Freedom from compulsion

[Abinsten08]

I started with Faa last September and I had known I was a food addict for a couple of years before that but didn't know there was a solution. When I heard I would have to give up even just sugar I felt that would be a very big step as I loved sugary foods and felt they gave me energy, but I also knew I felt tired and sluggish a lot of the time as well. So I gradually over a couple of weeks began following the food plan. It took a while to learn exactly what I was supposed to be doing. I went through a withdrawal but i just decided there was no point in doing things by halves and I used my willpower to put up with the bad feelings that came myh way. Sometimes I asked my higher power to take those feelings away and just knowing he was taking care of things helped me to relax and find serenity. After a while I realised that I no longer had the cravings I had. I reinforced this by picturing a skull and crossbones every time I saw sweet foods and I told my mother I was glad that I no longer had to eat that kind of food. She repeated this to my sister and that made me feel happy. I don't have to go down those roads anymore. I still have to work at handing over my difficulties to my higher power and to let him sort out things from my past that I found so difficult to understand. I have to let those things go because they only upset my peace of mind and there is no future in brooding over the past. I ask God to remind me not to overeat and I find I will always pause before eating anything and aske myself do I really want it. Its easier to say no now that i am abstinent. I have lost 30 pounds and am hoping to lose just a little more before i go on the maintenance plan. I would say to any new member put as much as you can into your recovery because yhou only get out what you put in and you will get great help from other members.

[livingsingle]

did reaching out towards your higher power work for you? or do you have a sponsor now? i feel you on sugar being your favorite thing to eat. my mom told me to quit drinking pop or soda and to stop eating sugar. once i stopped eating sugar for a week i felt sick. so i started eating more sugar and got even sicker. i eat large amounts of sugar per day and i drink a lot of water. i also crave salt and eat a lot of sunflower seeds with the shells. do you ever feel like you eat too much sugar to where it makes you sick?

[chicko3x]

Your story is very inspirational! Sugar food definitely made me feel badly as well, but when I was on them, i never thought I would have any energy without that sugar rush! Well I am so thankful that in reality, cutting out sugar makes us feel great! Thanks for the share.

[Abinsten08]

did reaching out towards your higher power work for you? or do you have a sponsor now? i feel you on sugar being your favorite thing to eat. my mom told me to quit drinking pop or soda and to stop eating sugar. once i stopped eating sugar for a week i felt sick. so i started eating more sugar and got even sicker. i eat large amounts of sugar per day and i drink a lot of water. i also crave salt and eat a lot of sunflower seeds with the shells. do you ever feel like you eat too much sugar to where it makes you sick?

Yea I agree with a lot of those feelings and i often overate on bars of chocolate, bananas, cakes, buns. I often felt sick but still wanted to eat more. I never had bulimia but used to wish i could get rid of the bulk in my stomach when going to bed so I could sleep. I felt really unhealthy and prayed for a way forward. The big change came when i saw that my eating was getting more out of contol every year and i felt really frightened i would get really overweight and die of diabetes which i felt would all be my own fault. The potential guilt feelings from those ideas were overwhelming and i often wished everything would just stop. I was so relieved to find a meeting of FAA within driving distance from where i live. I have a certain amount of willpower but i was glad to find out that willpower doesn't work with food addiction - only abstinence and God does. Striving to be abstinent was like continually pushing against something tht would alwasys give a bit of a push back but the honest sharing at meetings about how powerful addiction is made me realise it wasn't my own weakness - it was ths strength of addiction that i was up against. I just kept on working at preparing and planning my abstinent food. I was sometimes gentle on myself and let myself have a bit of extra abstinent food but after a while i decided to get stricter about the weighing and measuring. It took about 2 years of going to meetings and reading FAA books and ringing other experienced FAA members. I never had a sponsor but alot of members shared very helpful information about recovery with me. I had to keep believing there was a way forward and there was! Thank heaven for FAA and i would encourage new members if you don't understand something at a meeting get someone s phone no and just ask them because sometimes the honesty can be hard to understand if you haven't heard recovery talk before.