Relapse Action Plan

No matter how long you've been in recovery, there's always a chance that you will face unexpected cravings or a recurrence of feelings associated with past traumas or events that might leave you vulnerable to eating compulsively again. Having a plan of action thought out and written down ahead of time to help cope with these situations can be extremely beneficial. Below are several example forms that may help you identify resources and create your own action plans. It's good to be prepared for emergencies ahead of time.

Unexpected cravings happen to just about every person recovering from compulsive overeating and binge eating disorder. They can be triggered by something seen on TV or in a magazine, a smell or sound that you might associate with eating, a particular feeling or mood which at times can seem to come out of nowhere. Sometimes they can be so powerful that you almost feel the taste of a certain food in your mouth or swear you are smelling it.  Nine times out of ten these sudden urges hit when we are in a position to act on them. No one is around—no one is watching. It is very important to have a plan for these times. In the first months of recovery our most natural inclination will probably be to satisfy our cravings—that is a symptom of our eating disorder. Will-power and good intentions are not enough. We need to take an alternative course of action. To sit and wrestle with the cravings is an unbearable situation for any human being. Instead, we have learned that immediately calling another recovering person is very helpful. Getting yourself to a meeting can be a life-saver. Other times going for a walk or vigorous exercise does the trick. We can reach out to our higher power for assistance and strength. Over time these cravings diminish in intensity, however, people who have achieved long-term recovery have learned to always take them seriously.

Though binges aren't desired, all need not be lost if and when they occur. Though painful we can learn from our experiences in hopes to not repeat them. It is best to get right back into recovery. Compulsive overeating is a cunning, baffling, and powerful issue. If we are prepared for the possibility of a lapse ahead of time it is more likely that we can keep it from becoming a full blown relapse.

Once we get into recovery we often find that many of our old patterns of daily living aren't good for our recoveries or well-being. The places we use to go to shop for binge food may now the most dangerous places we can go if don't want to binge or overeat. In some cases our friends were also compulsive overeaters and we find that our relationships don't seem to work unless our meetings centered on food and eating. A common slogan heard at AA and NA meetings is "If you don't want to slip, stay out of slippery places!" And it fits well in OA too. The safest way to deal with people and places like this in early recovery is to stay away from them.

It's best to learn new ways to socialize and to work at building new friendships that are based on something else but a mutual tendency to overeat. OA and other support meetings are an excellent way to achieve this. There are times however, that a recovering person may not be able to avoid a slippery place or person. Sometimes a friendship that seems to revolve around food is very deep in other ways. Perhaps we can't avoid a business engagement or a family gathering where rich food is served. It helps if we spend some time and thought identifying those people, places, and situations, beforehand and figure out exactly how we plan to handle them from now on. Remember, recovering people ALWAYS have the right to say NO THANKS to offers of food even if it's your grandmother's best homemade treats. No one is obligated to eat just because food is placed in front of them. By setting recovery as our first priority we are taking the best possible care of ourselves.