For Today: February 1st

He loseth nothing that keepeth God for his friend.

Thomas Fuller

Many who enter OA are about as receptive to the idea of having God as a friend as they would be to the suggestion that they levitate for an hour or so every day.  A story in the book Overeaters Anonymous tells about a newly arrived member, an atheist, who, on hearing the suggestion to “act as if” God were real, worried about being a hypocrite.

“Oh heaven forbid!” replied his sponsor.  “You could be a glutton, a thief and an egomaniac…..vicious in every way, you could smell bad, look bad, but by God we don’t want you to be a hypocrite!”

The man became willing to follow directions, found a Higher Power of his understanding, lost all his excess weight and is still recovering in OA more than twelve years later.

For Today:  There is nothing to lose in seeking the God of my understanding except my false pride, my food obsession, my fat and all the life-destroying illusions that this illness breeds.

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Compulsive overeaters have so many excuses........so many reasons why we 'can't' do whatever it is we MUST do to find recovery! Although we are told we must 'go to any lengths' to preserve/find abstinence, we worry about hurting someone's feelings by saying No Thank You to their food offers.   We refuse to clean the house out of trigger foods to avoid temptation.  We balk at the idea of staying away from certain situations, people and events that would endanger our programs.

Yet we expect to succeed.  We expect to put ourselves into harmful situations, testing our mettle over and over again, and stay clean at the same time?????


If I surround myself with temptation, I will eventually give IN to said temptation.

If I avoid temptation, keep my home free & clear OF temptation, then I am more likely to stay abstinent and relaxed.  If I have a refrigerator full of cakes & pies, sooner or later, I WILL break my resolve and allow myself to take 'just one taste' which is the gateway to a binge.


The OA sponsor in this reading told her sponsee to 'fake it till ya feel it'.  She called him in on his excuses and forced him to see the truth.  Illusions are what keep us sick; but the truth is what ultimately sets us free.


For today, I will steer clear of temptation, avoid the office kitchen if there is a food-fest going on, and I will stay committed to mySELF, to God, and to my food plan which keeps my body fueled with healthy food.  For today, I do not 'need' junk food to thrive.