What about Weight Watchers for people in OA?

Hi Friend,

One thing Bill Wilson, the co-founder of Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) often talked about was that he and AA did not have all of the answers, that they knew but only a little. He was quite adamant that the AA program worked and rightly so—but he also knew that AA was not the only thing needed by many folks to recover both mind and body. Going outside of AA for professional and spiritual help of one kind or another was often a necessary part of recovery. Bill was humble enough to know that he and the original AA'ers had "stumbled" onto something good, but it was only the barest beginning, that more would be revealed.

In an article he wrote for the Grapevine in 1958, he said, "More and more we regard all who labor in the total field of alcoholism as our companions on a march from darkness into light. We see that we can accomplish together what we could never accomplish in separation and in rivalry."

Weight Watchers might be viewed much in the same way professional medical treatment for alcoholics is viewed. It's not AA but it's a helpful part of many AA's recoveries. I think many sponsors don't realize that some programs, like Weight Watchers, ARE about lifestyle change and changing one's relationship to food. They are about good nutrition for life. They're very different than a fad diet. They really can be thought of as simply another tool in our recovery toolkit. Overeaters Anonymous is a good thing, but it's not the only thing.

Love, Dave Sometime in 2002