ONE BITE FELLOWSHIP | Relax Already

Roast Beef

Whole Grain
Bread

Tofu

Sausage Pizza

Onion Rings

Chocolate
Milk Shake

Submarine
Sandwich

Potato Chips

Macaroni & Cheese

Candy Bars

Breadsticks

Cottage
Cheese

Southwestern Omelet

Fried Chicken

Enchiladas

Banana
Cream
Pie

Gravy

Tator Tots

Celery

Green Beans

Pork Chops

Oranges

Sugar Cookies

Lasagna

Tomato Soup

Graham
Crackers

Spinach

Chocolate
Milk

Buttery
Popcorn

Cole Slaw

Vanilla
Ice Cream

Quiche

Mangos

Bean Burritos

Egg Drop
Soup

Turkey
Burgers

Apples

Hot Fudge
Sundaes

"Can You Believe Those Guys Have
Pictures of FOOD On Their Website!?!"

Without apology our website includes several pictures of food. We've done so in order to reinforce a basic belief we have about recovery from food addiction: food isn't our problem -- the problem is our addiction.

Food is going to continue to be EVERYwhere we turn, regardless of what we do or don't do about our addiction. So our recovery should never be dependent on shielding ourselves from food. This doesn't mean that we should go out of our way to sabotage our recovery efforts by purchasing foods that we know can cause us problems. Yet a healthy approach toward recovery should bring about a change from within that helps us overcome both our "food phobia" and our "food obsession", one day and one food at a time.

An OBF member tells the story of how at one Overeaters Anonymous meeting he attended many years ago another member became openly hostile, even verbally abusive, toward him because he mentioned "hot dogs" by name when he shared.

The woman who over-reacted to the mere mention to the name of one of her "binge foods" even went so far as to claim that merely hearing the words "hot dog" she absolutely "had to" stop on the way home from the OA meeting and buy and then overeat multiple packages of hot dogs because the name of the food was mentioned in her presence.

Think about it: If someone mentioned something that you find repulsive (say "dog poop") in your presence, would you HAVE TO go out and EAT SOME of it? Of course not! After all Step One does not state that we are powerless over our elbows.

Hysteria regarding the mere mention -- let alone sight -- of food likely comes from our thin-obsessed, rigid-dieting culture. This same dysfunctional mindset classifies some foods as being "bad", without properly understanding the nature of the addiction, let alone the behavior of the addict.

One need look no father than pages 100 - 101 of the Big Book (Alcoholics Anonymous) to discover that schemes to protect ourselves from food will never ultimately work and are not a substitute from the inner change that is possible when an addict works the 12 Steps, one day at a time.

"Assuming we are spiritually fit, we can do all sorts of things alcoholics are not supposed to do. People have said we must not go where liquor is served; we must not have it in our homes; we must shun friends who drink; we must avoid moving pictures which show drinking scenes; we must not go into bars; our friends must hide their bottles if we go to their houses; we mustn't think or be reminded about alcohol at all.

We meet these conditions every day. An alcoholic who cannot meet them, still has an alcoholic mind; there is something the matter with his spiritual status. His only chance for sobriety would be some place like the Greenland Ice Cap, and even there an Eskimo might turn up with a bottle of scotch and ruin everything! Ask any woman who has sent her husband to distant places on the theory he would escape the alcohol problem.

In our belief any scheme of combating alcoholism which proposes to shield the sick man from temptation is doomed to failure. If the alcoholic tries to shield himself he may succeed for a time, but usually winds up with a bigger explosion than ever. We have tried these methods. These attempts to do the impossible have always failed." -- Alcoholics Anonymous (pages 100 - 101)