The
12 Steps
We suggest working through the 12 Steps using The FAA Steps to Recovery (a booklet which can be ordered using our Literature Order Form on our
Literature page). Working the 12 Steps assists us in our recovery in several ways. The Step book contains a detailed list of questions that help us identify and acknowledge the depth our problem with food and our powerlessness to deal with the situation based on our willpower alone. Having this knowledge about physical addiction to sugar, flour and wheat gives us hope-for the first time in our lives-that we can indeed be relieved of the physical cravings that have compelled us to perpetuate our devastating eating behavior-seemingly against our will. As we continue to work through the Steps, we come to know a Power greater than ourselves that can and will assist us in developing a manner of living that will expel the obsession with food.
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We
admitted we were powerless over our food addiction - that our
lives had become unmanageable.
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Came
to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to
sanity.
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Made
a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God
as we understood God.
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Made
a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.
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Admitted
to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature
of our wrongs.
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Were
entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character.
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Humbly
asked God to remove our shortcomings.
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Made
a list of all persons we had harmed and became willing to make
amends to them all.
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Made
direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do
so would injure them or others.
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Continued
to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly
admitted it.
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Sought
through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact
with God as we understood God, praying only for knowledge of God's
will for us and the power to carry that out.
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Having
had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, we tried
to carry this message to food addicts, and to practice these
principles in all our affairs.
The
Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions reprinted and adapted with permission
of Alcoholics Anonymous® World Services, Inc. |
FAA Definition
of Abstinence
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.
The
Serenity Prayer
 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.
The FAA 7th Step Prayer
God, help me listen to my Higher Self as You and I make the changes in my life that will allow me to live a free, useful, and happy life. Help me not to find fault with all that I do and with those who cross my path. As I continue to stay abstinent, help me be released from the cravings for foods that are not in my best interest. Help me learn that food is to nourish my body so my spirit can carry out your plans for me. Help me be compassionate, trusting, forgiving, loving and kind to myself and others as I serve you and the people on earth. Amen.
(from FAA's The Steps to
Recovery, 1992)
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