Twenty Questions
Are you a Food Addict?
To answer this question, ask yourself the following questions and answer them as honestly as you can.
- Have you ever wanted to stop eating and found you just couldn't?
- Do you constantly think about food or your weight?
- Do you find yourself attempting one diet or food plan after another, with no lasting success?
- Do you binge and then "get rid of the binge" through vomiting, exercise, laxatives, or other forms of purging?
- Do you eat differently in private than you do in front of other people?
- Has a doctor or a family member ever approached you with concern about your eating habits or weight?
- Do you eat large quantities of food at one time (binge)?
- Is your weight problem due to your "nibbling" all day long?
- Do you eat to escape from your feelings?
- Do you eat when you're not hungry?
- Have you ever discarded food, only to retrieve and eat it later?
- Do you eat in secret?
- Do you fast or severely restrict your food intake?
- Have you ever stolen other people's food?
- Have you ever hidden food to make sure you will have "enough?"
- Do you feel driven to exercise excessively to control your weight?
- Do you obsessively calculate the calories you've burned against the calories you've eaten?
- Do you frequently feel guilty or ashamed about what you've eaten?
- Are you waiting for your life to begin "when you lose the weight?"
- Do you feel hopeless about your relationship with food?
If you answered YES to any of these questions, you may be a food addict. YOU ARE NOT ALONE. FA offers hope through a long-term solution for food addiction.
What is FA?
FA is a program based on the Twelve Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous. There are no dues, fees, or weigh-ins at FA meetings. FA is a fellowship of individuals who, through shared experience and mutual support, are recovering from the disease of food addiction.
Who joins FA?
FA members are men and women of all ages from all over the world. Some of us have been obese; others have been undereaters, bulimic, or so obsessed with food or weight that we could not freely live our lives. Among us are people who have weighted as little as 62 pounds, those who have weighted more than 400 pounds, and others who have been of normal weight but were obsessed with food or dieting.
Does the program really work?
Typically, FA members have tried any number of solutions to their problems with food, including (for many of us) years of diets or exercise. In FA, we have finally found an answer that is long-term. FA members have maintained normal weights and found freedom from obsession for more than twenty-five years. As more and more newcomers enter the program, the number of people with five or ten years of recovery continues to grow.
The Twenty Questions are FA Conference Approved Literature.