Media Category: New to OA

Statement on Approved Literature

(Business Conference Policy Manual, 2010a [Amended 2012, 2023])

“In accordance with our Traditions, we suggest that OA groups maintain unity and honor our Traditions by using, selling, and displaying only approved books and pamphlets at their meetings. This includes OA Conference- and board-approved literature; AA Conference-approved books, booklets, and all future editions thereof, with original edition copyright 2010 or earlier; and locally produced OA literature. Although groups may choose to focus on only one piece of OA-approved literature, individuals and groups are encouraged to use any and all OA-approved literature. Locally produced literature must be developed according to OA Guidelines for Locally Produced Literature, and should be used with the greatest discretion. Local literature should be considered temporary and discontinued when OA literature approved for general use is available to cover the topic.”

Statement on Literature That Is Not OA-Approved

(Business Conference Policy Manual, 1993b [amended 2010])

“It is the group conscience of the 1993 World Service Business Conference that the sale or display of literature other than OA-approved literature and AA conference-approved literature (as described in WSBC Policy 2010a) is an implied endorsement of outside enterprises, and therefore in violation with Tradition Six.”

To determine whether you have the most recent version of a piece of OA literature, see the OA-Approved Literature List by Copyright Date and compare it to the copyright date on your literature.

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OA Board-approved
©1990… 2018 Overeaters Anonymous, Inc. Rev. 08/2024. All rights reserved.
#570

Overeaters Anonymous, Inc. World Service Office
Location: 6075 Zenith Court NE, Rio Rancho, NM 87144, USA
Mailing address: PO Box 44727, Rio Rancho, NM 87174-4727, USA
Telephone: +1 505-891-2664

Overeaters Anonymous is a Fellowship of individuals who, through shared experience, strength, and hope, are recovering from compulsive overeating.

We welcome everyone who wants to stop eating compulsively. There are no dues or fees for members; we are self-supporting through our own contributions, neither soliciting nor accepting outside donations. OA is not affiliated with any public or private organization, political movement, ideology, or religious doctrine; we take no position on outside issues.

Our primary purpose is to abstain from compulsive eating and compulsive food behaviors and to carry the message of recovery through the Twelve Steps of OA to those who still suffer.

©1984…2013 Overeaters Anonymous, Inc. All rights reserved.Rev. 5/2022

Starting an OA meeting in your area is easy.

The World Service Office is here to support you in your efforts to carry the message of hope and recovery. This form of service will add to your own program of recovery! All you need is a desire to stop eating compulsively and the willingness to start the meeting.

Order the “Starter Kit”, item #730 at US$20 (plus shipping and handling).

It contains items to help get your meeting off to a good start. The kit also includes Where Do I Start? and the Suggested Meeting Format. You will also receive a sampling of our pamphlets. (Note: Your service body may offer these materials for a lower cost.)

Purchase the OA Handbook for Members, Groups, and Service Bodies, item #120 at US$13 (plus shipping and handling).

The OA Handbook will come in handy with ideas for spreading the news in your community about the meeting and as a guide to your group as it grows. The OA Handbook is also available in e-book format. Visit bookstore.oa.org for more information.

Find a meeting space.

Be sure to check out churches, community centers, schools, and libraries, as well as the hospitals. Each group ought to be self supporting, so be sure that your group considers a donation, should the facility you choose not charge you rent. For virtual meetings, there are many audio and video conferencing platforms that offer services for free or at a nominal fee.

Submit the New Group Registration/Change form to the World Service Office.

We suggest you do this as soon as you start your meeting so it can be listed in our Find a Meeting database and people searching for a meeting in your area can find you. Please be sure to keep the World Service Office informed of any changes that occur regarding your meeting. Contact name (first name only) and phone number are important. This is how the newcomer or traveling member gets more information about the meeting. Each meeting must have a contact name and number. If there is no one in your group who wants to be listed as the contact, you can use the intergroup or service board name and number should you choose to affiliate with one.

We strongly suggest that your group affiliate with an intergroup or national service board.

An intergroup/national service board is made up of several groups in a locality or a virtual community. Its purpose is to serve and represent the groups of which they are composed and act as the guardian of the Twelve Steps, Twelve Traditions, and Twelve Concepts of OA Service. Affiliation gives the group access to this support. At some point, your group will need an intergroup/national service board representative to attend the intergroup/national service board meetings and be part of the OA community in your area. The intergroup/national service board can be helpful in supporting your meeting during this initial phase of your development. Please contact the World Service Office if you need assistance in locating an intergroup or national service board.

Check out other meetings!

If there are no OA meetings in your area and you are not very familiar with OA, you might want to consider taking a “field trip” with some other potential members to visit the meetings outside your area that are more established. It can be great fun traveling with a carload of compulsive overeaters and great for your recovery. It is also helpful for the groups that you visit. They may want to return the favor and bring members to your meeting once your group has started.

Get the word out!

A good idea is to investigate the Public Information and Professional Outreach Service Manual in the future. Its focus is on carrying the message in your community and offers several helpful suggestions and examples. It is item #765 and sells for US$20.

You are welcome to contact us at any time at info@oa.org or 1-505-891-2664. Thank you for carrying the message of recovery.

Introduction

“Our way of life, based on these Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, has brought us physical, emotional and spiritual healing that we don’t hesitate to call miraculous. What works for us will work for you too.” —read the full Introduction to the Twelve Steps.

The Twelve Steps of Overeaters Anonymous

1. We admitted we were powerless over food—that our lives had become unmanageable.
2. Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.
3. Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him.
4. Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.
5. Admitted to God, to ourselves and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.
6. Were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character.
7. Humbly asked Him to remove our shortcomings.
8. Made a list of all persons we had harmed, and became willing to make amends to them all.
9. Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.
10. Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong, promptly admitted it.
11. Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God as we understood Him, praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out.
12. Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these Steps, we tried to carry this message to compulsive overeaters and to practice these principles in all our affairs.

Permission to use the Twelve Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous for adaptation granted by AA World Services, Inc.

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Spiritual Principles in the Twelve Steps

A spiritual principle is associated with each of the Twelve Steps.

Listen to these podcasts to learn more:

• The Importance of Working all 12 Steps
• In All Our Affairs
• How and Why does a 12-Step Program Work for Compulsive Eating

For an in-depth study of the Twelve Steps, read The Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions of Overeaters Anonymous, Second Edition available from our bookstore.

As we work the Overeaters Anonymous Twelve Step program of recovery from compulsive eating, we have a number of Tools to assist us. We use these Tools—a plan of eating, sponsorship, meetings, telephone, writing, literature, action plan, anonymity, and service—on a regular basis, to help us achieve and maintain abstinence and recovery from our disease.

A Plan of Eating

As a Tool, a plan of eating helps us abstain from compulsive eating, guides us in our dietary decisions, and defines what, when, how, where, and why we eat. (See the pamphlet A New Plan of Eating for more information.) This Tool helps us deal with the physical aspects of our disease and achieve physical recovery.

Sponsorship

We ask a sponsor to help us through all three levels of our program of recovery: physical, emotional, and spiritual. Find a sponsor who has what you want and ask that person how they are achieving it.

Meetings

Meetings give us an opportunity to identify our common problem, confirm our common solution, and share the gifts we receive through this Twelve Step program. In addition to face-to-face meetings, OA offers telephone and other types of virtual meetings that are useful in breaking through the deadly isolation caused by distance, illness, or physical challenges.

Telephone

Many members call, text, or email their sponsors and other OA members daily. Telephone or electronic contact also provides an immediate outlet for those hard-to-handle highs and lows we may experience.

Writing

Putting our thoughts and feelings down on paper, or describing a troubling or joyous incident, helps us better understand our actions and reactions in a way that is often not revealed by simply thinking or talking about them.

Literature

We read OA-approved literature, which includes numerous books, study guides, pamphlets, wallet cards, and selected Alcoholics Anonymous texts. All this material provides insight into our disease and the experience, strength, and hope that there is a solution for us.

Action Plan

Creating an action plan is the process of identifying and implementing attainable actions to support our individual abstinence and emotional, spiritual, and physical recovery. This Tool, like our plan of eating, may vary widely among members and may need to be adjusted as we progress in our recovery.

Anonymity

Anonymity is the spiritual foundation of all our Traditions, ever reminding us to place principles before personalities (Tradition Twelve). Anonymity assures us that only we, as individual OA members, have the right to make our membership known to others. Anonymity at the level of press, radio, films, television, and other public media of communication means that we never allow our faces or last names to be used once we identify ourselves as OA members (Tradition Eleven). Within the Fellowship, anonymity means that whatever we share with another OA member will be respected and kept confidential. What we hear at meetings should remain there.

Service

Any form of service—no matter how small—that helps reach a fellow sufferer adds to the quality of our own recovery. Members who are new to OA can give service by attending meetings, sharing, and putting away chairs. All members can also give service by putting out literature, welcoming newcomers, hosting a virtual meeting, or doing whatever is needed to help the group. Members who meet specified requirements can give service beyond the group level by serving at the intergroup, service board, region, or world service level.

As OA’s Responsibility Pledge states: “Always to extend the hand and heart of OA to all who share my compulsion; for this I am responsible.”

See the full Tools of Recovery pamphlet for more information.

OA Responsibility Pledge

Always to extend the hand and heart of OA
to all who share my compulsion;
for this I am responsible.

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OA Board-approved
©1989 … 2011 Overeaters Anonymous, Inc. All rights reserved. Rev. 6/2022.
#512

Overeaters Anonymous, Inc. World Service Office
Location: 6075 Zenith Court NE, Rio Rancho, NM 87144, USA
Mailing address: PO Box 44727, Rio Rancho, NM 87174-4727, USA
Telephone: +1 505-891-2664