Overeaters Anonymous
Overeaters Anonymous (OA) is a twelve-step recovery program designed to assist individuals struggling with compulsive overeating. Founded in 1960, OA was inspired by the principles of Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) and aims to help members recognize their "powerlessness over food" and the unmanageability of their lives due to their eating behaviors. Unlike traditional dieting programs, OA emphasizes inner transformation and the development of personal eating plans that avoid specific trigger foods, which often include ingredients like sugar and wheat.
The program is structured around twelve steps, twelve traditions, and nine tools of recovery, guiding members through their journey to recovery. Key aspects include regular support through meetings, the use of sponsors for guidance, and the importance of writing and introspection. OA is a network of around 60,000 members across more than seventy-five countries, offering a community for sharing experiences, strength, and hope. Members often report significant weight loss as a byproduct of working the program, which focuses on holistic well-being encompassing physical, mental, and spiritual health. Accessibility has increased with technology, allowing more individuals to engage with OA resources and meetings.
Overeaters Anonymous
DEFINITION: Overeaters Anonymous (OA) is a twelve-step recovery program based on the methods and philosophy of Alcoholics Anonymous. OA members profess to be “powerless over food” and that their “lives have become unmanageable.” The purpose of the group is not to promote weight loss and dieting but to support inner changes and daily actions that remove the feeling that one must consume excess and addictive foods.
DATE: 1960
Background
Overeaters Anonymous (OA) was founded by Rozanne S., Jo S., and Bernice S. in 1960 after Rozanne had attended a Gamblers Anonymous (GA) meeting to support a friend. Rozanne discovered that the members’ stories of compulsive gambling mirrored her own story of compulsive overeating. She recognized that the twelve steps and twelve traditions of recovery that were the foundation of Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) and adopted by GA could be applied to recovery from compulsive overeating.
The OA program is based on twelve steps, twelve traditions, and nine Tools of Recovery. The twelve steps are almost identical to those of AA. In AA literature, the word alcohol can be replaced with trigger food, and the word drinking can be replaced with compulsive overeating to make the principles applicable to OA members. However, an important distinction between the two groups is that although AA members can abstain from all alcohol, OA members cannot abstain from all food.
Persons who wish to disengage from compulsive overeating must identify and refrain from ingesting specific food ingredients that trigger the compulsion. The most common trigger foods are wheat and sugar. In addition, compulsive overeating may be triggered by compulsive food behaviors, such as the need to empty a package of food or the need to finish food on a plate rather than leaving a portion or discarding food. In 2024, OA defined abstinence as “the action of refraining from compulsive eating and compulsive food behaviors while working towards or maintaining a healthy body weight.”
The twelve traditions, nearly identical to those of AA, are guidelines for conducting meetings and sustaining the principles of the organization. Each of the twelve traditions has a related spiritual principle: unity, trust, identity, autonomy, purpose, solidarity, responsibility, fellowship, structure, neutrality, anonymity, and spirituality.
By using the nine Tools of Recovery, members are better able to achieve and maintain abstinence from compulsive overeating. The first tool is a plan of eating. (OA does not promote a specific dietary plan but encourages members to develop a personal eating plan after consulting a physician or dietitian and identifying trigger foods to avoid.) The second tool is sponsorship. A sponsor is an experienced OA member who helps a new member understand and work the twelve steps. The third tool is the OA meeting, which provides regular support from other OA members and helps members overcome the isolation and shame that impede recovery.
The fourth tool of recovery is the telephone. Members are encouraged to ask for help from one another, especially when emotions are overwhelming. In the twenty-first century, this tool can also include reaching out over email, direct messaging, or texting. The fifth tool is writing to examine one’s reactions to difficult situations and discover alternative coping mechanisms. The sixth tool is literature, particularly the publications of OA and the Big Book of AA. Such reading material provides insight into the nature and consequences of compulsive overeating and provides hope for recovery.
The seventh tool is creating an action plan that allows individuals to lay out their strategy for overcoming compulsive overeating. The eighth tool is anonymity, which protects members from gossip as they express their pain and struggles and assert equality. The ninth tool is service. Members are asked to sustain the organization by welcoming new members, setting up and cleaning up meeting rooms, and sharing news of upcoming OA events.
OA is a nonprofit organization. All funding comes from the sale of OA literature and voluntary contributions collected at meetings. The program has not changed over time. The demographics of its members have changed only as a reflection of trends in the general population. In the twenty-first century, more participants have college degrees, more work full-time, and more are divorced. The Internet and the availability to access OA meetings and materials online has allowed for increased access to the program.
Mission and Goals
The official preamble of OA states that “Overeaters Anonymous is a Fellowship of individuals who, through shared experience, strength, and hope, are recovering from compulsive overeating.” OA has an estimated 60,000 members in over seventy-five countries, with 6,500 weekly group meetings.
Although OA does not focus on diet and calorie counting, members of OA experience an average weight loss of between 40 and 99 pounds due to working the program. Like other twelve-step programs, OA seeks to improve the physical, mental, and spiritual facets of the lives of its members.
Specific OA practices have a demonstrated significant relationship with the maintenance of abstinence from foods that trigger compulsive overeating: weighing and measuring foods on a deliberate food plan; regular communication with other OA members, specifically a sponsor; spending time in introspection; writing as a form of personal expression and investigation; attending OA meetings regularly; reading OA literature for inspiration; and working the steps, particularly the fourth and ninth steps. Abstinence and spirituality were strongly correlated with self-reported success.
Bibliography
Alcoholics Anonymous. Alcoholics Anonymous Big Book. 4th ed., New York: Author, 2007.
Costin, Carolyn. The Eating Disorder Sourcebook. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2006.
"FAQs." Overeaters Anonymous, oa.org/faqs/categories/general-information. Accessed 20 Aug. 2024.
Felton, Amber. “What Is Overeaters Anonymous?” WebMD, 24 Aug. 2022, www.webmd.com/mental-health/addiction/what-is-overeaters-anonymous. Accessed 20 Aug. 2024.
Overeaters Anonymous. For Today. Torrance, CA: Author, 1982.
"Working the Program." Overeaters Anonymous, oa.org/working-the-program. Accessed 20 Aug. 2024.