Food for Thought: December 12th

Meal by Meal

We abstain from compulsive overeating day-by-day and meal-by-meal. After breakfast, we do not worry about how we will feel at dinnertime. After breakfast we know that we have had an abstinent meal and that we can forget about food until it is time for lunch. If we allow ourselves to start thinking about what we will have for the next meal, and the meal after that, we turn on our obsession.

The beauty of abstinence is that it permits us to get from one meal to the next without being constantly preoccupied with food. By abstaining from refined sugars and carbohydrates and our individual binge foods, we no longer have to fight the craving for more. By working the Twelve Steps, we fill our minds with nourishing thoughts, which drive out our former obsession with food.

This meal, which I have planned, is the only one that concerns me now. I do not need to think about other meals or other foods. I will enjoy this meal, and then I will walk away from food into the rest of my life.

Keep me abstinent, meal-by-meal.

From Food for Thought: Daily Meditations for Overeaters by Elisabeth L. ©1980, 1992 by Hazelden Foundation.

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This reading outlines the simplicity of the program: meal by meal, day by day, one day at a time, we find abstinence from compulsive overeating when we follow the steps of OA.

Before finding this marvelous program, my preoccupation with food was all consuming. An obsession of this nature can only be relieved by practicing the rules of abstinence on a daily basis. I need not worry about my next meal; only the one I am eating right now.  Yesterday is gone & tomorrow isn't here yet, so I only have to focus on today, NOW.

I turn my life over to God and ask Him to guide me, every step of the way.  I do the footwork by staying abstinent, and trust Him to do the rest.

God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change;
The courage to change the things I can;
And the wisdom to know the difference.