Brand New to Recovery??!

[alicemdavid]

I just joined today and am in despair! I just want to die. I can't stop eating. I'm eating rubbish at the moment. I'm also in 2 other 12 step programmes. andymarmion@gmail.com

Hello Andy

Welcome to Food Addicts Anonymous. Welcome home we have been waiting for you and are glad you are with us on our journey to recovery.

I can so relate to your feelings and your behaviors I was once there too, and if I don't keep coming back here. I am in immediate danger of going back to the non stop eating & eating trash, and feeling like I am going to die...I need the we of this program. I need a constant reminder that I am a food addict and I have a bio chemical addiction to sugar flour & wheat, I also added high fat foods to my list. I have found here that by eliminating them from my body the cravings go away and the beauty of it is I only have to do it one day @ a time!!

This is a we program. We need the loving help and support of one another. United we stand divided we fall. Sponsorship is one of the tools of our program, It was suggested to me when I came here to attend 90 meetings in 90 days...that was a long while ago and I haven't missed a day since. I need the meetings they are my medicine. After the meeting we ask questions and give out phone numbers, please collect numbers then make out reach calls from those who may be experiencing what you are experiencing or those whom you can relate to, and most important listen with an open mind and keep coming back. Here is a link to the phone meeting times and numbers.

http://www.foodaddictsanonymous.org/phone-meetings


As your journey continues you will learn more about the tools of recovery, attached is a link to the tools on our website. There are many tools. You will learn them as you go...most important keep coming back... Again welcome home!! Glad you are here.

http://www.foodaddictsanonymous.org/tools-recovery

[GaVa37098]

I don't even know where to start. I am new to this site and to the 12-step program but have been trying to follow the FAA food plan for several months now. I have found it impossible to "do it on my own" which is why I am now reaching out for support. I have battled food addiction for my entire adult life and it has almost ruined me completely. I have BiPolar II and am currently on a Leave of Absence from my work because I am so depressed over not being able to control my food that I would just rather die. I'm a dancer but because of my addiction I am too overweight to dance without causing possible injury. I feel like I have lost my soul. I am terrified and I don't have anywhere else to turn. I wish I had FAA meetings in my area. I feel that face-to-face is what I need most right now. Any suggestions?

[JustForToday]

I think most of us wish we had F2F (face to face) meetings in our area. The reality of it is that most of us don't and we have found support in the phone meetings, online meetings in the FAA chat room and the FAALoop which is on the Yahoo/groups or by getting the names and numbers of those who say things at meetings that we relate to.

You can start a F2F meeting in your area - there are meeting starter kits that have everything you need to start a meeting.

Hope that you will come to open chat on Friday at 9pm Eastern and it's held in the FAA chat room which is on this website. Usually there are some long timers in program who come and are glad to answer questions and talk about any concerns dealing with getting started with recovery from food addiction.

Keep coming back and reaching out to us - we care!

[cindyskylar]

Hi GaVa and welcome.

I would suggest attending meetings. There are face to face meetings, as you know, but also phone meetings, and the FAA Loop. When you hear someone share who you can relate to, ask her if she is available to sponsor you. A sponsor can help you figure out the food plan, will guide you, and, of course, take you through the 12 steps.

Here is a link with the various types of FAA meetings:

http://www.foodaddictsanonymous.org/meetings

And here is a link to a bit of information on sponsorship:

http://www.foodaddictsanonymous.org/sponsorship

This program works, if you work it. You never have to binge eat, overeat, undereat, worry about your weight, obsess about your body or your clothes ever again.

Cindy from NYC

[anna2012]

Hey

This is my first post. My name is Ana, I have food addiction and I have only recently found out about abstinence programmes. I have had this addiction for a few years now, tried inumerous times to control it and eat properly but never succeeded long term. I never adopted the food plans or anything, I was still eating all the foods that triggered my addiction..

All this time the people I spoke to about it kept telling me it didn't matter to overeat if you haven't health problems yet, that everyone did it, etc, that I had to resolve the emotional and life problems first, whilst still eating and then the cravings should disappear... The thing is, life will mostly always bring in stress so that technique just didn't work at all for me. I'm just obsessed with food, amongst all the stress and dificulties, it has become the only thing capable of giving me those 30seconds of peace and joy, only to then fade away into guilt and depression. It's taken control of me.

Now for the first time I see there are more approaches out there (I only found out 4 days ago), much better and sensible ones in my opinion, like the abstinence path. It's really good to know someone out there understands me and recommends an approach I believe will work out best. I guess all this time I was too afraid to actually abstain from the trigger foods because friends looked down on me and told me I shouldn't do that, that I will become anorexic (yeah, right, as if!!), that isn't the way to deal with things, that I wasn't an addict, that I was free to do whatever I wanted, they just don't understand. I find that rather difficult to deal with. I just want freedom from this addiction, it's sucking me away completely.

I'm starting my abstinence food plan tomorrow, 6th August. I would really appreciate if someone out there could offer me some encouragement and advice, I know it's gonna be hard.

my skype name is anasivers, please feel free to add me, I truly would appreciate any support.

[GaVa37098]

Hi Ana,

Just read your post and I completely relate to your struggles. I can tell you that I have now been abstinent 9 days and my head is starting to clear. 90 meetings in 90 days was recommended to me and that's exactly what I plan to do. I have no face-to-face meetings in my area so I attend phone meetings daily, sometimes even twice a day if I need to. I am not quite as terrified as I was 9 days ago, though I know I have a long road ahead. So much spiritual and emotional healing to do now that food is not in the way.

Suzanne

[JessicaP]

I had no idea the power that diet sodas and sugar had on me until I thought about becoming abstinent. I have not started yet and am terrified of losing this crutch that so negatively affects my self confidence and overall health. I am afraid of what the w/d will be like and almost sad to lose the food. I hear "one day at a time" but yet it still feels so overwhelming. I have a bad habit of binge eating late ate night. Any suggestions on what to replace this behavior with?

Thanks so much
JessicaP

[step3]

I had no idea the power that diet sodas and sugar had on me until I thought about becoming abstinent. I have not started yet and am terrified of losing this crutch that so negatively affects my self confidence and overall health. I am afraid of what the w/d will be like and almost sad to lose the food. I hear "one day at a time" but yet it still feels so overwhelming. I have a bad habit of binge eating late ate night. Any suggestions on what to replace this behavior with?

Thanks so much
JessicaP

Dear Jessica,

I have always thought of the "loss" of sugar, flour, and wheat foods as a real loss, just as painful in so many ways as the death of someone very close to me. After all, s/f/w foods got me through difficult emotions sometimes (through stuffing them, but that's all I knew to do). Of course, the situation that engendered the emotions I couldn't face was still there when I came out of my food fog and then I had the guilt of the binge to deal with. Also, it's the nature of addiction to tell me that my substance (s/f/w or whatever other substance I have used in the past to escape myself and life) was my friend, and I believed this. Sugar, flour, wheat items DID seem like a friend to me! But then.... my "friend" turned around and kicked me in the butt! I developed Type 2 Diabetes, I was so heavy I had trouble functioning in the world, I was in a wheelchair for several years (no longer, thank God!) and many other physical problems brought on by my weight. That is to say nothing of the emotional and spiritual problems that come along with addiction.

What helped me was that I ended up doing research and found out about food addiction. I knew, once I read about others who had it, that I was just like them - how amazing, I wasn't the only one in the world who ate and felt the way I did! I came to FAA and started going to phone meetings. I got onto the suggested FAA food plan (slightly modified with the help of my sponsor & physician to take into consideration my medical condition), and I made lots of connections with other FAA members, and I started working FAA's 12 Steps of Recovery.

Another thing that helped with the grief process involved in giving up sugar, flour, and wheat was to write a "goodbye" letter to them. That was very therapeutic for me. It also helped me to know what the grief process involved so that I did not get down on myself during it.

I am glad you are here and talking about this, Jessica. As it says in FAA literature (from the Definition of Abstinence on p. 271 of the FAA Green Book -emphasis mine):

We ask for help from our Higher Power to abstain from those substances we find ourselves craving, ever mindful of our addiction to sugar, flour, and wheat. Feeding our bodies with a plan of sound nutrition will allow us freedom from the insanity of this disease. With honesty, an open mind, and willingness to share our experience, strength, and hope, we can recover from this disease, ONE DAY AT A TIME.

Please keep coming, keep sharing. We are here for you. You never have to be alone again!

Hugs,
step3

[Livre]

Hello Everyone! Just want to thank everyone who makes this forum existis. I realized long time ago that I am addicted to food, but never took action really to solve this serious condition I have.

I suffer so much that I wake up in the middle of the night to eat supid amounts off food!

One day at a time right? In 24hours I ll be back to tell you how my first 24hours were!

Good Luck for everyone and God Bless us all

Here are a couple of posts with some thoughts on early abstinence and recovery. They are adapted from answers given by various Outreach Members in FAA's Online Support to newcomers to FAA. If you have any questions about getting abstinent, staying abstinent, or working the FAA program of recovery, please either reply to this post or start a new thread with the question. Welcome to FAA!
"
Congratulations on three days of abstinence from sugar! You didn't mention flour or wheat, but in FAA we learned that as food addicts we have an addictive response to any form at all of any of these things. By following the suggested FAA food plan, s/f/w is removed from our diets completely. We also consult the list called 99 Names of Sugar to make sure we're not ingesting anything (sugar/flour/wheat) that acts as sugar in the food addict's body. An example of this would be, although it's only an herb for tea, licorice root. It is on the list because the body of a food addict simply can't handle it."

"The best way to stay focused is to start applying the recovery slogan One Day at a Time. Just for today, I can take care of myself. I can prepare my abstinent food and eat it according to the time schedule I learned about in the Guide to Abstinence. (The Guide to Abstinence is where the FAA food plan is and the information in the Guide supplements the food plan. It has lots of tips and also has the list of sugar/flour/wheat. To see it, follow this link):

http://www.foodaddictsanonymous.org/faa-food-plan

Just for today, I can do some recovery actions. (There is a whole list of Tools for Recovery on pps 287-290 of the FAA Green Book.) Just for today, I choose abstinence from s/f/w over the insanity of active food addiction. Just for today, I don't look for a way out, thinking I can always come back. There are no guarantees that I can come back after a relapse. Just for today, I completely surrender to the idea that I am powerless over s/f/w and that because of that, my life had become unmanageable. Just for today, I will not eat sugar, flour or wheat in any form. Just for today.

If you have not received your literature yet, there are some writings on the literature in two of the other forums here in Online Support that you can read for inspiration. The forums are FAA's 12 Steps and FAA Literature (links below). Also here is a link for the area in the FAA Store that has literature specifically for newcomers."

http://www.foodaddictsanonymous.org/...FAA-s-12-STEPS

http://www.foodaddictsanonymous.org/...re-Discussions

http://www.foodaddictsanonymous.org/catalog/4

Best wishes, and keep coming back!

[step3]

Hello Everyone! Just want to thank everyone who makes this forum existis. I realized long time ago that I am addicted to food, but never took action really to solve this serious condition I have.

I suffer so much that I wake up in the middle of the night to eat supid amounts off food!

One day at a time right? In 24hours I ll be back to tell you how my first 24hours were!

Good Luck for everyone and God Bless us all

Welcome, Livre!

Your post made me remember back to when I used to wake up in the middle of the night and binge. The times that I remember most clearly (although it happened all the time) was a period I went through when I would eat a whole bag (24 of them) Reese's Peanut Butter Cups every single night. And I couldn't stop what I was doing.

Surrendering to the fact that I have food addiction and that I cannot eat sugar, flour, or wheat like "normal" people can was what I needed to get abstinent. Not only did I have to admit that I was powerless over my food addiction and that my life had become unmanageable (as it says in Step One) but I also had to accept that fact. But I don't have to be abstinent "for the rest of my life" - in fact, the idea of not having s/f/w ever again was overwhelming when I first came to FAA. But I could follow the food plan, call my sponsor, go to a phone meeting, etc. one day at a time. THAT, I could manage! And if a whole day is ever too much, it's always a good idea to break it down even further. Whatever it takes, Livre.... just know that this journey is well worth while.

Best wishes to you. Please let us know how you're doing as you start out. Sharing will help you and it will help others too.

I'm glad you're here, Livre.

step3