Eating Disorders

My eating disorder has been with me as far back as I can remember.   I have been shamed for the things I ate and didn’t eat since I was a small child.  I never learned how to forage a new relationship with my body and the food I put in it until I started walking this journey of recovery.  Eating disorders, “disordered eating” or addiction to food in any of it’s myriad forms are cunning baffling and powerful in ways that are hard to explain.  All of my life I have struggled to have a healthy or otherwise normal relationship with food.   My eating disorder has been with me the longest and it has proved to be the most difficult to manage.

I strongly encourage you to have an open mind and perseverance in exploring all that the food recovery fellowships have to offer.  Your journey may be unique to you, but there will be other out there that you can learn from.  Eating disorders come in many different forms.   At the core, people suffering from eating disorders all share the same wounds; the wounds just manifest themselves differently.    Below are links to some of the official fellowship resources but this is no means an exhaustive list.   Also check out related blog posts and suggested books from Sharing Experience Strength & Hope.

Eating Disorders Anonymous (EDA) fellowship resources

In EDA, recovery means living without obsessing on food, weight and body image. In our eating disorders, we sometimes felt like helpless victims. Recovery means gaining or regaining the power to see our options, to make careful choices in our lives. Recovery means rebuilding trust with ourselves, a gradual process that requires much motivation and support. As we learn and practice careful self-honesty, self-care and self-expression, we gain authenticity, perspective, peace and empowerment.

http://www.eatingdisordersanonymous.org/faqs.html

Online Meetings:  http://www.eatingdisordersanonymous.org/online.html

Overeaters Anonymous (OA) fellowship resources

OA does not endorse any particular eating plan and stays away from the word “diet.” Instead, its World Service Office publishes a pamphlet titled “The Dignity of Choice” that includes a broad definition of abstinence as well as several outlines for eating. These range from a plan based on simply eating moderately to one that eliminates all carbohydrates.  OA prides itself on being a “big tent” where the only requirement for membership is “a desire to stop eating compulsively,” and anyone can speak at meetings.

https://oa.org/newcomers/how-do-i-start/are-you-a-compulsive-overeater/

Food Addicts Anonymous (FAA) fellowship resources

https://www.foodaddictsanonymous.org/

https://www.foodaddictsanonymous.org/food-addict

 

Anorexics and Bulimics Anonymous

ABA uses the Twelve-Step Program adapted from Alcoholics Anonymous to address the mental, emotional, and spiritual components of the disorders of anorexia and bulimia. Many people who identify compulsive overeating as the primary component of their eating disorder have been able to relate to our program and have found recovery through it. They are welcome to participate in our Fellowship.

By following the Twelve Steps we have come to a deep level of freedom from our deadly obsessions with body weight and shape and with food, obsessions that once dominated our minds and dictated the course of our lives.We learn in ABA that our eating disorders are a form of addiction, that the key to recovery is to find sobriety in our eating and exercise patterns, and that none of us can do that alone.

 The only requirement for membership is a desire to stop unhealthy eating practices

http://aba12steps.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/12-FAQ-for-Newcomers.pdf