Ideas for any Holiday

[judi]

By the grace of God, this will be my 17th abstinent Labor Day. For my first, my sponsor invited a group of us from our weekly meetings (we had one on Monday nights and one on Saturday morning) to what was to be my first FAA potluck picnic. It looked like a feast and it did not include sugar, flour, and wheat products. It did not look like diet plates either. The best part was I felt so safe hanging out with my sponsor. I’ll pass on some of my experiences for any holiday.

1. It is not necessary to be alone. Invite an abstinent friend over to your house.
2. Ask for phone numbers of recovery friends who will be home and able to accept calls. You may not need to call, but it’s good to have a lifeline just in case.
3. Plan to dial in to at least one or more FAA phone meeting marathons usually held on major holidays.
4. Do not let your disease convince you it is okay to overeat just because everyone does on holidays.
5. No second helpings on food, just seconds on prayer, calls, etc. In other words, if you normally only pray once each day, pray twice. If you only call your sponsor, call the sponsor and someone else. If you usually only read Food for the Soul, read that and then three pages from the FAA book and double your meditation time. Get the picture.
6. Most important, remember, to keep your commitment to your Higher Power that you would do what ever it takes to overcome food addiction.

[Jackie]

I like to get to an early morning phone meeting on the holidays - it helps to jumpstart my day, hearing all of you sharing your e/s/h; and I need the reminder that I'm a food addict and that nothing I can do all by myself will overcome this disease - I have such a "fast-forgetter". I was one of those yo-yo dieters for nearly 50 years and was sooo sure that it was just a matter of finding the "right diet" or the right book on dieting or the right approach and they all worked for a while and then I would find myself binging once more on the s/f/w. And I always gained the weight back and then some. So glad to be off that merry-go-round. I also try to plan out my food for those days and send it to my sponsor - I need to have a clear idea of what I will be eating those days and need to make sure that the food is one hand and I also have a back -up plan just in case anything goes wrong...the stove goes down for the count (that has happened- and we used the turkey cooker instead one night) or the power is off (that has happened) or the meat get burned on the grill and not able to eat them (that has happened - I keep canned meats, canned salmon & tuna fish) - doesn't sound great, but it's soo much better to wake up with another 24 hours of abstinence...

[Chaim]

A few guidelines seem apparent. Prevent hurry time visitors on the mon-fri, but also consider those who may get 50 percent times on the ultimate day before a vacation. For example, many organizations town center allow their workers a 50 percent day on Dec Twenty third, so your best bet is to be on the street well before mid-day, making before 6 a.m. is maximum.

[bartming]

A party usually have drinking session, the host should anticipate and control the event wisely. :smile: Some nights are worse than others, which is why bars can be found. Have you even gotten home to find out you spent an outrageous amount of money on alcohol (http://personalmoneynetwork.com/moneyblog/2013/01/10/welfare-card-withdrawals/)? Luckily, you need budget to pay the bills after you spend anything you have on a night out partying. It was not like you meant to get so drunk; you just wake up and forgot every little thing.