Advice for Newbies!!

1) Go to meetings!!! Lots of them!!! Do 30 meetings in 30 days, or better yet 90 in 90. If going to 5 meetings a day helps......than do that! Whatever it takes!

(Go to the Overeaters Anonymous website at: www.oa.org There you will be able to find meetings in your area. If there aren't any f2f (face to face meetings) go to the online meetings. Great meetings are at: www.therecoverygroup.org they have meetings every 3 hours. Don't forget that you can start meetings yourself. OA has info on how to do that when you are ready. Also, go to open AA meetings too! There is great recovery there.

2) Get a sponsor!! (Again, if there aren't any sponsors available where you are or are none who have what you want, the recovery group above has online sponsors!)

3) Get literature!! Go to the OA website. I particularly reccommend all the pamphlets (they are also very inexpensive and I keep some at work & in my car). Get the OA 12 & 12 and a copy of the AA Big Book to start. Get a subscription to OA's Lifeline magazine (also inexpensive) and better yet order some back issues.

4) Get abstinent!! Come on, you know what your binge foods are!! Are they sugary, fried, fast food, salty, is there no way to have just one? What are the foods you crave?? Bet ya don't crave broccolli! No, I'm not talking about broccoli drowning in cheese or butter. I'm talking about good old green, raw, broccoli. See, never ate 10 bunches of it at a time have ya? Probably not a binge food then. But what about that cheese.....hmmmmmmmmm? See, you know what your binge foods are, write em down & commit to not eating them!! Don't worry if you forget some, you'll find them later! Progress, not perfection!

5) Get real about who you are. You have a problem with food. That doesn't make you a bad person. You're not weak willed either. You just have a problem with food. You might also be tall, short, blonde, brunette, have big or small bones......whatever! The point is, this is not your fault, you are not to blame, NOONE is to blame. It just is. You didn't cause this disease......but you ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR TREATING IT!!

Good luck and write you later,

Love,

Amy