Food Addicts in Recovery Anonymous (FA), a program based on the Twelve Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous (AA), is a fellowship of individuals who, through shared experience and mutual support, are recovering from the disease of food addiction. FA was formally organized in 1998, although it began as part of another twelve-step program in the early 1980s. Some FA members have been continuously abstinent since that time. Learn more about the history of Food Addicts in Recovery Anonymous (FA).
Can a person be addicted to food?
Addiction is a dependence upon a habit-forming substance or behavior, regardless of the consequences or the strength of a person’s desire to abstain. It is characterized by intense craving, increasing need, and the disease’s negative impact on the lives of addicts and those who love them.
Most people are familiar with the concept of alcoholism and drug addiction, but the idea that certain foods and quantities of foods can be addictive is only slowly gaining acceptance. Carl Lowe, Jr., MD, a fellow of the American College of Surgeons and a member of the American Society for Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery, stated that “undeniably, food addiction is real. I see it every day.” Food addiction tends to remain unrecognized because of the focus on symptoms rather than their underlying cause – addiction.
Take FA’s quiz to find out if you might be a food addict.
What are the symptoms of food addiction?
Some of the symptoms of food addiction include:
- Overeating (bingeing or grazing)
- Purging (bulimia)
- Undereating
- Obesity (and related problems such as diabetes, heart disease, and sleep apnea)
- Compulsive exercise and/or dieting
- Obsession with food or weight
- Depression, shame, isolation, and hopelessness related to food, weight, or body image.
What is the difference between FA and other 12 Step food programs?
Unlike other 12 Step food programs, Food Addicts in Recovery Anonymous (FA) has a single unified definition of abstinence that is clear and unchanging. FA defines abstinence as weighed and measured meals with nothing in between, no flour, no sugar, and the avoidance of individual binge foods.
First published in 1995, Intuitive Eating has become the go-to book on rebuilding a healthy body image and making peace with food.
We’ve all been there―angry with ourselves for overeating, for our lack of willpower, for failing at yet another diet. But the problem is not us; it’s that dieting, with its emphasis on rules and regulations, has stopped us from listening to our bodies. Written by two prominent nutritionists, Intuitive Eating will teach you:
How to reject diet mentality forever
• How our three Eating Personalities define our eating difficulties
• How to find satisfaction in your eating
• How to feel your feelings without using food
• How to honor hunger and feel fullness
• How to follow the ten principles of “Intuitive Eating”,
• How to achieve a new and safe relationship with food and, ultimately, your body
• How to raise an “intuitive eater”–NEW!
• The incredible science behind intuitive eating–NEW!
This revised edition includes updates and expansions throughout, as well as two brand new chapters that will help readers integrate intuitive eating even more fully into their daily lives.
From the book Food Addicts Anonymous: “Food Addicts Anonymous was founded in December of 1987 in West Palm Beach, Florida. This program is based on the belief that we are addicted to certain substances, namely: sugar, flour and wheat. We believe that, in order to begin the process of recovery from this disease, we need to adopt a manner of eating that totally eliminates these addictive substances from our daily lives.”
The author of the popular Food for Thought daily meditation book takes a fresh, in-depth look at the Twelve Steps of Overeaters Anonymous.
Each chapter carefully examines and interprets each of the individual Steps.