‘ The COVID 20’ and beyond

How Overeaters Anonymous aims to help those struggling with compulsive eating

Since March, many people have been struggling with being isolated during the pandemic and are filled with anxiety about the coronavirus and its fallout.

A lot of those people will tell you that, for comfort or out of boredom, they have been turning to food.

Folks joke about gaining “the COVID 20,” but for some, the issue is more serious than that.

“Obesity and compulsive eating have been problems for a very, very long time, but with the pandemic, it’s certainly heightened — as it is with all addictions,” says Eileen.

“I keep hearing ( about it) on the news, and even in the presidential debate, they had a reference to how people are turning more to their addictions with the pandemic going on and how it’s just becoming a much bigger issue in our society right now.”

Eileen, who lives in southeastern Connecticut, knows about compulsive eating. She is a six- year member of Overeaters Anonymous. ( We are identifying the people in Overeaters Anonymous only by their first names because one of the tenets of the organization is anonymity.)

She and a fellow southeastern Connecticut OA member, Ellen, spoke with The Day about the program in advance of an online workshop the organization is offering on Wednesday.

Southeastern Connecticut

OA is presenting a free public workshop via Zoom from 6: 30 to 8: 30 p. m. Wednesday. Three speakers will discuss how they use OA to “overcome difficult life situations and remain sane, abstinent and in recovery.” ( Abstinent is a word that OA uses in regards to refraining from compulsive food behaviors while working toward a healthy body weight.)

For more information, email abstinenceinoa@gmail for more information or call/ text ( 860) 450- 9219 or ( 207) 4794733.

Ellen says that the COVID era is a time when people are anxious, afraid and uncertain because so many things are going on that we’re not used to.

“Food is there, food is in the house, or when we go to the grocery store, it’s, ‘ Oh, let’s have some of this, and I’ll feel better.’ When the train has left the station, it’s hard to slow it down,” she says.

Eileen likewise says, “It’s a stressful time. I’m someone that, when I feel more stress, my go- to to try to alleviate is food, right? It’s not what you eat but what’s eating you — that’s one of our slogans. The program keeps me away from that … It gives me tools — I have ways of dealing with it. I can have my emotions and not feel the need to run to food.”

Details of OA

Overeaters Anonymous, which was founded in 1960, adheres to a 12- step program similar to Alcoholics Anonymous.

Some of the tools used in the program are sponsors, plans of eating, and communication.

At what point does eating too much become something that Overeaters Anonymous could assist with? There are 15 questions on the OA website that might help a person decide. A couple of examples:

“Do I go on eating binges for no apparent reason, sometimes eating until I’m stuffed or even feel sick?” and “Do I eat sensibly in front of others and then make up for it when I am alone?” ( Go online at oa. org to see all the questions.)

The program is free to attend; OA is self- supporting via members’ voluntary donations and the sale of OA literature. The organization isn’t affiliated with any public or private organization, political movement, ideology or religious doctrine.

Worth noting is that OA isn’t just for people who overeat. It’s also for people who undereat or who are bulimic — essentially any kind of disordered eating. Its membership includes men and women and people of all backgrounds.

OA usually has multiple weekly meetings in locations around the region ( see details about southeastern Connecticut ones in the accompanying article on page G1), but during the pandemic, those sessions have mostly gone online and on the phone. The advantage to that, Eileen and Ellen note, is people can join a meeting at almost any time; those meetings just might be international.

Eileen says that one of the benefits of the program is meetings where she is around “people who have the same reaction to food and having that common understanding and that common bond and just hearing people talk about food the way I talked about food. That gave me hope because I saw people eating well — you know, normal body weight and in recovery. It made me feel as if I wasn’t so crazy because I couldn’t stop eating, where other people could eat normally.”

A life saver

Ellen, who has been regularly attending OA meetings for 25 years, notes that this is not “just a little food problem.”

“The thing that always strikes me is that people, I think, sometimes don’t realize what a gripping thing this is,” she says. “People in general are used to going on a diet, taking off weight and all that. For years, I wondered what was wrong with me that I couldn’t stop eating — and I wanted to. Sometimes people say this lightly, about the COVID 20. But yet there’s this inner turmoil going on about why can’t I stop?”

Ellen says that in OA, members talk about the three legs of the stool — the physical, which is what you eat and exercising, but also the emotional and spiritual aspects of it.

Ellen tried for years to control her eating but says, “It was only when I realized that

I am powerless over the food that I could begin to recover. OA is a spiritual program — not a religious one — and finding a power greater than myself who can do for me what I cannot do for myself has improved every aspect of my life.”

She says that OA was a life saver for her.

“It not only helped me physically maintain a healthy body weight but relieved the mental torment of fighting with the food,” she says.