Addicts Anonymous

[RonMcClaaren70]

The story of my attempt to arrest and reverse my obesity-related, chronic, degenerative diseases (ORCDD's).

[RonMcClaaren70]

4/17/2013 200 lbs.

I.A. No alcohol, tobacco, drugs or medications.

Withdrawal from these "drugs" leaves me with a toxic hunger. In fact, I have a terrible hangover today, which is causing cravings for sweets, red meat and junk food--
like pizza. My approach is to do the same things I used to do in Alcoholics Anonymous, but to work it on more than just alcohol.

When I started doing that, however, I had to leave Alcoholics Anonymous. There's no support there for quitting anything but alcohol. In fact, they seem to think that it's okay to eat, drink and smoke anything and everything that causes cancer, diabetes and heart disease--as long as they don't drink. That approach won't work for me--because I'm dying from obesity-related, chronic, degenerative diseases (ORCDD's). Why should I brag about staying sober for a month or two, when I'm dying from ORCDD's?

I also tried Overeaters Anonymous, but I concluded that OA is a support group for people who want to be fat! They seem to be a group of control frieks, who insist that I listen to the same old stuff every week, and keep doing it even after I'm convinced that it doesn't work!

I guess I'll have to work my own program!

[RonMcClaaren70]

Day 4, 4/20, 202 lbs.

I have gained 2 lbs in 4 days, by merely transferring my addiction for alcohol to a dependence upon SAD/WDSL. Today I make these additional renunciations.

I.B. No dairy or animal products;
No oil--not a drop.

[nayasmom]

Hi Ron,
I admire your determination to kick the addictive mindset in the butt. I once had the same opinion of OA that you do, but it does require understanding the addictive behavior, rather than judgement about the people who exhibit it. Compulsive overeaters, like alcoholics, still tend to gather together with fellow enablers. In AA, you learn "principle over personality", and this works in all of the 12-step groups. Easily forgotten.
One thing you must understand is that if you don't have control over your alcohol addiction, you don't have control over any addiction at all. That's the bottom line.
It isn't what you're addicted to. It's the addiction itself, the behavior, the triggers, the vicious cycle of making deals, breaking them, beating ourselves up, making more deals...

Eat starches. Feed your body what it needs, which is a source of energy it can depend on, and that = carbohydrates first. The more you develop faith in that simple dietary concept, the less panic your body will feel, and you will be mentally better able to feel those emotions you've been burying and stuffing down for so long. It's frightening to witness the level of rage we have the capacity to unleash on the world, but if you have made a safe environment to expend the rages without harming yourself or others, you can start to manage the leftover feelings that still need emancipating.

Robyn

[RonMcClaaren70]

Hi Robyn,

Thanks for the helpful post. This stuff is hard to figure out by myself. Did you say you're an alcoholic, like me? Are you an ex COE, like me, or do you still go to OA?

How long have you been in AA? OA? Alanon? Drmcdougall.com? How are you doing? Are you "recovered"?

Are you saying that I can do this, if I'm "sober"? What about pp. 133-135 in the AABB? Please start with the paragraph that says, "Now about health...." and read to the end of the chapter. Do you find 5 mistakes in the AABB?

Does it say, "...carry chocolate at all times...depend on sweets...coffee...cigarettes...?" Does it say to trust doctors to cure you when you get some 20-30 obesity-related, chronic, degenerative diseases (ORCDD's)? Is the AABB about 80 years behind current medical research? Is AA supportive of this WOE?

I'm not arguing, I just want to straighten out some confusing issues. What do you say about AA, OA, etc now? I had to get out of them. I found that they were not supportive of the lifestyle I'm seeking. You? I'm not judging. I'm sharing my experience....

Ron

[RonMcClaaren70]

Hi, LynnCS,

Glad you're here too! Thanks for the good words and encouragement. It seems that we have much in common, and I hope we can support each other.

I'm hoping this journal can be the way I find like-minded people. I hope to work all 12 steps here, and hopefully build a Skype support group, maybe.... (I'll have to get a computer and learn a lot first, however. I'm probably too old for dreams like that, anyway).

I read Pritikin's book and tried it in the early '80's, but I was healthy then and the Pritikin diet wasn't as tasty as pizza, brownies and ice cream! In 2007 I was diagnosed with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), cancer, and borderline diabetes, cardiovascular disease...and I think I'm in early stages of dementia! So it's now or never! "Do or die"! Hopefully I can be more serious about fruits and veggies this time.

I believe that my problems in AA, OA, Alanon were because I went there looking for answers they don't have. I'm thinking that what I need to do before I go back there is to find the answers and go back to help others, rather than to be helped by sponsors who don't have what I want! I fired 9 sponsors in 6 years and I've never found a single person in AA who was willing or able to talk about anything but "just alcohol"!

It's best for me to wait until I can sponsor before I go back. Hope you understand.

Ron

[RonMcClaaren70]

Day 5, 4/21

I.C. No sugar, sugar substitute, or artificial sweeteners;
No fruit juice, smoothies, purees or sorbets;
No fruit, except in salads, dressings, sauces, and salsas;
No processed or refined foods;
No flour, pasta, processed grains'
Avoid commercialized foods; anything in packages, or with a label.

[RonMcClaaren70]

4/22, Day 6

I.D. No coffee, tea, sodas or caffienated energy drinks;
No chemicals, preservatives, additives or adulterants;
No tap water.

[RonMcClaaren70]

Day 7, 4/23, 201 lbs. Step One

Step One may be simple and easy, as follows. Don't drink alcohol and I won't get drunk. Don't eat sugar or processed foods, and I won't get diabetes. Don't eat, drink, or smoke carcinogens and I won't get cancer. Don't eat animal products and I can prevent, arrest and reverse heart disease. Don' eat, drink, or smoke the things that cause obesity-related, chronic, degenerative diseases (ORCCD's) and I won't get ORCDD's.

Don't get in the prize ring with the heavyweight champion of the world and I won't get beaten to a pulp. Don't try to use self-will and self-discipline to fight with food addictions--because I will lose bigtime--eventually. The best way to liberate myself from food addictions is to admit that I can't moderate, manage or control them--and just give up, admit complete defeat--and don't fight with them! Renounce them instead! The AABB says, "The only relief we have to suggest is entire abstinence [complete and permanent renunciation]."

Step One: "Admitted we were powerless over the standard American diet (SAD)--in all its forms and guises--that our lives had become unmanageable."

[RonMcClaaren70]

Day 8, 4/24, 200 lbs.

In Alcoholics Anonymous, I am allowed--even encouraged--to eat, drink and smoke the substances that cause cancer, diabetes, cardiovascular disease(s)--as long as I don't drink alcohol! After 20 years of sobriety, I could have serious ORCDD's!

In Overeaters Anonymous, I am expected to believe the doctrine of moderation, management and control of all aspects of SAD/WDSL--by means of self-discipline, self-will, and constant exertion of my own personal power. After 20 years of trying something that doesn't work, I could feel pretty stupid about having serious ORCDD's!

What is worse is that I may not speak about my issues or about Reality and Truth, as I see them, in AA or OA--because they are in complete denial about ORCDD's! These programs are therefore not my support groups because they don't have the solutions I'm looking for!

For this reason, I do not define my recovery in the terms used in AA or OA. I don't want to confuse my recovery with sobriety in AA or abstinence in OA. For those reasons I define my process of recovery from addiction as "committment."

[RonMcClaaren70]

Day 9, 4/25, 199 lbs, Step Two

"Came to believe that a realistic program of diet, exercise, sleep, and social support (based on scientific Truth) could restore me to health/wellness/sanity/serenity."

Went to bed early and woke up early. Skipped breakfast and walked down the bike trail to the Y. Worked out at my leisure and took the bus back home around noon. Ate mono-meals of bok choy, red-leaf lettuce, and watermelon, then walked to the public library to use the computer. Read some of the Tao Te Ching[u][/u]. Ate a large supper of Punjabi eggplant & Masala Paneer over 2 C rice, mushrooms, onions and steamed yucca root. Went to bed early. Woke at midnight and ate a homemade banana split sorbet of blended bananas, strawberries, watermelon, dates, vanilla extract & coco powder. Went back to bed at 2 a.m.