Article - Patriot Ledger - "Eating Meetings"

[MaryMary]

http://ledger.southofboston.com/arti...ife/life01.txt

[size=medium]EATING MEETINGS: [/size]Group helps compulsive eaters change habits, raise esteem and maybe even lose weight

By MICHELLE APUZZIO
For The Patriot Ledger

Thirty people - primarily white, middle-aged women from as far north as Braintree and as far south as Nantucket - filed into a basement conference room at Jordan Hospital in Plymouth to attend the weekly Overeaters Anonymous, or OA, meeting. Some were overweight, and a few were obese. The majority looked fit and healthy, however.

Sid, a polished 65-year-old clad in a dark tailored suit, presided over the meeting in which all speakers admitted to being a ‘‘food addict'' or ‘‘compulsive overeater,'' and were addressed by first name only. For 90 minutes, the room was alive with stories of success, tales of failure, and an overwhelming sense of support and trust. What sets this group apart from standard diet plans on the market - aside from a policy of no dues, no fees, and no weigh-ins - is that the emphasis lies not on food, but on the reasons people eat.

Seven thousand weekly meetings worldwide help food addicts and compulsive overeaters recover through a 12-step program modeled closely after Alcoholics Anonymous' plan. OA groups meet worldwide, some in places you might not expect - Zimbabwe, Iceland, United Arab Emirates, and Slovenia, to name a few. Eastern Massachusetts is one of the most concentrated areas. Sid said, ‘‘You can go to three meetings seven days a week inside the 128 belt if you wanted.''

Mark joined OA in 1992 after a 20-year bout with compulsive eating. He had tried everything, including hypnotism, to lose weight. At times, he was successful, but the weight, and then some, came back. Since becoming an OA member, he has lost, and kept off, 100 pounds. For Mark, it's not just what he eats. It's the how, when, and where.

‘‘Sometimes it's safe for me to eat something; sometimes it's not, depending on where my emotions are,'' he said. Members also become aware of how their surroundings impact them. ‘‘I no longer eat in front of the television or standing up in the kitchen,'' Mark said.

In the beginning, participants are encouraged to meet with a nutrition professional to craft a food plan that helps the person achieve abstinence from compulsive overeating. Several members who shared their food plans were restricting their intakes of flour and sugar, which lent some credence to the now-popular low-carb craze. Mark said, ‘‘Some people have an allergic reaction to foods which causes them to crave more of that food once they start eating it.'' OA members neither endorse nor disparage any particular commercial diet plan, but one member said, ‘‘I'm skeptical of any diet plan that avoids entire food groups.''

OA also suggests that members complete inventories that examine how they live their lives. According to Martha, ‘‘Abstinence is not recovery. I need to work in other areas to have a happy and useful life.'' Martha, a fit and healthy young woman, at an average weight for her frame, admitted, ‘‘Although my weight was only 20 pounds more than my current weight, I was exercising compulsively. I would get up every morning to exercise on a treadmill because I hated my body.''

Compulsive behavior in other aspects of life was a common thread among many in the group. With a history of yo-yo dieting, Karla only followed a food plan when she started OA. ‘‘Then I realized that it had to be a life change. It wasn't just about the food.'' Karla said, ‘‘I'm obsessive-compulsive, and that means everything, not just food. I would tend do overdo it on things like gardening and painting. It made me realize when I go into a store and I'm about to buy 4,000 little jars of paint that I already have them at home and I don't need them.''

The bonds of trust are strong in this group. What happens in the room stays in the room. In the early 1990s, Sue's brother was dying of AIDS. It was a time when people didn't talk about it, and the only place she felt she could share her feelings was with other OA members. She said, ‘‘It gave me a place to talk about it, so I didn't have to eat about it.''

‘‘Many programs do pieces of what we do, but the key is the support system, not the food plan,'' said Sid. The support system extends beyond meetings, and members are encouraged to avoid isolation by using the telephone to reach out to their sponsors. Karen said, ‘‘I really need to connect to other people, especially between meetings.'' On a recent vacation to Florida, she was confronted with endless buffets when she dined out with her parents. Instead of giving in to the pressure, she phoned another OA member to find a meeting in Florida.

Karen, an OA member for six years, believed her success gave her the courage to try new experiences in life. She lost 100 pounds in 17 months, and has kept it off for five years. She said, ‘‘When I turned 40, I went to a nude beach. It was a moment of total acceptance of my body, and it was very spiritual. Now I go on roller-coasters and I've ridden a motorcycle. I look at life very differently now.'' Having tried many other diets before coming to OA, she added, ‘‘They're temporary unless you change what's going on in your head. This gave me back my life.''

For more information, or to find a meeting near you, visit www.oa.org or call 877-317-2111. The Jordan Hospital group meets Sundays from 10 a.m. to noon.

Together we lose

Sid, 65, was addicted to food, cigarettes, and gambling until a heart attack at age 43 forced him to give up the last two.

‘‘Growing up, my family was big into food. I always cleaned my plate, and I couldn't say no to flour or sugar,'' he said. At age 17, already a gambler and smoker, he had to wait more than a month for his Army uniform because they didn't have pants that fit him.

‘‘I couldn't eat supper because they wouldn't let you into the dining hall if you couldn't do a chin-up,'' Sid said.

After five weeks of basic training and skipping supper, the pants were too big when they arrived. ‘‘I didn't realize I was thin because I never knew anything but being fat. But when I left the Army after three years, I went home where my addictions were waiting for me. I took a job cooking hamburgers and eating my mistakes.''

Five years after his heart attack, his wife said, ‘‘I went to a (Overeaters Anonymous) meeting today, and we're both going tomorrow.'' Sid recalled, ‘‘I was a tough sell, but I couldn't say no to her. We went out of desperation.'' OA gave Sid the power to change his habits, including watching his intake of certain foods. When asked about an allergic reaction to flour and sugar, he replied, ‘‘Yes I'm allergic to them. Every time I eat them I break out in fat.''

Seventeen years ago before their first OA meeting, Sid and his wife weighed a combined 560 pounds. Today they are about 335 pounds together. ‘‘Everyone who's willing to do it becomes successful, one day at a time,'' Sid said.

Copyright 2004 The Patriot Ledger
Transmitted Tuesday, February 24, 2004

[doodles]

Thanks for sharing this Mary.