone has been so welcoming and generous with their time. They’ve made it easy for me to be involved and join in.

I know HP gave me the desire to serve as a delegate and I am so happy to do it. I’ve found that if God gives me a nudge to do something and I do it, the results are so much better then if I resist what God is calling me to do. Doing this service is just right for me right now and I am sure HP will give me the ability to do it well. Next month I’m off to Albuquerque where I will again be a Green Dot. I will have to chance to serve HP, other delegates, my region, my intergroup and help myself. I look forward as I trudge the Happy Road of Destiny. You can’t beat that!

— Yvonne C.

I lived several years of my life in bondage to food. I felt I had no choice. I had to eat. I had to hide my eating and lie about my eating. The shame was immeasurable and always with me.

I was in bondage to other things as well. What others thought about me, trying to please whoever I was with at the moment while constantly striving and manipulating to get my own way, usually by passive aggressive means. Life was simply exhausting. My mind was like a hamster running on a wheel, it just never stopped. I was totally alone in my head and could see no way out. The idea of help from a Higher Power never even occurred to me. I needed to figure this stuff out on my own and the prison my life had become began to seem permanent. I just figured that some people get to be happy and some don’t.

And then I came to OA. And you told me I could be free. It took some time but gradually i began to let go. To let go of my defiance, my puny self reliance, and a whole lot of bad attitudes. I began to look at my life in the light of “what’s the next right thing”. I began to ask “how and what does my Higher Power want me to be and do this day?”

With each day in recovery I receive more freedom and more blessings and more abundance.

I am now free to say “I made a mistake, I’m sorry and what can I do to make it right?” No shame involved. I’m free to take anything out of my closet and know it will fit. I’m free to like myself.

I have choices. I can choose the food that’s right for me. I can choose to say NO when it my not please someone else. I’m free to ask for help. My mind is free from turmoil most of the time. All these things are miracles to me.

I can reach out my hand to another compulsive overeater and share with them the freedom thats been given to me through the God of my understanding and OA. Thank you God, OA, and all my brothers and sisters who walk this path with me.

— Pam L

My sponsor always asks “Are you better off in OA or our of OA?” And my answer to this question is I am definitely better in OA. God willing, I will have 5 years of abstinence April 18, 2023. I was first introduced to this amazing program in 1987and for the next 15 yeas I was actively involved in OA and it literally changed my life physically, emotionally and spiritually. I lost 167 lbs. and did service at the group, intergroup, region and world service levels.

But in 2002 I mad a fateful decision to leave OA and focus on my financial problems.The result was 10 years of hell, including a 100 lb. weight gain and suicidal thinking. Five years ago I moved to Kentucky, got a great sponsor and began working the steps again. I have lost about half of the weight I had regained and my relationship with my Higher Power is stronger then ever. I have returned to service at the group and intergroup level and recently attended my first region assembly as a “Green Dot”.

I can now say, with conviction, life is much better in OA then out of OA!

— Ed L.

I have changed since I first came to OA. From hopeless and depressed to feeling I was able to meet the challenges that life presents. I avoided making decisions, just letting things happen and doing only what was necessary. If I couldn’t do anything else, I could at least eat. I used to eat in front of the television and zone out. I was a perfectionist. If I couldn’t do the job well, I just didn’t do it. I had sidestepped living.

In OA, I began to do what was in front of me. I found it also made me happy. I realized what my shortcomings were. I could recognize them and pray for their removal. I do the footwork and act rather then react.

I have a new relationship with my Higher Power. I pause and listen for that intuitive thought or decision. I use my own brain with help from my HP. And now I know I don’t have to face life and it’s challenges alone.

— Kevin F.

I have my recovery
A gift I ask for each day
It will not still be mine
Less I give it away

Life can be painful
Losing our “treats”, our loves
Food will not fill us
It is God who must

God’s love lasts forever
The power leaves us never
Again, I must ask
That is my task

— Lynn H.

I had the great gift of attending the OA 63rd Birthday Party in Los Angeles, CA this past January. The theme was The Age of Miracles and there were over 800 compulsive Overeaters gathered in person for the first time in 2 years of meeting virtually.

It was a Love Fest! Laughter and hugs and “OMG, I thought you were taller” comments were everywhere. There were 43 sessions over 3 days of panels, speakers and meetings with everyone sharing the miracles of this program.

On the last day of the conference I had an Aha moment. The chair introduced and thanked the committee for their hard work and for such a wonderful event. All the hard work behind the scenes was acknowledged as was the success of the conference. It was then that I realized that my intergroup also puts on events. We had one a few months before and we have another one coming up. We had about 30 people and are hoping that that good of a turnout for our next one. As I compared our events I realized that we both accomplished the same thing. Large or small, both matter and both are beautiful and successful because we serve our fellowship with love, joy, hope and laughter.

— Wanda C.

YES! We can now post personal and/or non-licensed graphics to the R5 website.

Did you ever hear someone say “and a wonderful time was had by all”?  Well that was the Region 5 Fall Assembly in Chesterton, IN this last Halloween weekend!

I am so appreciative of the efforts and energy everyone showed.  The two committees I was on, Finance and PIPO were full of ideas and enthusiasm.  PIPO had two items to finish up – our “elevator speech” (you have three floors of elevator to tell someone about how you got so fit…) and our idea for Intergroup Poster Party outreach.  We had some time to work on both!  In addition we started generating new ideas using the endless energy of the participants in the room.  Bouncing ideas off one another is so much easier when everyone is in the same room!  Not to mention the hugs and praise and thank you that come along in the hallways.

The Finance Committee (which I chair) can sometimes be a bit dry.  Not this time!  I came with an agenda but people quickly used the opportunity to ask questions and learn more about how Finance and budgeting works in our Region.  Personally this is a subject that fascinates me so I was happy to answer!  It felt like everyone was engaged and when we actually looked at the proposed budget for 2023, most people understood where the numbers came from and what the issues were.  This year more than most, it’s hard to set a reasonable budget because we are doing things we haven’t done in two years (like having in person Assemblies!).  Also, travel costs are higher – not just for gas and airflights but also hotel and meal charges.  While the Region, like many intergroups and groups, has a cushion of donated money from the last two years, we must continue to spend these funds wisely.  Thank you to those on the Finance Committee who are helping us do this!

Of course the best part of an in person OA event was talking to people from all over the Region, having a chance to meet and hug and exchange ideas over morning coffee (or tea or…).  We laughed, exchanged stories, found out about new meetings, and set up our Ohio Day of Sharing Committee.

Hopefully your Region Representatives have already given their reports at your local Intergroup or have shared their experience with your group.  We were a small but mighty Assembly but I’m hoping this sketch will encourage people to think about service at the Intergroup, Region, and World Service levels.  This isn’t just work or boring business – this service is a chance to put your program into action.