At war with the fridge Just like alcoholics, the members of this organization are fighting an addiction -- but against food Carol Joseph, Citizen Correspondent Friday, January 13, 2012
Editorʼs note: Food Addicts in Recovery Anonymous asks that its members not be publicly identified. This story identifies them only by first names. Gloria had a lot of reasons for eating. None of which involved basic sustenance. “I was sexually abused by my grandfather,” admits the soft-spoken woman who looks like your typical, sweet grandmother. She was raped at the age of 11 and sent away to a strict private school that wouldnʼt let her go home unless she passed her classes. Because of her dyslexia, she didnʼt pass, and didnʼt get to go home. So she ate. Before her high school graduation, Gloriaʼs parents put her on diet pills and bribed her with the promise of a new car if she lost 20 pounds. She lost 18 pounds and never got the car. So she kept eating. As she got older, her life was filled with sexual dysfunction and promiscuity
because of the molestation by her grandfather. She eventually got pregnant and her father arranged for her to have an abortion. “I never told anybody anything,” she confessed to a group of about 25 people gathered at the Community Congregational Church in Naples one Monday night. “I just ate.” The group nodded sympathetically, not just because they felt sorry for Gloria, but because they could relate to her. Gloria and the group she was addressing are all recovering food addicts gathered for one of their weekly meetings of Food Addicts in Recovery Anonymous (FA). FA is an international fellowship of men and women that help people deal with all forms of food addiction, including obesity, anorexia, bulimia and obsession with food. The program, based on the 12 steps and traditions of Alcoholics Anonymous, helps people understand their reasons for eating so they can abstain from addictive eating. Her weight climbed to 330 pounds before Gloria finally found FA, and the perfect sponsor. “I told her everything I had done in my past and she still loved me,” Gloria says emotionally. “It was remarkable.” Unlike Gloria, Diane had nothing traumatic in her childhood that caused her to become a food addict. She just ate a lot. And she ate for the wrong reasons. “When things didnʼt go right, I automatically went to the refrigerator,” says the fit and attractive woman. “I realized I was a food addict when food was controlling me.” Through the FA program, which has no dues, fees or weigh-ins, Diane went from 208 pounds to her current weight of 125. But more importantly, she learned that she was addicted to flour and sugar.
“When I ingest flour and sugar, I am a raging maniac,” she says with brutal honesty. Unlike other programs for people with eating disorders, FA has a strict abstinence policy regarding flour and sugar. Itʼs not allowed. Period. FA also requires members to weigh and measure all their food and doesnʼt allow eating between meals. The abstinence policy has been a blessing for Pat, 70, whoʼs been in the program for four years and has lost 35 pounds. She says the sugar made her crazy and affected more than her weight; it affected her marriage. Daily arguments between her and her husband were the norm before she gave up flour and sugar. Now, after 53 years of marriage, Pat says, “I never thought I would be this happy in my marriage.” Pat explains that the program teaches you about yourself and helps you get in touch with God. “I enjoy life,” she exclaims with great pride. For many members, weight loss seems to be just one of the benefits of Food Addicts in Recovery Anonymous. Wayne, a tall, outgoing man with a good sense of humor, started attending FA meetings after his third trip to the hospital in six months due to complications from obesity. He was on numerous medications for high blood pressure and cholesterol. Wayne lost 92 pounds during his first six months in the program and after 3-1/2 years has been able to eliminate three medications from his routine. “The physical recovery has been unbelievable,” says a still-elated Wayne. He tells the group that he never dreamed that at 66 years old, heʼd be the one doing heavy construction while on a recent mission trip. In addition to reducing his medications, Wayne says for the first time ever, heʼs been able to keep the weight off. He jokes that before FA, he was like an elevator. “The weight went down, but it always went back up.”
Thatʼs a familiar sentiment among many of the members. Another Gloria, this one a petite woman with short dark hair, said she joined the program because her weight was constantly going up and down. She says that the clothes in her closet ranged from size 4 to 1X. “In a one-year span, I wore them all.” Gloria explains that she used to weigh herself daily, then ate to reward herself if the number was good, and to console herself if the number was bad. She entered the program at 175 pounds and two years later maintains a weight of about 120. Best of all, she can wear the same clothes that she wore this time last year. “This program is the gift of my lifetime,” she gushes, referring not just to the weight loss, but all the positive effects it has had on her life. The only problem Gloria sees with FA? “I wish I had found this program decades ago.” --For more information on Food Addicts in Recovery Anonymous or to find a program near you, visit foodaddicts.org, email fa@foodaddicts.org or call Nancy O. at (239) 398-5707 or Mary B. at (216) 870-0653. © 2012 Scripps Newspaper Group — Online