This podcast is about addiction in general rather than about food addiction specifically. It is secular in nature, so may be of help to people who find twelve step programs too religious in nature.
Provocation: Mistakes
Can you learn to live with the fact that you are human, and you are going to make mistakes?
Provocation: Isn’t that Special?
Do you think you are somehow special and the rules (and tools) don’t apply to you?
Story: Cat’s Tongue
How was it then?
In Japan, if you always end up burning your tongue on hot food or drinks, they say you have a “cat’s tongue” (猫舌, nekojita). I would always tell people this as I burned my tongue on whatever I was eating. I would burn my tongue several times a week because I couldn’t wait for the food to cool down before I ate it. If there was food in front of me, I had to eat it NOW. There was no later.
~ A Food Addict
How is it now?
Now, I have the patience to cook meals, which I lacked before, and I also have the patience to wait to eat my meals when the time is right.
Sometimes my meal will be all ready and waiting for me, but I just have to attend to one thing before I eat, and I am perfectly capable of doing that thing, calmly and properly, and then returning to start my meal when it is done.
This was not possible before. The full equation was, “food = eat”. There was no getting between me and my food, even if it meant that I would have a sore and uncomfortable mouth for days.
~ A Recovering Food Addict
Provocation: Grant Me the Serenity
Are aware of the connection between food addiction and serenity?
When you are agitated, you are more likely to reach for food as a way to calm yourself down.
Are you actively seeking serenity in your life?
Article: Eating disorder treatment: Know your options (Mayo Clinic)
Podcast: Secular Overeaters
Podcast: OA Men
Podcast: Overeaters Anonymous East Bay
Story: Efficiency, Efficiency, Efficiency
How was it then?
I was always trying to find the “perfect way” to do something. Perfection was achieved when something was done in the most efficient way. But I would waste so much time contemplating all of the different scenarios that it would often make my overall response to things very, very slow, and therefore, not efficient. This applied to big decisions as well as very small ones.
~ A Food Addict
How is it now?
I realize now that very few things need to be perfect before I start. I can just start something and see how it goes. With most things, I will have a chance to do it again, so I treat my first attempt as an experiment and just try one of the scenarios that I have come up with, even if I have not thought through all of the possible outcomes. It may not be the perfect way, but it is a way, and it will get me started. Once I have done it once, I will have some empirical data to help me decide whether or not I need to tweak my method. The most important thing is just to get started, not to get it perfect from the start.
~ A Recovering Food Addict
