Overeaters Anonymous workshop set for Jan. 17

 An upcoming workshop sponsored by Overeaters Anonymous will highlight the story of a woman who says she was once a slave to food.

  Her story of overcoming that powerful addiction will be told during a workshop slated for Jan. 17 at the Foothills Branch Library, 13226 South Frontage Road. Registration is planned for 8:30 a.m. with the workshop running from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.

  The cost to attend is a $3 donation. For more information, call 782-1305 or 503-1229. Participants are encouraged to bring a sack lunch. Water and coffee will be provided.

  The workshop's main speaker will be a 32-year veteran of Overeaters Anonymous, a 12-step recovery program similar to Alcoholics Anonymous. Like AA, Overeaters Anonymous stresses anonymity among its members, so the speaker interviewed by The Sun declined to be identified by name. She described herself as a recovering overeater who has maintained a weight loss of more than 100 pounds for 27 years.

  "I came into the program at 309 pounds," she said, stressing that weight loss is only the beginning of her blessings through the program. "I came into OA to lose weight and I got a new life. The 12 steps' way of life just changed me totally. There isn't anything in my life that hasn't changed because of the 12 steps."

  The focus of the workshop will be the "big book" of Alcoholics Anonymous and how its 12 steps can be applied to overcoming compulsive overeating.

  "This program is for everybody, for anyone who hasn't been to OA, for people who used to come," the speaker said, "and for people who are attending now. Anyone addicted to food would benefit from this workshop or from OA period."

  She emphasized how the 12 steps of OA focus on knowledge of a higher power and how the steps help people grow physically, emotionally and spiritually.

  "It's like a new way of thinking, a new way of living," the speaker said.

  She described to The Sun the misery of her life prior to OA.

  "My life was just a mess. I was owned by food," she said. "I had to have my wedding ring cut off my hands and I broke chairs, everything that goes with being severely obese. If I didn't lose weight then, I don't know where I would be today."

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Darin Fenger can be reached at dfenger@yumasun.com or 539-6860.