Overeaters Anonymous Quotes

PASO DOS   Llegamos a creer de que sólo un Poder Superior a nosotros mismos podría devolvernos el sano juicio.

When one is a stranger to oneself then one is estranged from others too. Anne Morrow Lindberg

Great perils have this beauty, that they bring to light the fraternity of strangers. Victor Hugo

One of the most common precursors to relapse is insufficient attendance at OA meetings.

The way out is to surrender, and then to become, gradually, a co-creator of life. This is where the spiritual aspect of recovery comes into play as a powerful aid. Attendance at and working 12 Step recovery programs such as Al-Anon, Alcoholics Anonymous, Narcotics Anonymous, ACA/ACoA, CoDA, and Overeaters Anonymous and others are helpful. Other spiritual paths may also be helpful.

How do we react when we don’t get our own way? How do we react when people disagree with us? Are we intolerant of differences? Do we try to smooth stormy waters, or are we troublemakers? Have we insisted on being the center of attention? Have we acted offensively just to be noticed? Are we afraid that we won’t be recognized or respected or loved? Do we fear that we won’t get our share

The first thing I did in program was to draw up a list of things that truly give me longlasting comfort. I turn to that list when I have a craving, and I incorporate those things into my life as often as possible.

I became a very timid individual. I became introspective. I wondered what had made me act the way I had acted. Why had I killed my fellow men in war, without any feeling, remorse, or regret? And when the war was over, why did I con­tinue to drink and swagger around and get into fistfights? Why did I like to dish out pain, and why did I take positive delight in the suffering of others? Was I insane? Was it too much testosterone? Women don’t do things like that. The rapacious Will to Power lost its hold on me. Suddenly I began to feel sympathetic to the cares and sufferings of all living creatures. You lose your health and you start thinking this way. Has man become any better since the times of Theog­enes? The world is replete with badness. I’m not talking about that old routine where you drag out the Spanish Inqui­sition, the Holocaust, Joseph Stalin, the Khmer Rouge, etc. It happens in our own backyard. Twentieth-century America is one of the most materially prosperous nations in history. But take a walk through an American prison, a nursing home, the slums where the homeless live in cardboard boxes, a cancer ward. Go to a Vietnam vets’ meeting, or an A.A. meeting, or an Overeaters Anonymous meeting. How hollow and unreal a thing is life, how deceitful are its pleasures, what horrible aspects it possesses. Is the world not rather like a hell, as Schopenhauer, that clearheaded seer—who has helped me transform my suf­fering into an object of understanding—was so quick to point out? They called him a pessimist and dismissed him with a word, but it is peace and self-renewal that I have found in his pages.

Q: Yet, I cannot see how can anything come to be without a cause. M: When I say a thing is without a cause, I mean it can be with-out a particular cause. Your own mother was needed to give you birth; But you could not have been born without the sun and the earth. Even these could not have caused your birth without your own desire to be born. It is desire that gives birth, that gives name and form. The desirable is imagined and wanted and manifests itself as something tangible or con-ceivable. Thus is created the world in which we live, our personal world. The real world is beyond the mind's ken; we see it through the net of our desires, divided into pleasure and pain, right and wrong, inner and outer. To see the universe as it is, you must step beyond the net. It is not hard to do so, for the net is full of holes. Q: What do you mean by holes? And how to find them? M: Look at the net and its many contradictions. You do and undo at every step. You want peace, love, happiness and work hard to create pain, hatred and war. You want longevity and overeat, you want friendship and exploit. See your net as made of such contradictions and remove them -- your very seeing them will make them go.

We have found that when we give up self-will regarding food and completely turn our lives over to our Higher Power, we receive all kinds of guidance.

its entire purpose is to enable me to feel good about myself.

God is doing for me what I could not do for myself. It is all an incomparably beautiful mystery.

Just for Today.” — Program slogan

After all, I would be served only one portion — no temptation to “sliver, slice, slab, slob” an entire cake.

us were able to do so. Our eating may be out of control

Algunas veces deseo que los amigos pudieran ser liberados de ciertos defectos por su bien, pero son esos mismos defectos, mezclados con sus mejores cualidades los que componen la personalidad completa de aquellos a los que amamos.

The ability to simplify means to eliminate the unnecessary so that the necessary may speak. Hans Hoffman

It’s simple: trust God, keep the fork down, and follow my food plan while living a Twelve-Step way of life like I always do. God will take care of me. He always has and will, no matter what!

Pride and ingratitude are my biggest character defects. Pride is that hardened part in my mind that needs to be softened by humility and a sense of humor. Making a gratitude list is essential to my daily recovery. I frequently include what I did right each day in my gratitude lists; I believe my focus determines what I become.

Obesity is so rampant that it seems contagious. It’s an epidemic now, and it’s spreading to other countries— the British are gaining, the Chinese are gaining, even the French are gaining— which makes it a pandemic. There are frantic efforts to make it stop. Weight Watchers and Overeaters Anonymous were just early tactics in a long war that would go on to include the Pritikin Principle, the Scarsdale Medical Diet, Slimfast, the Atkins Diet, the South Beach Diet, The Zone, Nutrisystem, Jenny Craig, the Blood Type Diet, the Mediterranean Diet, the Master Cleanse, the DASH diet, the Cabbage Soup Diet, the Paleo Diet, and the Raw Diet. Americans have eaten fat- burning grapefruits, consumed cabbage soup for seven straight days, calculated their daily points target, followed the easy and customizable menu plan, dialed the 1- 800 number to speak to a live weight- loss counselor, taken cider vinegar pills, snacked strategically, eliminated high- glycemic vegetables during the fourteen- day induction phase, achieved a 40:30:30 calorie ratio, brought insulin and glucagon into balance, sought scientific guidance from celebrities, abstained from the deadly cultural practice known as cooking, tanned and then bled themselves to more fully mimic the caveman state, asked that the chef please prepare the omelet with no yolks, and attained the fat- burning metabolic nirvana known as ketosis. It has all been a terrible, amazing failure.

History of Medicine: The Biology and Genetics of Obesity — A Century of Inquiries Chin Jou, Ph.D. | 1515 words Volume 370:1874-1877 Number 20 May 15, 2014 The obese lack willpower; they overeat and underexercise — or so believe a majority of Americans. A 2012 online poll of 1143 adults conducted by Reuters and the market research firm Ipsos found that 61% of U.S. adults believed that “personal choices about eating and exercise” were responsible for the obesity epidemic. 1 A majority of Americans, it seems, remain unaware of or unconvinced by scientific research suggesting that “personal choices” may not account for all cases of obesity.

Every action produces a reaction, and the reaction is always in exact accord with the action.” Throw a rock into a pond and it makes ripples—every time. The bigger the rock, the bigger the ripples. If you plant an acorn, you’ll get an oak tree, not a willow. If you overeat, you’ll get fat. If you’re a mean person, you’ll lack friends. If you fail to nourish yourself, you’ll become ill. Ultimately, by the consequences you experience, the truth will make itself known to you.

The only way I can assure myself of the best possible future is to live as well as I can today.

My faith leads me to everything I need to surmount my difficulties if I am open to receiving the gift. I trust that God will take care of me.

even though I may think like a compulsive overeater, I don’t have to act like one.

I made coffee and tea for Jessie and Hats and me, and we each took a marmalade rusk. Overeater Anonymous came from far away, probably America. They wouldn't understand about rusks. If you live in South Africa, you know that rusks are not stuffing your face - they are a way of life. It is just bad manners not to have one with your coffee.

It were endless to dispute upon everything that is disputable. William Penn

I’ll just lay the triple “L” on the people in my life: love, listen, let go.

Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.” — Step Two

For today: Kindness to myself and others is a hallmark of recovery.

Yes, we had to decide—with help—the appropriate plan of eating for ourselves, but the power to follow that plan comes from emotional and spiritual change.

What a relief to leave the job of directing the universe to God.

Whatever games are played with us, we must play no games with ourselves, but deal in our privacy with the last honesty and truth. Ralph Waldo Emerson

Whatever the case, after years of making vows and saying prayers but then eating compulsively again, we were left without faith that God could restore us to sanity about food. We believed intellectually that God could do anything, but deep in our hearts we “knew” God couldn’t help us with this area of our lives. It was this negative concept about God we had to change if we were to find recovery.

One good way to inventory ourselves is to ask ourselves questions about specific character traits. Then we examine in writing the ways that we’ve exhibited these characteristics in our lives. For instance, we might ask ourselves if we have been prideful. Have arrogance and false pride characterized our behavior? If so, we list them in our inventory. Then, we illustrate the characteristic of pride by listing examples of how pride has caused us to act.

My Higher Power sent me the message: I was as powerless over food as I was over booze.

There is no ache more Deadly than the striving to be oneself. Yevgeniy Vinokurov

Mas tarde descubrimos que lejos de ser un escollo, la admisión de impotencia ante la comida nos abría la puerta a una fuente de poder insospechada. Por primera vez en la vida, reconocíamos y aceptábamos la verdad sobre nosotros mismos. Somos comedores compulsivos. Tenemos una enfermedad que es incurable. Los diabéticos que necesitan un tratamiento de insulina corren el riesgo de volverse ciegos e incluso de morir, a menos que reconozcan la realidad de su condición, la acepten y tomen la medicación que el médico les recete. Eso mismo nos sucede a nosotros, los comedores compulsivos. Mientras nos neguemos a reconocer que tenemos esta enfermedad, extenuante, y en última instancia fatal, no estaremos dispuestos a seguir el tratamiento diario para la misma, tratamiento que conduce a la recuperación. Negar la verdad lleva a la destrucción. Sólo la admisión sincera de la realidad de nuestra condición nos puede salvar de nuestro comer destructivo.

because at one time or another someone threatened or damaged our self-esteem, security, ambitions, or relationships? Have we tried to get even with people who hurt us? Do we make a point of never forgetting when someone does us harm? Do we hold a grudge against anyone due to jealousy? Are we envious of other people’s appearance, wealth, sex life, popularity, possessions, or position in society? If so,

our spouses,