Overeaters Anonymous Podcast
Overeaters Anonymous Podcasts is a series of recordings from Overeaters Anonymous, a fellowship of individuals recovering from compulsive eating behaviors. The podcast shares recovery stories, speaker meetings, and OA program discussions to support those struggling with food addiction. It offers hope and practical tools for achieving and maintaining abstinence from compulsive eating.
Episodes
Inside OA: Websites
Are you interested in helping to maintain your service body's website? Are you curious about what goes into building an OA website? Join host Meg M. and trustee Cyndy in this episode of Inside OA where they discuss the questions, concerns, and details involved—you will even learn some history of what it was like to carry the message in the "good old days" of the world wide web. "Back in the 90s,"
Inside OA: Service in Everyday Life
In this episode, host Meg M. and OA trustee Laurie explore the many ways giving service in OA can impact our everyday lives. Listen in as Laurie shares how her perspective on service changed from "What am I already good at?" to "What have I learned in OA? What can I do now that I wasn't very good at before?" Through simple acts of service, Laurie learned how to overcome destructive habits of isola
Inside OA: Face-to-Face and Online Meetings
In this episode, host Meg M introduces Susan, an OA member from Australia who has been in recovery since 1988 and has served as region chair and trustee. Together, they discuss the differences and benefits offered by face-to-face and online OA meetings. If you are new to OA or if you only attend one type of meeting, we invite you to listen to the extensive experience of these two OA members. OA me
Inside OA: Tradition Seven and Step Twelve
In this episode, host Meg M. talks with BJ, an abstinent food addict and bulimic who has most recently served as an OA trustee and liaison to Region Two. Together they discuss their personal perspectives and practices of Tradition Seven and Step Twelve. BJ cites her favorite quote from the OA Twelve and Twelve book, "Change begins with honesty" (p. 30), and relates how honestly looking at her vari
Inside OA: Groups
Do you care about the quality of your OA group? Let's "get grounded in groups" in this episode of Inside OA! Take a few notes as host Meg M. interviews Bruce from Ottawa, Canada. Bruce is a former OA trustee who has been abstinent in OA since April 2005 and who has also served at the intergroup and region levels. Bruce discusses the importance of the group in personal recovery and the questions a
Inside OA: Translation
OA volunteers have helped translate OA literature into more than 30 languages worldwide! But to make that happen, registered OA service bodies must first apply for licensing from the World Service Office. If you have any interest in OA's translation process, you won't want to miss this episode! Join us as Emilia from Rome, Italy, who has ten years of recovery and is the trustee liaison to OA Regio
Inside OA: Region Nine Liaison
In this episode, we meet Emilia from Rome, Italy, who has ten years of recovery and is the trustee liaison to OA Region Nine, which encompasses more than 40 countries and 40 languages in Europe, Africa, the Middle East, and Asia. Together with host Meg M., Emilia discusses what it's like to serve in a multi-cultural and multi-lingual region. Emilia shares challenges and fears she has overcome on h
Inside OA: Unity with Diversity
Available Resources to Carry the Message, Part 2 - Twelfth Step Within
Speaker Sandy discusses ways to be gentle with newcomers and returners, including consideration of different aspects of unity with diversity. She also covers Where Do I Start? (available in 48 languages at oa.org/start), advanced search options in Find a Meeting, and more Twelfth Step Within resources available on oa.org and bookstore.oa.org. Recorded at World Service Business Conference 2025.
Available Resources to Carry the Message, Part 1 - Public Information and Professional Outreach (PIPO)
Speaker Leslie leads Part 1 of this workshop, covering her experience giving public information and professional outreach service (PIPO) and surveying the PIPO resources and ideas available via oa.org, ookstore.oa.org, and the World Service Office. Recorded at World Service Business Conference 2025.
Living the Principles to Carry the Message Workshop, Part 2 (Amodini)
Speaker Amodini leads Part 2 of this workshop and shares her experience, strength, and hope on the topic of living the Principles to carry the message. Recorded at World Service Business Conference 2025.
Living the Principles to Carry the Message Workshop, Part 1 (Alan B)
Speaker Alan B. leads Part 1 of this workshop and introduces four questions: 1) How are OA's Spiritual Principles important in your recovery? 2) What Principles have you embraced in your personal life? 3) Which Principles have helped you the most in carrying the message? 4) What Principles have you found challenging to put into practice in all areas of your life? Recorded at World Service Business
Inside OA: Being Treasurer and Having Fun with Service
In this episode of Inside OA, host Meg M. interviews Bob, an OA trustee who joined the Fellowship in 2003 and found his first sponsor at an intergroup meeting. Bob has an accounting background, so serving as treasurer is a natural fit, but as he says, "I don't always look for treasurer positions . . . . I like to have fun with service. I do different things that are out of my reach." Speaking as b
Inside OA: Public Information and Professional Outreach (PIPO)
Inside OA: Center Microphone Monitor
Bob F. has been abstinent since January 1, 1986, and has served as Center Mic Monitor at World Service Business Conference since 2004. Listen as he and host Meg M. discuss the challenges and recovery rewards of giving service as Center Mic Monitor and at all levels of OA.
Inside OA: World Service Convention
"Inside OA" focuses on the transformative power of service in action. In this episode, Laurie O. shares about jumping in as an appointed OA trustee, working as a Convention 2025 Committee member, and the many great reasons to attend the upcoming OA World Service Convention this August 21–23, 2025, in Orlando, Florida USA.
On Awakening, a Daily Meditation
This podcast is the recorded script from the OA Foot Steps Intergroup Daily Meditation Meeting called "On Awakening." It is a very simple format. It starts with a fifteen minute reading period, followed by the reading from Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous, p. 86-88, "On Awakening." We then meditate for ten minutes, and then journal for fifteen minutes. This meeting is entirely self-directed, and y
OA Publications (Overeaters Anonymous, Third Edition, Appendix F)
A short list of titles from among OA's more than 100 literature items available at bookstore.oa.org.
To Find Overeaters Anonymous (Overeaters Anonymous, Third Edition, Appendix E)
How to find Overeaters Anonymous in your area or online.
A Disease of the Spirit (Overeaters Anonymous, Third Edition, Appendix D)
Written in 1980by the late Reverend Rollo M. Boas, this favorable assessment of Overeaters Anonymous offers a timeless truth: compulsive eating and compulsive food behaviors are indicators of an individual's starved and suffocated spirit. However, with the encouragement, support, and wisdom of OA's Fellowship, the still-suffering compulsive eater can learn to wean themselves off the debilitating c
A Disease of the Body (Overeaters Anonymous, Third Edition, Appendix C)
Written in 1980, this assessment by Peter G. Lindner, MD, still holds true today. Obesity is pervasive and comes at a high cost to individuals and societies. This big picture is populated by the individual compulsive eater who is held in bondage to their unhealthy relationship with food by their own hopelessness and defiance. What OA offers that can solve the issue for compulsive eaters is "ego re
The Role of a Plan of Eating in Recovery from Compulsive Eating (Overeaters Anonymous, Third Edition, Appendix A)
Dietitian H. Theresa Wright, MS, RD, LDN, explains how coming to understand problems with food as an addictive process improved the program and peer support based care she was already giving. Discovering Overeaters Anonymous, and learning about OA's Plan of Eating Tool, confirmed previous success in her practice and gave her a new and stronger way to provide care to her clients.
And Now a Word from Our Founder
A compilation of five keynote speeches that our founder, Rozanne S., was asked to present to World Service Business Conference delegates in 1994, 1997, 1998, 2000, and 2001. Rozanne speaks with her characteristic humor and candid humility on such subjects as the origins of OA's Traditions, the importance of principles before personalities, and complicated issues of empathy and sacrifice. Feel insp
Reflections: A Visit with OA's Founder
Rozanne opens up about her life and lengthy journey toward becoming the founder of the Fellowship of Overeaters Anonymous, chronicling how she's overseen the spread of the OA message around the world. Listen as Rozanne speaks with enthusiasm, humor, and joy on the inauspicious yet aspirational beginnings of OA, and gain new insights into how the powers of human connection and compromise shaped our
Step Twelve: "The Importance of Working All Twelve Steps" Podcast Series
Step Eleven: "The Importance of Working All Twelve Steps" Podcast Series
Step Ten: "The Importance of Working All Twelve Steps" Podcast Series
Step Nine: "The Importance of Working All Twelve Steps" Podcast Series
Step Eight: "The Importance of Working All Twelve Steps" Podcast Series
New Years Resolutions and Answers to Questions about OA
Spirituality, Sponsorship, and Service Go Hand in Hand
Principles of Tradition Twelve– Spirituality, and Concept Twelve - Respect "Anonymity is the spiritual foundation of all these traditions, ever reminding us to place principles before personalities. – Tradition Twelve "The spiritual foundation for OA service ensures that: (a) no OA committee or service body shall ever become the seat of perilous wealth or power; (b) sufficient operation funds, plu
Keeping Your Eating Sane During the Holiday Season
Anonymity Inside and Out
Principles of Tradition Eleven– Anonymity, and Concept Eleven - Humility "Our public relations policy is based on attraction rather than promotion; we need always maintain personal anonymity at the level of press, radio, films, television, and other public media of communication. – Tradition Eleven
In All Our Affairs
My Sponsor Said, "Send it to Lifeline"
Ana's sponsor taught her early in her recovery to use the Tool of writing to work the Twelve Steps of OA and then send her writing in to Lifeline magazine. In this short recording, Ana reflects on Lifeline's role in her recovery and those of her sponsees. Listen and become inspired to send in your story!
How Do You Work the Twelve Traditions with a Sponsee?
• How do you apply the Traditions to your family and friends? • How do you take the Traditions with you in all your daily life activities?
Neutrality, and Concept Ten — Clarity
"Overeaters Anonymous has no opinion on outside issues; hence the OA name ought never be drawn into public controversy. – Tradition Ten "Service responsibility is balanced by carefully defined service authority; therefore, duplication of efforts is avoided."– Concept Ten The principle of Tradition Ten is Neutrality and Concept Ten is Clarity.
The Three Levels of Recovery from Compulsive Eating: Spiritual Recovery
How Do You Work the Twelve Steps with a Sponsee?
· What approach did your sponsor take to working the Steps that was especially helpful to you? · How has going through the Steps with a sponsee helped you?
Service Structure, not Power Structure
Principles of Tradition Nine – Structure, and Concept Nine - Ability "OA, as such, ought never be organized; but we may create service boards or committees directly responsible to those they serve." – Tradition Nine "Able, trusted servants, together with sound and appropriate methods of choosing them, are indispensable for effective functioning at all service levels."–
The Three Levels of Recovery From Compulsive Eating: Emotional Recovery
What Are the Sponsorship Job Descriptions—from Sponsor to Sponsee and Back?
Do you take time out from your job for meals and quiet time? Have you had on-the-job training?
Suit Up, Show Up, Be a Part of, and Share the Load
Principles of Tradition Eight – Fellowship, and Concept Eight - Delegation "Overeaters Anonymous should remain forever non-professional, but our service centers may employ special workers." – Tradition Eight "The Board of Trustees has delegated to its Executive Committee the responsibility to administer the OA World Service Office."– Concept Eight
The Three Levels of Recovery from Compulsive Eating: Physical Recovery
Step Seven: "The Importance of Working All Twelve Steps" Podcast Series
What Are Some Different Sponsoring Styles?
What approach works best for you—strict or easygoing? What techniques does your sponsor use that you find helpful, and why?
The Many Ways to Contribute to OA
Principles of Tradition Seven –Responsibility, and Concept Seven - Balance "Every OA group ought to be fully self-supporting, declining outside contributions." – Tradition Seven "The Board of Trustees has legal rights and responsibilities accorded to them by OA Bylaws, Subpart A; the rights and responsibilities of the World Service Business Conference are accorded to it by Tradition and by OA Byla
What to Expect at an OA Meeting
Step Six: "The Importance of Working All Twelve Steps" Podcast Series
A Plan of Eating
How is it different than a diet? In Overeaters Anonymous (OA), one of our key tools of recovery is a plan of eating. It helps us abstain from compulsive eating, guides us in our dietary decisions, and defines what, when, how, where and why we eat.
How Can You Break Down the Barriers for Both Parties?
How can you break down the barriers for both parties? What is your biggest barrier to becoming a sponsor? What is your biggest barrier to getting a sponsor?
Keeping Our Meetings Focused on the Primary Purpose
Principles of Tradition Six –Solidarity, and Concept Six - Responsibility "An OA group ought never endorse, finance, or lend the OA name to any related facility or outside enterprise, lest problems of money, property, and prestige divert us from our primary purpose." – Tradition Six "The World Service Business Conference has entrusted the Board of Trustees with the primary responsibility for the a
Step Five: "The Importance of Working All Twelve Steps" Podcast Series
A Commitment to Abstinence & Maintaining a Healthy Weight
In this workshop, the speaker tells her story and talks about her personal commitment to abstinence one day at a time and the actions she takes to ward off the deadly disease of compulsive eating. The pamphlets A Commitment to Abstinence and Maintaining a Healthy Weight are explored as she shares on the importance of enjoying the gifts of recovery and how continuing to work the 12-Step program of
When Can You Start Sponsoring? When Can You Start Being Sponsored?
How do I know if I'm ready to sponsor? How many sponsees should I have?
Always to Extend the Heart and Hand of OA
Principles of Tradition Five – Purpose, and Concept Five - Consideration "Each group has but one primary purpose – to carry its message to the compulsive overeater who still suffers." – Tradition Five "Individuals have the right of appeal and petition in order to ensure that their opinions and personal grievances will be carefully considered."
OA Nine Tools of Recovery
Step Four: "The Importance of Working All Twelve Steps" Podcast Series
Person to Person — Carrying the Message
Person to Person - Carrying the Message is the topic for this OA literature workshop. A member maintaining a 200+ pound weight loss shares her journey in recovery and how the OA literature, Steps, Traditions, Tools and a sponsor guide her recovery. She discusses sponsoring, the difference between a suggestion and advice, and how her sponsor's suggestion to pray and has helped her with the dilemmas
Why Be a Sponsor? Why Be a Sponsee?
• What would your recovery look like without a sponsor and/or sponsees? • If you do not currently have a sponsor, what can you tell that voice in your head that says you don't need one?
There Are No Musts . . . But Is It Good for OA as a Whole?
Principles of Tradition Four – Autonomy, and Concept Four - Equality "Each group should be autonomous except in matters affecting other groups or OA as a whole." – Tradition Four "The right of participation ensures equality of opportunity for all in the decision—making process."– Concept Four
Step Three: "The Importance of Working All Twelve Steps" Podcast Series
"Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him." This week's workshop leaders discuss the critical importance of Step Three to their recovery. The OA program tells us emphatically that "Once we compulsive overeaters truly take the Third Step we cannot fail to recover" (The Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions of Overeaters Anonymous, p. 27).
The Steps of the OA Program
Why Should You Get a Sponsor and How Can You Get a Sponsor?
What is your greatest fear about getting a sponsor? Is it okay to ask others how they got their sponsors?
All Together Now We Are Reaching Out Our Hands . . .
"The only requirement for OA membership is a desire to stop eating compulsively – Tradition Three "The right of decision, based on trust, makes effective leadership possible." – Concept Three
Step Two: "The Importance of Working All Twelve Steps" Podcast Series
"Came to believe that a power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity." This week's workshop leader discusses each aspect of Step Two, sharing her experience, strength and hope. "Ours is a spiritual program, not a religious one." (p. 13, The Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions of Overeaters Anonymous.)
Recovery from Relapse
As this member tells her story of recovery from relapse, she talks about how the kindness and repeated calls from a fellow member when she was isolating brought her back into OA. Pertinent OA literature and the Twelfth on the Twelfth Campaign are described as she shares how they may help members in relapse. Her passion for carrying the message is demonstrated throughout this workshop as she keeps
100 Pounds to Lose: is there Hope for me in OA?
What Is a Sponsor
Does your sponsor fit the description on page 18 of Alcoholics Anonymous, Fourth Edition (Big Book)? What tasks does your sponsor request of you, and do you comply with those requests?
Who's In Charge?
"For our group purpose there is but one ultimate authority – a loving God as He may express Himself in our group conscience. Our leaders are but trusted servants; they do not govern. – Tradition Two "The OA groups have delegated to the World Service Business Conference the active maintenance of our world services; thus, the World Service Business Conference is the voice, authority and effective co
Step One: "The Importance of Working All Twelve Steps" Podcast Series
"We admitted we were powerless over food - that our lives had become unmanageable." Workshop leaders emphasize the importance of the Steps by reading the Introduction to the Twelve Steps "…
Using the Twelve Steps on Life Problems
The Twelve Steps are our Program of Recovery. In this workshop, two members relate how working the Steps allowed them to turn obstacles into opportunities for growth when life presented them with problems. One OA member shares about how, through working all Twelve Steps, she discovered her Higher Power, rebuilt her relationship with her son, and dealt with surgery on a tumor.
How and Why Does a Twelve Step Program Work for Compulsive Eating?
The Twelve Steps are the heart of the Overeaters Anonymous (OA) recovery program. They offer a new way of life that enables the compulsive eater to live without the need for excess food. The ideas expressed in the Twelve Steps, which originated in Alcoholics Anonymous, reflect practical experience and application of spiritual insights recorded by thinkers throughout the ages.
Introducing Overeaters Anonymous
Compulsive eating, or food addiction, can wreak havoc in your life in so many ways. It affects your weight and your health, your relationships, your job, and your self-confidence and self-worth. In our first episode of this series, we will explore the symptoms of this disease and talk with Overeaters Anonymous members who, after years of misery, yo-yo dieting, obesity and other health issues
Twelve Freedoms
After sharing her story and some of the changes she made to find recovery, this long time member outlines the twelve freedoms she discovered in The Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions of Overeaters Anonymous. Included are freedom from: food obsession, insanity and hopelessness; the bondage of self; dishonesty; isolation; the fear of change; self-reliance; blame; fear of people; complacency; lonelin
Introduction / "Step Zero": "The Importance of Working All Twelve Steps" Podcast Series
This introductory workshop focuses on the nature of the disease of compulsive eating and what it takes to be willing to go to any length to recover. Some call this Step Zero.
United We Stand
Tradition One – "The ultimate responsibility and authority of OA world services reside in the collective conscience of our whole Fellowship." – Concept One The principle of Tradition One and Concept One is Unity. The workshop speakers share their individual stories of recovery and how unity is important in both their service work and in their working with others. For additional study, review The T
Introduction to Sponsorship Success
Questions about sponsorship? Listen to "Sponsorship Success": a nine-part podcast series by members from various regions sharing their experience, strength, and hope with using the Tool of sponsorship. Learn more about: What is a Sponsor? Why should I get a sponsor? Why be a sponsor? What is the sponsor "job description"? What are different sponsoring styles? And more. PLUS, download the Sponsorsh
Cinco Historias de Recuperación de OA
Entrevista con Maria
This podcast is in Spanish. For an English transcript, click here. Podcast Nº 14 de Comedores Compulsivos Anónimos: Entrevista con María. En esta edición, María, miembro de OA, nos habla sobre su relación con la comida y las circunstancias que la trajeron a OA. Para más información sobre Comedores Compulsivos Anónimos, por favor escribe un email a la Oficina Mundial de Servicios en los Estados Un
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