Back a few years ago, an old OA member suggested that we try to live the traditions. So what is my primary purpose in life now? OA says it is to abstain from overeating and to carry the message by example. That is definitely part of it but is that all there is? I need something to keep me busy, and not cost to much, or generate a bit of revenue possibly.
At this time in my life, I have gone to semi-retirement, and am fairly busy in the summers, but winter, not so much. I do not enjoy writing enough to write a book, but I likely have the knowledge to write one, but it be a boring publication, as I am not a exciting person and worked in a small technical area, with little public interest, even though my subject area has tremendous economic impact, when things go wrong.
Most author want to write, with there subject matter being second. I am all about the subject, not writing. The interest must, therefore, must come first. I, therefore need to select an new primary purpose.
Any ideas, comments? Please share your strength, hope and experience.
Monday, October 31, 2011
Saturday, October 29, 2011
Step 2
Step 2 was and is a massive change in attitude for me. OK. Came to believe.
I was raised in the church, but I looked around and saw the congregation was not living by the teachings. OK, so now what. I mouthed the words, without belief, grew up, moved away, and ignored the whole situation until I got to this program.
There is one line in the big book, 3ed, pg.12, "Why don't you choose your own conception of God?" That made sense. God is a concept. That is all. Any concept will work. That tied in with what I knew to be true, it is all in out heads. Our belief and value system puts limits on our actions. Carnegie called it our noble motives. But that still left me guestioning.
I studied religion, and read The Variety of Religious Experiences by William James, with a dictionary in hand. It is a tough read. I have read simpler textbooks of tough subjects that were much easier to read. James is a pompous, sadistic professor, out to make his students struggle. I read Huston Smith, and all the old AA books.
I studied a bit about Buddhism. Part of that was logical, part the fellow must have been on acid or smoking the Mary Jane or something.
In the end, Buddhism can be reduces to 1. there is much suffering in the world, 2. what we feel is in us, the correction can come by changing our reaction to the world, it is due to our delusions, (Ideas of what the world should be), our attachments, and our aversions, 3. there is a solution, and 4 that solution is by living life by examining our past life and our intentions, future life in eight areas. Having the right View, Intention, Speech, Actions, Livelihood, Effort, Mindfulness, and Concentration. A long summary can be found at http://www.thebigview.com/buddhism/ When I looked at this and the twelve steps, the AA steps fit inside of this belief system. It is all about cleaning up the wreckage of the past, cleaning up relationships, and living an clean and tidy life. Some relationships are simple abandoned, others grown. We live life by a new set of rules. We have a purpose and meaning in our lives.
After we have decided what we believe, we can move on...We can move on once we become willing to look at our life... We can decide to look, that is all that is required to carry on.
We have, as adults, a good understanding of what is right and what is not. Life to this point has been our first effort, our first time through, we cannot be expected to be right all the time. Somethings we were right on, some less so, but with reflection we will see what did not work. The program provides a place to generate new ideas, and see what has worked for others. Now we can test it for ourselves.
Please share in as comments below your strength, hope and experience in respect to step 2.
I was raised in the church, but I looked around and saw the congregation was not living by the teachings. OK, so now what. I mouthed the words, without belief, grew up, moved away, and ignored the whole situation until I got to this program.
There is one line in the big book, 3ed, pg.12, "Why don't you choose your own conception of God?" That made sense. God is a concept. That is all. Any concept will work. That tied in with what I knew to be true, it is all in out heads. Our belief and value system puts limits on our actions. Carnegie called it our noble motives. But that still left me guestioning.
I studied religion, and read The Variety of Religious Experiences by William James, with a dictionary in hand. It is a tough read. I have read simpler textbooks of tough subjects that were much easier to read. James is a pompous, sadistic professor, out to make his students struggle. I read Huston Smith, and all the old AA books.
I studied a bit about Buddhism. Part of that was logical, part the fellow must have been on acid or smoking the Mary Jane or something.
In the end, Buddhism can be reduces to 1. there is much suffering in the world, 2. what we feel is in us, the correction can come by changing our reaction to the world, it is due to our delusions, (Ideas of what the world should be), our attachments, and our aversions, 3. there is a solution, and 4 that solution is by living life by examining our past life and our intentions, future life in eight areas. Having the right View, Intention, Speech, Actions, Livelihood, Effort, Mindfulness, and Concentration. A long summary can be found at http://www.thebigview.com/buddhism/ When I looked at this and the twelve steps, the AA steps fit inside of this belief system. It is all about cleaning up the wreckage of the past, cleaning up relationships, and living an clean and tidy life. Some relationships are simple abandoned, others grown. We live life by a new set of rules. We have a purpose and meaning in our lives.
After we have decided what we believe, we can move on...We can move on once we become willing to look at our life... We can decide to look, that is all that is required to carry on.
We have, as adults, a good understanding of what is right and what is not. Life to this point has been our first effort, our first time through, we cannot be expected to be right all the time. Somethings we were right on, some less so, but with reflection we will see what did not work. The program provides a place to generate new ideas, and see what has worked for others. Now we can test it for ourselves.
Please share in as comments below your strength, hope and experience in respect to step 2.
Friday, October 28, 2011
Step 1
Step one is a big undertaking. This is when we need to recognize that some foods are addicting or produce addiction like behavior. In my case, those food are sugar in all forms, grains, especially wheat, cheese, and nuts. Omega 6 oils are also an problem, so I include these in the food that I should not consume. My life was and is unmanageable when it came to food. All I need to do is eat any of these, and I am right back craving them, until once again, I get them out, steel my resolve, work some more of the program, and get back to life free of these addictive food. Yes, I do occasional eat them. I am not cured. The trick is to dust off the crumbs, and get to a meeting.
Wheat was the hardest of the lot to give up. First I gave up sugar, which was difficult, but I was truly addicted to wheat. When I gave up wheat, my hands started working again, and I lost weight rapidly. I have not eaten any wheat knowingly since giving it up. Sugar, I let a bit in, when it is down the list of ingredients, or I just have a taste. The other grains are not much of an issue; oats makes me itch; and I never ate much of others. Rice and corn are less of an issue, but rice raises my blood glucose rapidly, hence must be limited severely.
I now tend to eat meat and green vegetables mainly, with a few roots and the odd bit of fruit. Then there are the days when I fall off, and eat a bunch of fruit, excessive amounts of cured meat, cheese, nuts, fruit and the like. Get up, dust off the crumbs and go to the next available meeting, or now write a post.
All this proves that I have no control of myself with respect to food. I know that specific food are addicting, through the dopamine pathway, and specific foods cause insulin spikes, cravings and other things that drive me to the food. These details are not important to the only known treatment: abstinence. That is the zero step.
Would any one like too share your strength, hope and experience? Please do so in the comments.
Wheat was the hardest of the lot to give up. First I gave up sugar, which was difficult, but I was truly addicted to wheat. When I gave up wheat, my hands started working again, and I lost weight rapidly. I have not eaten any wheat knowingly since giving it up. Sugar, I let a bit in, when it is down the list of ingredients, or I just have a taste. The other grains are not much of an issue; oats makes me itch; and I never ate much of others. Rice and corn are less of an issue, but rice raises my blood glucose rapidly, hence must be limited severely.
I now tend to eat meat and green vegetables mainly, with a few roots and the odd bit of fruit. Then there are the days when I fall off, and eat a bunch of fruit, excessive amounts of cured meat, cheese, nuts, fruit and the like. Get up, dust off the crumbs and go to the next available meeting, or now write a post.
All this proves that I have no control of myself with respect to food. I know that specific food are addicting, through the dopamine pathway, and specific foods cause insulin spikes, cravings and other things that drive me to the food. These details are not important to the only known treatment: abstinence. That is the zero step.
Would any one like too share your strength, hope and experience? Please do so in the comments.
Wednesday, October 26, 2011
Tuesday, October 25, 2011
Diet-Soda
Someone was asking about diet soda. Here is part of the story. http://www.kriskris.com/is-diet-soda-bad-for-you
Monday, October 24, 2011
The purpose of this blog
I do not have any clear limits on the purpose of this blog. The main purpose is to provide for myself and for others, if they wish to join in, a contact, other than meetings, at a time and location that is never closed, and can bring me up to date. We are open to the world, but lets keep this mainly OA and OA related.
I see OA, in a broad scene, as a group of people who are out to improve our lives in a spiritual way, but not religious way. Physical and emotional improvements occur as a result.
I personally like the blog format, rather than something like the loop. For group participation, all you need is a Google profile, and I can set you up as a poster. Anyone can comment. I thought I would start it and see where it leads.
Several of us have talked about starting a Thursday Night meeting in south east portion of Edmonton NW. How is that for direction confusion. Millwood-Beaumont, East of Calgary Trail, South of 51 Avenue more of less. That is what was on my mind, when I started this blog.
I have my personal blog, which there is a link to on this page. There are links there to much food, nutrition, lifestyle information, but it need to be separate from the OA stuff.
This blog can go anyway that we like. I do not know if there is interest in this format or not. I just hung it, sent out that one email, and we will watch it develop. You can use the comments for any questions or discussion of anything you would like to see.
Please add anything you think as far as what direction you think this blog should go, concerns, ideas, or whatever in the comments section.
I see OA, in a broad scene, as a group of people who are out to improve our lives in a spiritual way, but not religious way. Physical and emotional improvements occur as a result.
I personally like the blog format, rather than something like the loop. For group participation, all you need is a Google profile, and I can set you up as a poster. Anyone can comment. I thought I would start it and see where it leads.
Several of us have talked about starting a Thursday Night meeting in south east portion of Edmonton NW. How is that for direction confusion. Millwood-Beaumont, East of Calgary Trail, South of 51 Avenue more of less. That is what was on my mind, when I started this blog.
I have my personal blog, which there is a link to on this page. There are links there to much food, nutrition, lifestyle information, but it need to be separate from the OA stuff.
This blog can go anyway that we like. I do not know if there is interest in this format or not. I just hung it, sent out that one email, and we will watch it develop. You can use the comments for any questions or discussion of anything you would like to see.
Please add anything you think as far as what direction you think this blog should go, concerns, ideas, or whatever in the comments section.
Friday, October 21, 2011
Now we need content
Food addiction is a chemical process of ill fit between our environment and our desires. After we know what food set us off, and make the decision to abstain from those foods, we face the difficulty of abstaining. We are driven to food by physical cravings, emotional feelings, and spiritual beliefs and values.
The program provides a means of changing our spiritual beliefs and values, one step at a time, to aid in overcoming the insanity of desiring to eat more after a full meal. I now know that there is a human philosophical process that causes the desire, yet, knowing that there is and being able to resist the process are two different matters. The program gives me the strength to know that much of the weight control information is not appropriated to food addicts, and the release to follow this simple program.
My definition of abstinence and my belief system are twisted together. I have created a priority system, depending on what that day holds. The first is for every day, and each of the higher levels are for days when there are possible. For today, I will give up sugars, grains, lubricants, and manufactured eatable products and see how I feel about it tomorrow. This provides an base level of abstinence, which is doable all the time.
Just for today I will give up low fat dairy, most legumes, nuts, and cheese. This level of abstinence can be added where I am at home or away, and have good relationship with life, and those around me. This level forces glucose intake to be low enough to stabilize blood glucose, and the emotions become flat.
The third level, just for today, I will execise portion control over protein, friut, and starchy vegetables, and the fourth level, just for today, I will give up, friut, and starchy vegetables, bring about varying amount of weight loss. The fourth level is to be applied only every second day.
After the first level, the lifestyle becomes some form of low carbohydrate. I have explored many forms, LoBAG, LCHF, Atkins, Paleo, and others.
So how do you define your abstinence and your food program? Please note that if this blog is to be useful to anyone besides myself, your comments are required.
The program provides a means of changing our spiritual beliefs and values, one step at a time, to aid in overcoming the insanity of desiring to eat more after a full meal. I now know that there is a human philosophical process that causes the desire, yet, knowing that there is and being able to resist the process are two different matters. The program gives me the strength to know that much of the weight control information is not appropriated to food addicts, and the release to follow this simple program.
My definition of abstinence and my belief system are twisted together. I have created a priority system, depending on what that day holds. The first is for every day, and each of the higher levels are for days when there are possible. For today, I will give up sugars, grains, lubricants, and manufactured eatable products and see how I feel about it tomorrow. This provides an base level of abstinence, which is doable all the time.
Just for today I will give up low fat dairy, most legumes, nuts, and cheese. This level of abstinence can be added where I am at home or away, and have good relationship with life, and those around me. This level forces glucose intake to be low enough to stabilize blood glucose, and the emotions become flat.
The third level, just for today, I will execise portion control over protein, friut, and starchy vegetables, and the fourth level, just for today, I will give up, friut, and starchy vegetables, bring about varying amount of weight loss. The fourth level is to be applied only every second day.
After the first level, the lifestyle becomes some form of low carbohydrate. I have explored many forms, LoBAG, LCHF, Atkins, Paleo, and others.
So how do you define your abstinence and your food program? Please note that if this blog is to be useful to anyone besides myself, your comments are required.
Service
Service to other and ourselves is the basis of recovery. This blog is one form of service that I hope will fill a few evenings a week.
Faith, without works, is dead. The work is something for us obsessives to obese about. How has service helped you in your trudge to happy destiny?
Faith, without works, is dead. The work is something for us obsessives to obese about. How has service helped you in your trudge to happy destiny?
Thursday, October 20, 2011
oathursdaynightgroup
oathursdaynightgroup is the name I picked for this blog. It is intended to be an OA blog to help OA people along the 12 step OA path. Much of what is required is not easily addressed in meetings, hence, I felt there is a need for such a blog.
Anyone can respond in the comments. If I find the comments objectionable, I will simple delete them and ban the author. Please remember that this blog can be viewed by anyone. Anonymity is recommended, but anonymous post may not survive for long.
Anyone can respond in the comments. If I find the comments objectionable, I will simple delete them and ban the author. Please remember that this blog can be viewed by anyone. Anonymity is recommended, but anonymous post may not survive for long.
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