12 Traditions of Overeaters Anonymous

The Twelve Traditions are the means by which OA remains unified in a common cause. These Twelve Traditions are to the groups what the Twelve Steps are to the individual. They are suggested principles to ensure the survival and growth of the many groups that compose Overeaters Anonymous.

Like the Twelve Steps, the Twelve Traditions have their origins in Alcoholics Anonymous. These Traditions describe attitudes which those early members believed were important to group survival.

 

The Twelve Traditions of Overeaters Anonymous

1. Our common welfare should come first; personal recovery depends upon OA unity.
2. For our group purpose there is but one ultimate authority — a loving God as He may express Himself in our group conscience. Our leaders are but trusted servants; they do not govern.
3. The only requirement for OA membership is a desire to stop eating compulsively.
4. Each group should be autonomous except in matters affecting other groups or OA as a whole.
5. Each group has but one primary purpose — to carry its message to the compulsive overeater who still suffers.
6. An OA group ought never endorse, finance or lend the OA name to any related facility or outside enterprise, lest problems of money, property and prestige divert us from our primary purpose.
7. Every OA group ought to be fully self-supporting, declining outside contributions.
8. Overeaters Anonymous should remain forever non-professional, but our service centers may employ special workers.
9. OA, as such, ought never be organized; but we may create service boards or committees directly responsible to those they serve.
10. Overeaters Anonymous has no opinion on outside issues; hence the OA name ought never be drawn into public controversy.
11. Our public relations policy is based on attraction rather than promotion; we need always maintain personal anonymity at the level of press, radio, films, television and other public media of communication.
12. Anonymity is the spiritual foundation of all these Traditions, ever reminding us to place principles before personalities.

Permission to use the Twelve Traditions of Alcoholics Anonymous for adaptation granted by AA World Services, Inc.

12 Steps of Overeaters Anonymous

The Twelve Steps are the heart of the OA recovery program. They offer a new way of life that enables the compulsive overeater to live without the need for excess food.

The ideas expressed in the Twelve Steps, which originated in Alcoholics Anonymous, reflect practical experience and application of spiritual insights recorded by thinkers throughout the ages. Their greatest importance lies in the fact that they work! They enable compulsive overeaters and millions of other Twelve-Steppers to lead happy, productive lives. They represent the foundation upon which OA is built.

 

The Twelve Steps of Overeaters Anonymous

1. We admitted we were powerless over food — that our lives had become unmanageable.
2. Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.
3. Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him.
4. Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.
5. Admitted to God, to ourselves and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.
6. Were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character.
7. Humbly asked Him to remove our shortcomings.
8. Made a list of all persons we had harmed and became willing to make amends to them all.
9. Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.
10. Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong, promptly admitted it.
11. Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God as we understood Him, praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out.
12. Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these Steps, we tried to carry this message to compulsive overeaters and to practice these principles in all our affairs.

(reprinted with permission from the World Service Organization of Overeaters Anonymous)

the basics of a plan of eating.

What is a plan of eating?: (from anonymousone.com)

Using a plan of eating is the beginning of freedom from compulsive overeating, bingeing, or food cessation. Instead of depending on resolutions and willpower to help make good decisions in front of the refrigerator or in the restaurant, we develop a sensible plan of eating in advance. Initially, many of us use a daily plan of eating which includes what, when, where and how much. This daily plan serves to separate our eating from our emotions and relieves us of making the decisions we formerly had to make throughout the day. Reducing the time we think about food clears our heads of the ongoing conflict between our self-will and the disease. We also find that we are more likely to stick to our plan if we commit it daily to a sponsor. As in the rest of the program, we do this one-day at a time. We do not have to think about doing it forever.

How do you develop a plan of eating?

One of the first steps in developing our plan of eating is to take an honest and courageous look at our eating history. What is our past relationship with food, from childhood to the present? We took with rigorous honesty at our eating patterns. When did we begin eating compulsively? What was going on? What did we overeat? What do we overeat now? What foods do we think about most? What foods do we crave? When do we overeat? What is the relationship between our reactions to life events and our eating patterns? We find it necessary to examine our current and old eating patterns in order to begin building a new set of healthy eating habits. The questions in Step One of the Twelve-Step Workbook of Overeaters Anonymous are an excellent starting point for this inquiry.

Why avoid certain foods?

One of the first steps in developing our plan of eating is to take an honest and courageous look at our eating history. What is our past relationship with food, from childhood to the present? We took with rigorous honesty at our eating patterns. When did we begin eating compulsively? What was going on? What did we overeat? What do we overeat now? What foods do we think about most? What foods do we crave? When do we overeat? What is the relationship between our reactions to life events and our eating patterns? We find it necessary to examine our current and old eating patterns in order to begin building a new set of healthy eating habits. The questions in Step One of the Twelve-Step Workbook of Overeaters Anonymous are an excellent starting point for this inquiry.

Does Overeaters Anonymous Provide a Plan of Eating?

Overeaters Anonymous, does not promote, endorse, recommend or distribute any specific food plans. For nutritional guidance, we seek advice about healthy eating from a qualified health care professional, such as a doctor or nutritionist. In addition to professionals, 12 Step Sponsors understand your challenges. They are working and living the Compulsive Eating Twelve Step program to the best of their ability. Their purpose is to support us in our program and help us gain insight into our eating patterns, not to give specific medical or nutritional advice. Most importantly, they can share what does and does not work for them.

This article is based on the Booklet, "A Plan of Eating, A tool for living—one day at a time" prepared by Overeaters Anonymous.