The "You Tried it, Here's Why it Didn't Work Series:" Overeater's Anonymous

<p dir="ltr">Last week we talked about all of the reasons why dieting doesn't work, both physically and emotionally.  And I hope that really helped you to see that when a diet didn't work for you, it was because of the diet and not you.</p> <p dir="ltr" style="text-align: center;" data-redactor-style-cache= "text-align: center;"><span data-redactor-span="true" data-redactor-style-cache="color: rgb(88, 70, 102);"><strong>Diets fail.  DietERS do not.</strong></span></p> <p dir="ltr">We're going to continue our discussion of why diets don't work this week by focusing on abstinence-based programs, such as Overeaters Anonymous (OA), Food Addicts Anonymous (FAA), and Bright Line Eating (BLE).  There are other such programs out there, but these are the three that you've probably heard about the most.</p> <p dir="ltr">The meaning of abstinence varies slightly from program to program but essentially means cutting out certain foods--primarily sugar and flour--and weighing and measuring your food. The goal is to follow these rules 24/7, 365 days a year. There are no exceptions to these rules. If you break them, you are no longer abstinent.</p> <p dir="ltr">Abstinence-based programs have some differences in their details, but they all have a few things in common:  </p> <ul> <li>They tend to use phrases like "food addiction" and/or "compulsive eating" to describe binge eating, emotional eating, "overeating," etc.</li> <li>They see compulsive eating as a disease or a condition that can only be treated with abstinence.   </li> <li>They talk about "recovery" and "sobriety" from compulsive eating</li> </ul> <p dir="ltr">These types of programs, in my humble opinion, are like dieting on speed.  <em><strong>T<span data-redactor-span="true" data-redactor-style-cache="color: rgb(88, 70, 102);">hey are incredibly extreme.  And incredibly unrealistic.</span></strong></em><span data-redactor-span="true" data-redactor-style-cache= "color: rgb(88, 70, 102);">  </span></p> <p><span style= "font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'S