There are no dues, fees, or weigh-ins at FA meetings and membership is open to anyone who wants help with food.If you are looking for a community recovery support group, below is a list of resources that can help. The one thing they have in common is that their “obsession with food has kept us from living fulfilling lives”. Through shared experiences and a program based on the Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions of Alcoholics Anonymous, they have come to find a solution. Men and women from different backgrounds and of all ages have joined the international fellowship seeking support and guidance in their quest to recover.
You have nothing to lose.”Ĭarol* and Daniel* have had their names changed for this article.įOOD Addicts in Recovery Anonymous, or FA, is a group of people with one thing in common - an addiction to food.
“You don’t have to do it on your own and you no longer have to eat addictively. “If you’ve struggled and tried everything, come try it out and see if it’s for you. “No one here is an authority, we’ve all walked the same walk. Now I enjoy every day.”Ĭarol’s advice to anyone who felt they may be suffering from food addiction was to “come to a few meetings and keep an open mind”. I thought that one day I would find happiness. “Now I don’t look at food at all for comfort, for answers or for escapism. He said thankfully he found out about FA through a friend and two years later has remained a healthy and stable 74kg. When I’m good I’m great, but when I’m bad I’m ugly.” “That could go on for weeks if I was stressed. I would eat for comfort, for escapism and to not really deal with my problems.”ĭaniel said when he was “very stressed” he would head down to the local 7-Eleven and buy two large packets of potato chips and a block of chocolate and sit in the car and eat it all. And then it became a case of more pressure, more food. “I could eat as much as I wanted but didn’t put on weight. Until then I could eat whatever I wanted. “It was in my 30s that I started having a weight issue. I would go to health retreats to help me lose weight, but it never lasted.”ĭaniel said his biggest problem with food was stress and when he was busy, potato chips and chocolate were his best friends. “I wouldn’t go out because I thought I looked disgusting. Carol bumped into an old friend a few years ago who had been attending FA meetings and couldn’t believe the difference in her.Ĭarol and Daniel have found comfort since being introduced to Food Addicts in Recovery Anonymous. It was a chance meeting that helped turn her life around. “And I would save it for when he (her husband) wasn’t home,” she said. The Elsternwick woman said she had tried everything from diets to spiritual meditation, exercise and diet pills, but nothing was sustainable.Īs well as rinsing her mouth, Carol said she would hide food at the back of cupboards so only she knew where it was. Since then Carol, who stands at about 155cm, has lost more than 30kg.Īt rock bottom Carol weighed 79kg, was spending hundreds of dollars every week on food and was suffering from high cholesterol, migraines, lethargy, irritable bowel syndrome, insomnia and depression, including suicidal thoughts. RUSHING inside to rinse out her mouth before she kissed her husband to hide the smell of food is one of the lowest points in Carol’s* life.įor the past five years the 46-year-old has been regularly attending meetings as part of Food Addicts in Recovery Anonymous (FA).
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