"You call your sponsor and talk about what you're going to eat, how do you go to the grocery store and not go down every aisle, how do you get through college in the dorms without shoving everything in your face," said Anne, who joined FA 17 years ago. They attend meetings and say the serenity prayer. Program members - about 6,000 worldwide - admit they are powerless over food and believe a higher power can help them. They may eat in secret and eat to blunt their feelings. Many feel they have an obsession with food that interferes with their daily lives. Others are underweight or suffer from eating disorders. Some members come into the program overweight. No snacks or binge foods, which vary by person. Members weigh and measure foods for three meals a day.
Members receive a food plan that cuts out flour and added sugar, which FA believes are the culprits. Other studies show that rats display withdrawal symptoms after being deprived of sugar.įA, a nonprofit based in Massachusetts, spun out of Overeaters Anonymous in the late '90s. The concept of food addiction is controversial, but researchers have found that parts of the brain involved with pleasure and self-control react to certain foods the same way they react to hard drugs. Hannah, who joined nearly 12 years ago, still attends two meetings a week. Members of the group speak to the media on the condition that their anonymity be maintained. Now in her early 60s, her "craziness" over food has ended.įood Addicts in Recovery Anonymous, often called FA, is based on the 12-step program used by Alcoholics Anonymous. Treating her problem as an addiction has helped Hannah lose and keep off 80 pounds.
Even after she recovered, she said, "food was an ordeal." She thought about it too much, and once she started eating, it was hard to stop. Hannah had struggled with bulimia as a young woman.
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