About Us
Overeaters Anonymous is a fellowship of men and women from all walks of life who meet in order to help solve a common problem - compulsive overeating, which includes obesity, anorexia and bulimia. The only requirement for membership is a desire to stop eating compulsively. OA is a non-profit, international organization with approximately 8,500 meeting groups in over 50 countries throughout the world. Patterned after the Twelve-Step Alcoholics Anonymous program, the OA recovery program addresses physical, emotional and spiritual recovery aspects of compulsive overeating.
OA is not a diet club, and makes no claims for weight loss. Each OA member should consult a qualified professional for their individual diet/nutrition plan, as any medically-approved plan of eating is acceptable. By admitting inability to control our compulsive overeating and abandoning the idea that all one needs to be able to eat normally is "a little willpower," it becomes possible to abstain from overeating - one day at a time. OA offers members support in dealing with the physical and emotional symptoms of compulsive overeating.
Overeaters Anonymous has no dues or fees for membership. It is entirely self-supporting through contributions and sale of publications. Most groups "pass the basket" at meetings to cover expenses. OA does not solicit or accept outside contributions.
The Twelve Steps
The Twelve Steps are the heart of the OA recovery program. They offer a new way of life that enables the compulsive overeater to live without the need for excess food. The ideas expressed in the Twelve Steps, which originated in Alcoholics Anonymous, reflect practical experience and application of spiritual insights recorded by thinkers throughout the ages. Their greatest importance lies in the fact that they work! They enable compulsive overeaters and millions of other Twelve-Steppers to lead happy, productive lives. They represent the foundation upon which OA is built.
The Twelve Traditions
In working Overeaters Anonymous' The Twelve Traditions are the means by which OA remains unified in a common cause. These Twelve Traditions are to the groups what the Twelve Steps are to the individual. They are suggested principles to ensure the survival and growth of the many groups that compose Overeaters Anonymous. Like the Twelve Steps, the Twelve Traditions have their origins in Alcoholics Anonymous. These Traditions describe attitudes which those early members believed were important to group survival.
The Twelve Concepts
In Overeaters Anonymous, the Twelve Steps serve as the spiritual principles that support our personal recovery from compulsive overeating. The Twelve Traditions aid us, individually and collectively, in maintaining unity of purpose within the Fellowship. The Twelve Concepts of OA Service, adopted by the World Service Business Conference (WSBC) in 1994, help us apply the Steps and Traditions in our service work, which is an important part of the OA program. The Concepts define and guide the practices of the service structures that conduct the business of OA. These Concepts depict the chain of delegated responsibility we use to provide service throughout the world. Although they focus on OA world services, the Concepts direct all OA's trusted servants to well-considered actions for group participation, decision making, voting and the expression of minority opinions. The Twelve Concepts support our primary purpose of carrying OA's message of recovery to the still-suffering compulsive overeater.
The Tools
In working Overeaters Anonymous' Twelve-Step program of recovery from compulsive overeating, we have found a number of tools to assist us. We use these tools regularly to help us achieve and maintain abstinence. In Overeaters Anonymous (OA), abstinence is "the action of refraining from compulsive eating." Many of us have found that we cannot abstain from compulsive eating unless we use some or all of OA's tools of recovery.
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