Guest guest Posted December 7, 2011 Report Share Posted December 7, 2011 , Namaste indeed! I could really relate to your share having " relapsed " in OA for 13 years. I felt ashamed that I couldn't string together any longish periods of " abstinence. " Every time I kept going to those meetings they made me feel worse instead of better about myself, which is ultimately why I stopped going and have never looked back since going to treatment earlier this year. Today I enjoyed a lovely dessert after lunch and spent 5 minutes savoring it…each bite.... slowly. What a wonderful discovery that I can do this without the guilt for " breaking abstinence " , and without feeling " triggered " to eat more and more. Enjoy the journey! Kerry Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted December 7, 2011 Report Share Posted December 7, 2011 , Namaste indeed! I could really relate to your share having " relapsed " in OA for 13 years. I felt ashamed that I couldn't string together any longish periods of " abstinence. " Every time I kept going to those meetings they made me feel worse instead of better about myself, which is ultimately why I stopped going and have never looked back since going to treatment earlier this year. Today I enjoyed a lovely dessert after lunch and spent 5 minutes savoring it…each bite.... slowly. What a wonderful discovery that I can do this without the guilt for " breaking abstinence " , and without feeling " triggered " to eat more and more. Enjoy the journey! Kerry Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted December 7, 2011 Report Share Posted December 7, 2011 , Namaste indeed! I could really relate to your share having " relapsed " in OA for 13 years. I felt ashamed that I couldn't string together any longish periods of " abstinence. " Every time I kept going to those meetings they made me feel worse instead of better about myself, which is ultimately why I stopped going and have never looked back since going to treatment earlier this year. Today I enjoyed a lovely dessert after lunch and spent 5 minutes savoring it…each bite.... slowly. What a wonderful discovery that I can do this without the guilt for " breaking abstinence " , and without feeling " triggered " to eat more and more. Enjoy the journey! Kerry Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted December 7, 2011 Report Share Posted December 7, 2011 Hear, hear . Very healthy attitude. I had a similar experience on my low-carb boards. The discussion was about how one "conquered" cravings for "forbidden" foods. One guy stated proudly that he had in the past consumed an entire pound of bacon in order to combat his craving for .... wait for it -- an apple. The apple would have put his carb count over his daily allowed limit and he was NOT going to let that happen. I was stunned that he saw this perfectly reasonable, healthy desire as a failing on his part. And people were congratulating him and wishing for his resolve. Wow. I have done similar things and I never want to go back there. Mimi Subject: OA Horror StoriesTo: intuitiveeating_support Date: Wednesday, December 7, 2011, 12:59 PM Gosh, I did the OA thing (largely intermittently for nineteen years)! My turning point, the one which finally got me through the exit for good was a share at a speaker meeting by an "old timer" who had long-term "abstinence". I had seen this woman around the rooms for a couple of years and know that she sponsored many and was for many an iconic "has what I want" sort of figure. This particular morning she talked about the importance of being gentle with one's self (this was the topic) and she proceeded to describe the breakfast she had had the morning before...5 huge bowls of cereal, which she admittedly ate because she was feeling tender (man, I've definitely been there about a million times, haven't we all)! She followed this pronouncement up with a "thank God she hadn't lost her abstinence. The notion of binging on cereal as a grounds for abstinence stunned me. I had been in relapse for years and every morning, when it came time to raise our hands to acknowledge how many "days of abstinence" we had, I felt ashamed of myself...that I couldn't seem to string together more than a couple of weeks or so...this went on for me for 7 years...and here was a woman, binging the same way I was binging...and raising her hand for "over ten years". I walked out of the rooms of OA about three months later and never looked back!The only thing I want to raise my hand to today, is to acknowledge that I am a pilgrim on the road to healing my relationship to body and food and a woman learning how to be a child again and heeding my body signals. Namaste! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted December 7, 2011 Report Share Posted December 7, 2011 Maybe the cereal contained no sugar or white flour and that was why it didn't break her abstinence :-) It bothered me that a lot of people considered themselves abstinent and gratefully recovering by refraining from these two substances even though their weight remained 2 or 3 times what would have been healthy. The groups always said it wasn't about weight loss.And in reality, it isn't, unless it's necessitated by some medical crisis. But if we eat according to what we actually need, then if we are overweight the extra will start to come off. And we will not be fooling ourselves.Ellie To: intuitiveeating_support Sent: Wednesday, December 7, 2011 12:59 PM Subject: OA Horror Stories Gosh, I did the OA thing (largely intermittently for nineteen years)! My turning point, the one which finally got me through the exit for good was a share at a speaker meeting by an "old timer" who had long-term "abstinence". I had seen this woman around the rooms for a couple of years and know that she sponsored many and was for many an iconic "has what I want" sort of figure. This particular morning she talked about the importance of being gentle with one's self (this was the topic) and she proceeded to describe the breakfast she had had the morning before...5 huge bowls of cereal, which she admittedly ate because she was feeling tender (man, I've definitely been there about a million times, haven't we all)! She followed this pronouncement up with a "thank God she hadn't lost her abstinence. The notion of binging on cereal as a grounds for abstinence stunned me. I had been in relapse for years and every morning, when it came time to raise our hands to acknowledge how many "days of abstinence" we had, I felt ashamed of myself...that I couldn't seem to string together more than a couple of weeks or so...this went on for me for 7 years...and here was a woman, binging the same way I was binging...and raising her hand for "over ten years". I walked out of the rooms of OA about three months later and never looked back!The only thing I want to raise my hand to today, is to acknowledge that I am a pilgrim on the road to healing my relationship to body and food and a woman learning how to be a child again and heeding my body signals.Namaste! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted December 7, 2011 Report Share Posted December 7, 2011 Maybe the cereal contained no sugar or white flour and that was why it didn't break her abstinence :-) It bothered me that a lot of people considered themselves abstinent and gratefully recovering by refraining from these two substances even though their weight remained 2 or 3 times what would have been healthy. The groups always said it wasn't about weight loss.And in reality, it isn't, unless it's necessitated by some medical crisis. But if we eat according to what we actually need, then if we are overweight the extra will start to come off. And we will not be fooling ourselves.Ellie To: intuitiveeating_support Sent: Wednesday, December 7, 2011 12:59 PM Subject: OA Horror Stories Gosh, I did the OA thing (largely intermittently for nineteen years)! My turning point, the one which finally got me through the exit for good was a share at a speaker meeting by an "old timer" who had long-term "abstinence". I had seen this woman around the rooms for a couple of years and know that she sponsored many and was for many an iconic "has what I want" sort of figure. This particular morning she talked about the importance of being gentle with one's self (this was the topic) and she proceeded to describe the breakfast she had had the morning before...5 huge bowls of cereal, which she admittedly ate because she was feeling tender (man, I've definitely been there about a million times, haven't we all)! She followed this pronouncement up with a "thank God she hadn't lost her abstinence. The notion of binging on cereal as a grounds for abstinence stunned me. I had been in relapse for years and every morning, when it came time to raise our hands to acknowledge how many "days of abstinence" we had, I felt ashamed of myself...that I couldn't seem to string together more than a couple of weeks or so...this went on for me for 7 years...and here was a woman, binging the same way I was binging...and raising her hand for "over ten years". I walked out of the rooms of OA about three months later and never looked back!The only thing I want to raise my hand to today, is to acknowledge that I am a pilgrim on the road to healing my relationship to body and food and a woman learning how to be a child again and heeding my body signals.Namaste! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted December 7, 2011 Report Share Posted December 7, 2011 Maybe the cereal contained no sugar or white flour and that was why it didn't break her abstinence :-) It bothered me that a lot of people considered themselves abstinent and gratefully recovering by refraining from these two substances even though their weight remained 2 or 3 times what would have been healthy. The groups always said it wasn't about weight loss.And in reality, it isn't, unless it's necessitated by some medical crisis. But if we eat according to what we actually need, then if we are overweight the extra will start to come off. And we will not be fooling ourselves.Ellie To: intuitiveeating_support Sent: Wednesday, December 7, 2011 12:59 PM Subject: OA Horror Stories Gosh, I did the OA thing (largely intermittently for nineteen years)! My turning point, the one which finally got me through the exit for good was a share at a speaker meeting by an "old timer" who had long-term "abstinence". I had seen this woman around the rooms for a couple of years and know that she sponsored many and was for many an iconic "has what I want" sort of figure. This particular morning she talked about the importance of being gentle with one's self (this was the topic) and she proceeded to describe the breakfast she had had the morning before...5 huge bowls of cereal, which she admittedly ate because she was feeling tender (man, I've definitely been there about a million times, haven't we all)! She followed this pronouncement up with a "thank God she hadn't lost her abstinence. The notion of binging on cereal as a grounds for abstinence stunned me. I had been in relapse for years and every morning, when it came time to raise our hands to acknowledge how many "days of abstinence" we had, I felt ashamed of myself...that I couldn't seem to string together more than a couple of weeks or so...this went on for me for 7 years...and here was a woman, binging the same way I was binging...and raising her hand for "over ten years". I walked out of the rooms of OA about three months later and never looked back!The only thing I want to raise my hand to today, is to acknowledge that I am a pilgrim on the road to healing my relationship to body and food and a woman learning how to be a child again and heeding my body signals.Namaste! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You are posting as a guest. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.