Writing

In Overeaters Anonymous (OA), abstinence is “the action of refraining from compulsive eating and compulsive food behaviors.” Many of us have found that we cannot abstain from compulsive eating unless we use some or all of OA’s eight tools of recovery.

In addition to writing our inventories and the list of people we have harmed, most of us have found that writing has been an indispensable tool for working the Steps. Further, putting our thoughts and feelings down on paper, or describing a troubling incident, helps us to better understand our actions and reactions in a way that is often not revealed to us by simply thinking or talking about them. In the past, compulsive eating was our most common reaction to life. When we put our difficulties down on paper, it becomes easier to see situations more clearly and perhaps better discern any necessary action.