Overeaters Anonymous convention marks 50-year anniversary

This year is the 50th anniversary of the founding of Overeaters Anonymous, and the Holiday Inn: Parkside is hosting the Region 1 Overeaters Anonymous convention today.

Convention organizer Kate, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said she's been a member of OA for about two years.

Overeaters Anonymous helps people struggling with issues like bulimia and compulsive overeating. Kate said compulsive overeating is up to every individual to define for themselves, but in her case she would try to cut sugar out of her diet and end up eating sweet things like cake anyway.  

"That would be eating compulsively," she said, "and for each person that's different. The stories are endless — you hear about people taking food out of garbage cans."

OA is modeled after Alcoholics Anonymous' 12-step program. Kate said she thinks her problems with compulsive eating came from a spiritual absence in her life. "The program started to give me spiritual food and spiritual nourishment," she said.

Krissy Jones is the assistant coordinator at Self Over Substance, a program run by Curry Health Center at The University of Montana. Jones said she's had clients in the past who've come in seeking help for their eating problems. "I can't say enough for Overeaters Anonymous; it's a phenomenal program," she said. "I think they do a really great job and are really great support for students who are going through that."

Jones said compulsive eating is often a coping mechanism for people. "So if every time you're feeling that stress, every time you're feeling that cortisol you head to the fridge, [compulsive eating] develops."

Kate said people develop several different strategies to deal with the issue. She says a prayer before each meal. "It helps me to slow down long enough before I shove food in my face. Prayer helps me to ask for nourishment and goodness," she said.

The first part of any 12-step addiction program, according to the American Psychological Association, is admitting one's powerlessness over their addiction. Kate said admitting that addiction is a disease is important. "We practice progress, not perfection," Kate said. "Part of our disease is that we beat the crap out of ourselves, we tell ourselves we're bad."

Kate said about 100 people are pre-registered for the Overeaters Anonymous convention, but anyone is welcome. More information is available at oaregion1.org.

kate.whittle@umontana.edu