Actions, ideas, and thoughts that may help

• Regarding this document:
  • TAKE WHAT YOU LIKE AND LEAVE THE REST. 
  • I strongly believe that any person with a medical condition should follow his or her healthcare provider’s directions regarding meal planning, food choices, exercise and any other matter regarding her/his health.
  • This is not OA-Conference-Approved literature. It is patched together from the compilation of a fellow OAer who willingly shared his resources  with me, including from  Intergroup websites (Greater NY Metro December 2014, Baton Rouge 2018 blog), as well as from newsletters, OA literature, AA literature, etc. 
  • For simplicity’s sake, reference is made to “compulsive overeating,” but it is intended to also include restricting, purging, over-exercising, etc.

                                                               –  Alicia C.

1. Focus on the meaning of the holiday, not the food. Does the holiday elicit any gratitude in  you? For what? Does the holiday make you appreciate anything? What? Does the holiday bring non-food-related joy to you? Why? You can write about this. You can carry your writing  with you and review it before the meal/event.
2. Focus on the people at a meal/event, not the food. Ask them about themselves. 
3. Write a letter to your HP about any concerns you have about the holiday. Put the letter in your “God Box” if you have one.
4. Talk to your sponsor about your concerns for the holiday.
5. Consider the possibility of not going to an event/meal if it will be too much for you. Pray about it. Perhaps you can show up at an event after the meal. Perhaps you can start new traditions if old ones are painful.
6. Work the program harder—more meetings, more calls, more reading, more praying and meditating.
7. What is the last meeting/workshop you can get to before the meal/event? What is the first meeting/workshop you can get to after the meal/event? Plan to go to these if at all possible.
8. Remember ODAT—One Day at a Time. One hour at a time works. So does one minute at a time.
9. Remember other slogans—such as Keep It Simple, Act as If, Let Go and Let God, Easy Does It, and This, Too, Shall Pass,
10. PRAY—before the meal/event, during the meal/event, after the meal/event—go into a restroom if needed. List gratitude and think about why abstinence is important to you, what it means to you. Say the Serenity Prayer.
11. Before a meal/event, ask yourself what abstinence means to you, why it is important, what happens if you lose it.
12. From page 87 in the Big Book:  “As we go through the day we pause, when agitated or doubtful, and ask for the right thought or action.” Pause, Pray, Proceed.
13. Read a recovery daily reader before a meal/event or copy pages of the readers to carry with you. If you are traveling, bring the readers. Bring copies of “Lifeline”–you can order them on oa.org in the Bookstore for $4 ea.—they are lightweight and small.  . 
14. Read Dec. 10 in “For Today.”
15. You can order wallet and pocket cards form oa.org’s bookstore—found under “Pamphlets.” Keep one or more with you, where you will see it or can easily access it.
16. You can download an MP3 file of “Overeaters Anonymous,” Third edition and listen to it anywhere. Go to oa.org bookstore.  You can also listen to podcasts on oa.org, oacfi.org, or the website of the Los Angeles Area Intergroup.
17. Remember virtual meetings, phone meetings, and non-real-time meetings.
18. Remember OA’s social media outlets:

https://facebook.com/overeatersanonymousofficial
https://www.instagram.com/overeatersanonymous_official
https://youtube.com/@overeatersanonymousofficial
https://vimeo.com/overeatersanonymous

19. Make outreach texts, calls, or emails—they connect you to the program.
20. Watch your expectations (positive and negative)—about the holiday itself, about other people, places, and things. 
21. From a 2018 blog from Baton Rouge Intergroup:  “The ‘PERFECT’ holiday is when love, compassion, patience and understanding take center stage.”
22. None of us is a mind reader. If you need someone to do something, ask them nicely.
23. Say and practice  the Serenity Prayer. Remember you cannot control other people, places, or things. Focus on what you can change—you and your choices, with HP and the program’s help.
24. Remember acceptance—of others, of things as they are—good and bad. Read the Big Book passage on acceptance.
25. For detaching from loved ones, read Dec. 28 in “For Today.”
26. If the best present is a gift of myself, I am a much more loving gift when I’m abstinent. The wrapping is better!
27. If you get upset, go to the restroom and pray or try to calm yourself. Perhaps you can take a walk outside.
28. If travelling, bring a journal or some paper you can use to journal. You can always use your phone, too.
29. Seek healthy joy.
30. Maintain a sense of humor.
31. See if you can be of service at an event or meal, as long as it does not threaten your abstinence. Can you play with children who are bored? Help the host set up or clean up? Talk with someone who appears lonely?
32. Ask yourself how you can use one or more tools on the day of the meal/event. Be specific. Make it part of your action plan .
33. See if anyone wants to take a walk with you after a meal or event.
34. Book-end a meal or event—text or call someone beforehand and reiterate your commitment to recovery, then text or call them afterward. Or use two people.
35. Take a picture of your meal and send it to your sponsor or an OA friend.
36. Remember HALT:  Don’t get too hungry, angry, lonely, or tired. 
37. If going to a potluck, being something you have made that you know you can have.
38. If asked to bring dessert, bring fruit or something you can eat.
39.  If someone is hosting a meal, ask him/her what is being served and what the ingredients are.  You can say you have food allergies, special food needs, that some things have a bad effect on you , etc.  You can say that a lot of sugar depresses you, for example.
40. If I overeat over a problem, I have 2 problems—the horrible results of overeating, and the original, unsolved problem.
41. Cravings will pass far more quickly than the results of a binge.
42. “No” is a complete sentence. “No, thank you” works. You really do not have to explain why.  
43. Don’t hang out near the food! If you can, sit or stand away from it.
44. For items not on your plan, say to yourself, “This is not my food.” Remind yourself that you are a compulsive overeater and cannot indulge the way other people do—you are not wired for it.
45. If going to a restaurant, check out the menu online ahead of time.
46. If at a buffet, walk up and down the buffet to see what is available, before getting a plate. Try to stick to an amount you decide ahead of time—for example, 1 bowl salad and one plate food.
47. If traveling, bring abstinent food with you, if possible.
48. With a group of OA fellows—text gratitudes to each other throughout Thanksgiving Day (or any day!).
49.  Read Lifeline articles. https://lifeline.oa.org/
    Click on 3 bars on top right and type holidays in the search bar
    Also, https://lifeline.oa.org/serenity-through-the-holidays/

50.  Use OA’s “Strong Abstinence Checklist and Writing Exercise”

51. Use OA’s “Been Slipping and Sliding? A reading and Writing Tool”

52. Go to oa.org and do a search for “holiday”—events will come up
53. Look under “Events” at www.oacfi.org to see events listed by World Service—there are many holiday workshops
54. If there is no OA meeting where you are, look for an open AA meeting. You can just listen.
55. Take advantage of 16-hour phone marathons sponsored by the Virtual Intergroup of the Virtual Region of OA:

Phone Marathons

Meetings every hour from 8:00 am to 12 midnight ET (UTC -5)
Phone: 712-432-5200  Conference ID: 4285115#

Fri., Oct. 31,2025 Halloween It’s not What You Are Eating, it’s What’s Eating You

Tue., Nov 11, 2025 Veterans Day / Armistice Day Freedom is Won by Living the 12 Steps

Thur., Nov. 27,2025 Thanksgiving Day Face Your Stuff or Stuff Your Face – How Do I Keep My Recovery Strong?

Sun., Dec. 21, 2025 Winter Solstice What Keeps Your Program Hot in the Cold Events of Life?

Wed., Dec. 24, 2025 Christmas Eve Happy, Joyous and Free

Thur., Dec. 25, 2025 Christmas Day & Hanukkah Have I Learned There is Happiness and Joy in Helping Others?

Fri., Dec 26, 2025 Boxing Day and Kwanzaa What Promises Have I Received by Working the 12 Steps?

Wed., Dec. 31, 2025 New Year’s Eve Live in the Today, Not Yesterday nor Tomorrow

Thur., Jan. 1, 2026 New Years Day Looking Forward to the Celebration of Life as I Go Through the Steps 

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Image source: CCO License – Pixabay