Hello,
I am new to OA online and I am very excited and happy to have found you.
My first meeting was last week and this week it was cancelled. So I really needed to find somewhere to share.
I was a part of OA about 20 years ago and after many years I am back.
My program is focusing on meal planning and recording and portion control and sharing.
I have found another meeting tomorrow night after work so I am very happy about that.
Am looking forward to meeting some of you receiving and giving support.
Bumps

Glad to have you join us. When I need support I sign on here, and people like you help me! I hope you had a good day today and a great meeting tonight. Please let us know how you are doing.

LeAnne

Hi LeAnne,
Thank you for your post.
I had a wonderful OA meeting last night. We each read from the Just for Today Book and the sharing was so helpful. So far I am just using the tools of my food journal and meetings. I hope to get the OA books by next week. One person took my phone number and she will check in with me before the next meeting.
It feels so good to be back.
Bumps ...in the road... that's me)

Hi there,

You're very welcome - I love the name Bumps - especially today - because I sure can feel enough of them on my particular patch of road!
There's a 12 step saying - 'the good news is, when you stop acting out on food, you get your feelings back, the bad news is, when you stop acting out on food, you get your feelings back!!'

All the best in your journey.

Bumps-
Welcome-- it's great to have you here.

Hi and thanks for the warm welcome. Yesterday afternoon was really tough. All of a sudden I am working at my computer and this overwhelming feeling comes over me that I am so hungary, I have to go out and get something to eat, even though I had my lunch and fruit and water. It was horrible. Before OA I would run up to Wendy's or somewhere and get "The Fix" but yesterday, I had to ride it out and it was tough. In the evening our dog Zack became very sick, we took him to the Emergency Room and they kept him overnight and said if we had not brought him in he could have died from dehydration. So... I didn't eat dinner but I was into the crackers and felt really lousy this morning. Zack is fine today and is coming home. I am doing better today too. I hate that feeling of ...NEED TO GET SOMETHING.
Any ideas?

I'm feeling the same at the moment. I'd usually call it 'hunger' but I know its not that - more of an empty feeling. I find that the only thing that helps is distraction - a movie, a book or a bath are things that help me.

Glad to here that Zack is fine and coming home.

You've hit the nail on the head. We eat because we don't like how we feel. Sometimes it's an empty hole feeling that we try to fill with food. Sometimes it's a lonely feeling, and food is our friend. Sometimes it's an anxious feeling, and food distracts our attention from it. Whatever the feeling, we've turned to food to cope.

Program teaches us that we don't have to stuff our feelings with food. We can feel them even when they're uncomfortable. We can look at them and learn to identify what we are feeling and why we are feeling it. We can use program tools to help us get through the hard times when in the past we would have eaten. We learn that the feeling will pass. We learn to accept where we are in the moment, and pray for help and peace with it. In the past we would have ran from the feeling and been angry, defensive, and blamed others for it.

It gets easier. It's not always this hard. As we work the steps we resolve the issues that we have with people, places, and things. We find that we have less and less problems, resentments, fears, or reasons to eat.

For now, work at accepting that the feelings are part of you, and it's okay. You don't have to run from them. Then, use one of the tools: telephone, writing, reading, meetings etc.

Marny, Thank You for those sage words!! You could have been talking to me and I needed to hear that this morning! I think it is easier knowing that I am not alone and the only who feels this way and struggles to keep from using food as a way to avoid life!

Hi Marny, ODAT and Nike,
I am a nurse and this past winter I completed a study project on addiction, specifically drugs. This study demonstrated how a drug replaces the normal seratonin exchange at the nerve site, leaving you needing more and more of the drug to feel high or sedated. I think for me, when I feel anxious, I don't like it and food, esp. carbs calms me down and sedates me for a while, then I want more sugar sooner and then alot more and so on...
But the good news is as you pointed out the feeling goes away and I can recognize it as an addiction, love myself and my body and visualize my neurons as healthy and happy and not drugged with carbs and an elevated blood sugar and sinking insulin level. I think that is part of the addictive physical process the highs and lows of blood sugar.