Site Map

Dave's Recovery from Morbid Obesity and Binge Eating Disorder

• Main Index Page - Home
• Abstinence - Dave's thoughts on abstinence in Overeaters Anonymous
• A Healthy Diet? - Eating to improve health and lower risk factors for disease
• All or Nothing Thinking - A roadblock to recovery
• Bariatric Surgery - Considering a surgical solution to clinically severe obesity
• Binge Eating Disorder (BED) - Description and diagnostic criterion
• Body Mass Index - What it is and handy calculator
• Book List - Books Dave considers legitimate and personally very useful
• Changes 1 - Before and After. 4/18/03 at approximately 450 lbs. and 8/14/04 at 291 lbs.
• Changes 2 - 8/14/04 at 291 lbs. to 5/29/05 at 235 lbs.
• Chart 1 - Weight, Blood Pressure, Progress Chart.
• Chart 2 - Weight, Blood Pressure, Progress Chart.
• Chart 3 - Weight, Blood Pressure, Progress Chart.
• Chart 4 - Weight, Blood Pressure, Progress Chart. current
• Cholesterol Chart - Dave's levels over time.
• Doughnut Epiphany - A powerful personal experience on the way to a binge
• Exercise - Increasing activity levels
• Fats & Oils - The good, the bad, and the ugly
• Fad diets, expensive supplements, and weight loss pills - Snake oil or useful tools?
• F.A.Q. - Frequently Asked Questions
• Food Section Index Page
• Food and Spirituality - Mindfully aware eating
• Food Plan - About food plans in OA, Dave's food plan explained
• Food Products - Food products Dave has found to be healthy and tasty
• Fruits & Vegetables - Why they are important to well-being and maintaining a healthy weight
• Getting Started - Going from, I'll start tomorrow to, I started today
• Grains - Why Whole Grains are important to well-being and maintaining a healthy weight
• Intuitive Eating - Listening to the body's hunger and satiety signals
• Key Concepts of Recovery - 12 key concepts that helped Dave recover from Binge Eating Disorder
  • First Things First – Establishing a stable pattern of regular eating.
  • Refuse to be "Powerless" — Realize that you do have choices. Don't give your power away.
  • Become Health Centered – Focus on improving health. Weight loss is a byproduct.
  • Keep A Journal Of Your Foods And Moods – Gaining awareness is empowering.
  • Eat Like A Healthy Person – Eat healthy whole natural foods now.
  • Empower Yourself – Use every tool and resource necessary.
  • Educate Yourself – Become an expert on nutrition. Forget what the diet gurus say.
  • Don't Go Hungry – Eat your way to optimum health. Hunger only leads to binges.
  • Act As If – Act yourself into a new way of thinking. Action precedes motivation.
  • Dump Perfectionism – Progress is good enough. We learn from our mistakes.
  • Easy Does It – Practice moderation and have realistic goals. Practice self-compassion.
  • One Day At A Time – Focus on today and worry about tomorrow, tomorrow.
• Killing the TV set - Is your TV set trying to sabotage you?
• Letters Section - Articles and Letters I've written over time about recovery and life
  • Kitchen Faucets. – Procrastination and making the present a more self loving experience.
  • Chairs, Misery, and Old Attachments – To change the things I can.
  • A matter of life and death. – Giving ourselves credit for small steps.
  • The Mallet. – Healing happens when you're ready.
  • Lifestyle not Diet. – Dave talks to a friend about getting started.
  • Food Plans. Developing a "Food Plan".
  • Failure. – Learning what doesn't work.
  • Mourning as part of recovery. Making way for change.
  • Old tapes and recovery. – Dealing with the past.
  • Processing Feelings. – Dave shares his feelings instead of eating over them.
  • Obstructive Sleep Apnea & CPAP Machines – Dave's Experience.
  • Managing the Symptoms of Mental Illness – An article Dave wrote several years ago.
  • Touching my own history – Connecting to my past and my self.
• Lifestyle not Diet - More on recovery. Dave answers a friends questions
• Links - Helpful web sites
• Listen to me - A poem about being heard, by Anonymous
• Low Carb? - Should we be counting carbs? Why all the hype?
• Meat, Fish, & Fowl - Beans Nuts and Tofu too
• Milestones 1 - Reflections on various stages of my recovery journey. 4/18/03 - 7/25/03
• Milestones 2 - Reflections on various stages of my recovery journey. 8/02/03 - 3/21/04
• Milestones 3 - Reflections on various stages of my recovery journey. 5/2/04 - 11/01/04
• Milestones 4 - Reflections on various stages of my recovery journey. 11/2/04 - 3/27/05
• Milestones 5 - Reflections on various stages of my recovery journey. 3/28/05 - 8/9/06
• Milestones 6 - Reflections on various stages of my recovery journey. 8/10/06 - 12/10/07
• Milestones 7 - Reflections on various stages of my recovery journey. 1/14/08 - Present
• Nothing Changes if Nothing Changes
• OA Update - 2004 update on Dave's thinking about recovery in OA as it applies to BED
• Omega-3, Flaxseed & Fish Oil - A healthier balance of essential fatty acids
• Passion & Hobbies - Finding things to get passionate about besides food
• Perfectionism - and perfectionistic thinking. A common roadblock to recovery
• Pictures of Dave - Various stages of recovery
• Salt, Sodium, and Canned Green Beans - Reducing sodium intake can help control hypertension
• The Scale - Problems with weighing too often and other ways to mark progress
• Trans-fats - More on hydrogenated vegetable oils
• Typical Day - What Dave eats on a typical day
• UnTwisted Thinking - Changing the automatic thoughts we tell ourselves. (Cognitive Distortions)
  • All or Nothing Thinking
  • Overgeneralization
  • Mental Filter
  • Discounting the Positives
  • Jumping to Conclusions
  • Magnification or Minimization
  • Emotional Reasoning
  • "Should" Statements
  • Labeling and Mislabeling
  • Personalization and Blame
• Yo-Yo Dieting - This vicious cycle is part of the problem

OA and Step Work Section

• Overeaters Anonymous - This section is no longer supported. It's still here for those who may find it useful.
  • Step Work - Topic Index
    • The12 Steps
    • Intro part 1
    • Intro part 2
    • Step 1
    • Step 2
    • Step 3
    • Step 4
    • Step 5
    • Step 6
    • Steps 7 through 12 are incomplete.
    • Printer friendly OA Steps
    • Printer friendly Quick Takes
  • Tools of OA  - Topic Index
    • Journaling our progress in recovery
    • Meetings, attending OA and other support meetings
    • The telephone, reaching out
    • Prayer and meditation, seeking guidance
    • Reading recovery books and literature
    • A plan of action, a written list of things to do when sudden cravings strike
    • Relaxation techniques
    • Service work, helping others
    • The Steps, the basis of our recovery
    • Talking to sponsors, caring advisors, and recovering friends
    • First Things First
    • This Too Shall Pass
    • One Day At A Time
    • Easy Does It
    • H.A.L.T.
    • Keep It Simple
    • Live And Let Live
    • The Serenity Prayer
    • Today I will do one thing
    • More Slogans
  • 12 Step based letters and articles - Topic Index
    • Food Plans and Abstinence according to Dave. Dave's food plan and why it works.
    • Worth Recovering - I had to begin to believe that I was worth recovering. 7/20/05
    • AA verses OA. An article about the differences Dave sees in the recovery goals of AA and OA.
    • Why is everything so confusing? Dave answers a question about the uncertainty one can encounter as they begin to work the steps.
    • Abstinence Dave talks about his abstinence November 2003
    • Diets and Addiction. What's the difference between a "diet" and what is referred to in OA, as a "plan of eating".
    • Dual Disorders. When clinical depression, anxiety, and other emotional disorders coexist with a compulsive eating disorder and obesity.
    • First Step for real. Dave finally "gets" the First Step regarding his compulsive relationship to food.
    • More on my First Step. Dave's battle with the First Step.
    • Gratitude. Dave finally seeks medical help reaching out to even more helping powers.
    • H.A.L.T. Don't let yourself get to Hungry, Angry, Lonely, or Tired.
    • How it worked for me. Dave answers a person wondering how she can make it through the day without eating compulsively.
    • Searching for a higher power. Finding a personal higher power or spiritual pathway.
    • A Positive Thing (eating). Changing his relationship to food and eating.
    • Surrender. The point at which healing can begin.
    • Turning it over. Step Three
    • What about Weight Watchers for people in OA?
    • Thinking about the Steps. Short thoughts on each step.
    • What if I don't believe in God. Dave explains that OA works just fine for people of all believe systems or lack thereof.
    • Is compulsive overeating a disease like alcoholism?  Dave compares compulsive overeating and chemical dependency and makes some recovery suggestions.
    • Acting as if. A powerful tool for lifestyle change and recovery.

• Topic Index - Cindy, Sweetpea
• More dogs - Puppy Cindy, Sara
• And more dogs - Taco, Max, Sasha
• Still more - Sophie
• Sara's Poem
• Dogs with Jobs - Service Animals
  • ADA Business BRIEF: Service Animals, [print version]

• Topic Index
• On being raised by a Christian Scientist - Faith healing and medical neglect. Roots of abuse. page 1 & page 2 & Pictures from a dream, page 3
• On  problems I had in school - Learning and retaining certain kinds of information
• Sensitivity and Alienation - Feeling different than...
• Cultivating Health - An unfinished project I started a couple of years ago during a somewhat manic period that I put here just because...