thanks so much for your opinion--LC or OA food plan best for me?

[hani]

gosh, you know sometimes i find this all so hard. there are so many things i dont know--but here is what i do know--

7 years ago i found OA and ate what i was told. i loved my food plan because i felt like a normal person who was allowed to eat big full meals. i felt self-loving and normal and privledged to eat like that. no flour or sugar. lost weight. was hungry between meals. ate 7 oz protein, 2 cups milk, 4 oz of starches, 24 oz of fruit, 5 cups of veggies, and a bit of oil daily. this was the food plan my sponsor gave me.

but taht was then and then i started again with sugar, blahblahblah.

about a year ago i read DANDR and i couldn't believe he knew how i felt (of course i felt that way too reading program material in terms of emotions, but with atkins he seemd to understand what my body did when it got sugar). i lost weight and then found products, and it took me a year to want to try induction again.

now i am off sugar and off sugar alcohols.

i am somewhere between inductiona dn OWL. to stay in ketosis, i find i must almost completely cut out veggies. i do drink coffee. i do fitday and add up everything and eat about 20-25 gross carbs to stay in ketosis. i feel great, usually no cravings, no horrible hunger pangs, no shakey weirds from my blood sugar falling.

BUT, i miss the veggies, and i really miss fruit. of course i like all the cheese and cream and other allowable "goodies" that in the past i hadn't been able to eat and lose weight.

i keep thinking i am not losing fast enuf, esp if i eat more veggies, like i do on weekends. then i think i really want some fruit, now in summer. but that is what i did last year, and basically went to maintencance for ayear. then i think i don't want to mess up feeling so good. then i get mad at myself and feel bad, and feel sad that i can't have a tomato. thne i think i might be screwing up everything to go back to old OA foodplan. then i think if i tweaked my OA foodplan, cut out the starches to allow more X, maybe it would work. but if that X is more fat/cream/cheese, i think i would be having too many calories. and anyway isn't it the ketosis that is letting me burn that fat? so i sit here sometimes too afraid to move, and tho not hungry usually and happy most of the time, still wishing i could eat more.

so since i think you all must understand me emotionally and in terms of the food/chemically, what do you think???

[MaryMary]

Hani, Thanks for sharing the struggle you are having right now. OA as far as I know doesn't endorse any specific food plan. You can adapt whichever food plan works best for you. OA (the 12 step approach) is about putting down the food (whichever triggers your compulsive overeating). We are each different. I did Atkins for nearly three years before I was able to admit that I was a compulsive overeater. I also have to abstain from sugars, sugar alcohols, alcohol and grains. I have identified some foods I am allergic to because they cause negative responses in my body like coffee, caffeine, chocolate and aspartame. I can't chew gum without chewing it compulsively (will go through a pack, one stick after another) so I stay away from it. If you are thinking of doing OA, please go to the meetings, get a sponsor and work with the sponsor to find a way to put down the food that reinforces you to eat compulsively. For me, I found I ate even healthy foods compulsively and today I weigh and measure my meals. I eat only 3 times a day because I have no medical condition that warrants me eating more than that. Today, the disease of compulsive overeating is in remission one day at a time. As I gain a comfort level with weighing and measuring my food, I find I am more willing to begin the journey of working the steps.

Can you identify the foods that trigger compulsive overeating in your life? Why are they triggers? And what happens when you eat them? Are you willing to go to any length to remove these items from your food plan? If you are not willing, are you willing to pray for the willingness to be willing?

[MaryMary]

Hani,

I just remembered that GSA also has meetings in Israel. GSA stands for GreySheeters Anonymous. They have face to face meetings as well as phone bridge (USA) meetings. The phone bridge meetings are seven days a week, at 3-4 times a day. People call into these meetings from around the world. I have heard people from New Zealand, England, Belgium, and Taiwan. Best wishes in your journey.

[hani]

mary, your pix and stats are so inspiring!

i am not sure i how i feel about the willingness. i loooove OA, identify with it, think of myself as a compulsive overeater and food addict for sure. but sometimes i get all caught up in the rules.
nevertheless, can you tell me about the graysheet? Is it like a HOW foodplan?

i appreciate your writing and i am thinking about what you said.

[MaryMary]

Hani

In the 12 steps the solution to finding recovery from compulsive overeating is in building a personal relationship with your Higher Power. Putting down the food is to clear the head so you can work the steps.

In GSA, everyone follows the same food plan, the Cambridge Greysheet. In OA, everyone is possibly on a different food plan. Otherwise they work on the same 12 steps.

There are no rules in the 12 steps, merely suggestions. You take what you like and leave the rest. The only "must" that I read about the in Big Book of AA is to believe that you have a physical allergy to substances that cause uncontrollable cravings that lead to chaos and insanity. Identifying the substances that you have a physical allergy to is your responsibility. You might follow the food plan of your sponsor in an effort to see if you both have similary allergies. Otherwise, everything else is a suggestion. The only requirement for 12 step membership is a desire to stop eating compulsively.

My sponsor and I are both physically allergic to sugars and flours, sugar alcohols and alcohols, but I am also allergic to grains, coffee, caffeine, chocolate and aspartame. Some are allergic to artificial sweeteners, but I can use splenda. Maybe you would start by doing an inventory of the foods you eat and what happens to you when you eat them. Do they lead you to eat more food or in a compulsive manner?

I don't know what the HOW food plan is, so don't know if it is similar.

[loves2sing]

Originally posted by hani
i am not sure i how i feel about the willingness. i loooove OA, identify with it, think of myself as a compulsive overeater and food addict for sure. but sometimes i get all caught up in the rules.
nevertheless, can you tell me about the graysheet? Is it like a HOW foodplan?

Hi, Hani.

I am in HOW-OA here in Northern California. We have a plan of eating. I've been told it is almost identical to the graysheet.

The plan calls for 3 weighed and measured meals a day, nothing in between except water or coffee or diet soda.

For me, the "rules" are important. They provide a safe structure.

When I was trying to make decisions about food for myself, I spent so much time and energy thinking about those decisions that it was an obsession - and even then I wasn't successful in following the decisions I had made.

For me, going along with the "rules" is my way of surrendering my food, of turning my food decisions over to God. Then I am free to live all the rest of my life.

As MaryMary wrote, the 12 Step work is an essential part of HOW-OA. That's the pathway to getting my self and my life into right relationship with God.

Surrendering my food clears my mind and opens me up to be able to do the real work of recovery - the Steps.

I couldn't do it without the structure of the "rules." I tried so many times, but the compulsive and obsessive disease was always too much for me on my own.

Best of luck to you.
Cindy

[hani]

thank s so much for writing. tho i followed the foodplan for about 6 months, i never got psat step 3. guess i wasn't ready. in my heart i know i am a compulsive overeater and food addicted. no doubt. eating on atkins woe has helped to remoove alot of the trigger foods, cravings etc. i do feel much better, esp the last 7 weeks without products.

i am a road, a journey, i guess.tahnks again; you both really helped me see how HP, putting the food down "works".
hani

[nutycoocoo]

wow Mary your pictures tells the story. how awesome. my name is Karen and i am 46, i have lost a lot 60/65 pounds on atkins. now learning through OA i have found what my trigger foods are. sugar number one. i stay absatince from sugar for two mother how ever other foods i found i need to stay away from. i am right no in relaspe. i belive my best bet is low carbs, and carbs as i lower my lose weight. there so many strachy carbs give me a fit the same as sugar. right now i am 297-300 i feel awful. i also isolate and suffer from depression. . Mary your picture and story are such proff we can do this. . hugs, karen

[MaryMary]

That was an old post of mine - back in 2004.

I have continued to do the Cambridge Greysheet, but my current sponsor came from OA-HOW and led me through the 500+ questions from HOW as a way of working the steps for the first 18 months. I liked the way that it was one day at a time.

I continue to weigh & measure my food, call it into my GS sponsor daily, write it down daily and don't eat between meals no matter what. Today I would have to agree with love2sing (Cindy). There are certain "rules" that I follow as a way of experiencing freedom from the mental obsession of compulsive overeating. Although they are presented as suggestions in the Big Book, they are critical suggestions that mean life or death for me. Critical means to me that if I don't use them, I most certainly return to the life of thinking of food all the time and bingeing my brains out after the first bite.

If you are interested in listening to one of our phone bridge meetings, let me know and I'll hook you up.

[nutycoocoo]

thank you for replying. i dont know that much about the green sheet plan. i do know it is 3 meals nothing in between. yes i would like to listen to one of the gray sheet meetings. i never done a phone meeting. again your story is such a blessing to share. hugs, karen

[bilsan]

I personally like LC . I do quite well on my own food plan of LC varieties . I am learning certain items are a trigger for me . I do not do well with blackberries . Blueberries and raspberries are ok lol . I eat one blackberry and I eat em all lol . Ya know the story . I am nearly off sugar . I say mostly because I still mess up , like yesterday . A planned eat . You can have veggies on LC . Just not all ya want . I used to use the excuse I can not have this or that , whatever . I finally looked at what I would eat if I were back completely out of control and believe me veggies and fruit were not my priorites . More like sugar and chip type stuff and sandwiches . I did get my fries in so there was my vegs and my fruits were in a pie lol . So I am ok with my salads and I love califlower , broccili , cabbage ect . I personally love LC . Once I get back 20 lbs then I can have fun this summer with my garden food and some cantelopes yummmm . Good luck . Sandy