Proposed New Pamphlet: Slogans Pamphlet

Draft #2 (1.8.26) Slogans Pamphlet

Introduction

As food addicts, we used behaviors like overeating, restricting, and bulimia to cope with life’s challenges. We became paralyzed by fear, retreated into isolation, and often looked for something or someone to blame. But events and circumstances do not cause addictive eating; if they did, only people with perfect lives could recover—in other words, none of us. 

The solution we have found is turning to a power greater than ourselves, working the Twelve Steps, and using the tools of recovery. The following slogans are simple, powerful reminders of these practices and principles. We use them to maintain our abstinence through all of life’s challenges and joys. 

Don’t Eat No Matter What, No Matter What Don’t Eat*

For a food addict, addictive eating is never the answer. It's easy to fall into the trap of thinking that stress, grief, anger, or even celebration justifies addictive eating. But using food doesn’t fix the problem—it is the problem. Challenges come, feelings flare, and things don’t always go our way. However, no matter what happens, no matter how we feel, we eat only what we commit and turn to the tools, our fellows, and a Higher Power.

First Things First

Many of us come into FA feeling overwhelmed and out of control. This slogan brings structure to our unmanageable lives by reminding us that abstinence and recovery must come first. When we don’t know what to do next, we pause and ask: What action best supports my recovery?

Keep It Simple

Recovering food addicts are encouraged to keep their meals simple, avoiding “sauces, glosses, and concoctions” that can trigger cravings or blur the lines of abstinence. We learn to see food as fuel, not comfort or entertainment. We find that our lives become more manageable when we also apply this principle to complicated life situations and decisions.

Nothing Tastes as Good as Abstinence Feels

When we first start the program, we might balk at the abstinent food plan. Many of us ask: What could possibly take the place of our relationship with food? We soon learn that committing ourselves wholeheartedly to recovery feels better than the false comfort of addictive eating. As the days add up, we find that our fellowship sustains us in a way addictive eating never could.

Ask God for Help

This short phrase speaks to a partnership: a relationship where we seek guidance and strength. When we don’t know what to do, we turn to a power greater than ourselves. Defining or understanding that power is not important. All that matters is our willingness to seek wisdom and strength in difficult situations. Sometimes, the hardest action is doing nothing, so we ask for the patience to wait instead of acting impulsively.

Let Go and Let God

Addicts often try to control people, places, and things in an attempt to feel comfortable and in-charge. In recovery, we get out of the driver’s seat. Surrendering by relying on a Higher Power can feel frightening, but with practice, we discover that letting go is often the most effective way to deal with life’s challenges.  

One Day at a Time

The idea of giving up flour and sugar forever can feel impossible. This slogan reminds us that we only need to do it for one day. In recovery, we apply this concept to every area of our lives. We learn to live in the present, staying out of the future (a place of fear) and the past (a place of doubt).

HOW: Honesty, Open-mindedness, and Willingness

For a recovering food addict, the practice of HONESTY begins with calling a sponsor to commit to a daily food plan and following that plan exactly. Keeping an OPEN-MIND to the suggestions of our fellows is an acknowledgement that “our way” didn’t work. WILLINGNESS is accepting guidance and taking an action we wouldn’t have taken on our own.

Progress, Not Perfection

We can’t be perfect in every area of our lives, but we can accurately weigh, measure, and eat the food we have committed. In everything else, including our emotions, relationships, and spiritual development, we strive for steady progress. As long as we stay abstinent and remain open to feedback, we will continue to grow.

We Either Grow or We Go

The A.A. Big Book says, “It’s no great trick to stop drinking; the trick is to stay stopped.” The same is true for addictive eating. Many people get abstinent, but only those willing to change behaviors and attitudes stay abstinent. Recovery is not passive; it requires actively eliminating old thinking and behaviors while practicing new ones.

Prayer Changes Things

Prayer is the ultimate gesture of humility. Praying simply means turning to a power that is not us. By humbly asking for help, we gain the strength to change and the courage to face life without turning to food. Seeing our attitudes and lives change for the better builds faith in the power of prayer. There is no right or wrong way to pray. 

Love Is All-Powerful

In recovery, we learn that feelings follow actions, not the other way around. We don’t have to feel love to practice love. A simple smile, a hello, a hurtful comment withheld; these are ways we practice love as an action. By doing so, we become more accepting of ourselves, and our resentments and bitterness towards others begin to fade away. 

Live and Let Live

This slogan is an essential reminder to step back and allow others to make their own decisions, regardless of how we feel about their choices. Too often, our unsolicited advice is received as judgment and criticism. When we “live and let live,” we release the burden of trying to control others. 

Keep an Open Mind

To work the Twelve Steps, we must be open to — even eager for — new ideas. At one time, our minds were closed and we responded defensively. This did not serve us. Now, we strive to understand people rather than demanding that they understand us. A classic A.A. quip tells us, “Take the cotton out of your ears and put it in your mouth.” 

This Too Shall Pass

Numbing ourselves with food muted our feelings. In abstinence, we are faced with emotions that sometimes feel overwhelming. Instead of eating, we remember that feelings don’t last forever. We process these feelings by connecting with a fellow and/or writing our concerns down. As long as we don’t eat addictively, challenges peak and pass. 

Easy Does It

This slogan comes in handy when we are fearful, angry, agitated, or overwhelmed. Saying the phrase “easy does it” has saved countless members by giving them time to think before taking a bite, making a mistake, or succumbing to an emotional binge. Using this slogan helps us to slow down and act with clarity and composure. Some members like to say, “easy does it…but do it.”

Keep an Attitude of Gratitude*

Addicts can easily obsess over what’s lost, what hurts, and what feels unfair. The antidote to this negative thinking is practicing gratitude. We don’t force cheerfulness in the face of tragedy or pain. Instead, we acknowledge our disappointment while identifying something positive. Far from being a contradiction, holding these two emotions together creates balance. Even when we’re at a loss, we can always be thankful for the gift of abstinence. Food addicts use the phrase, “a grateful heart doesn’t eat.”

Put Recovery First and the Rest Will Follow

If FA were a weight-loss program, this slogan would imply that vanity comes before family and livelihood. Putting recovery first only makes sense when we accept that the FA program is designed to treat food addiction: an incurable disease that is mental and spiritual, as well as physical. When we “put the oxygen mask on ourselves first,” we can be available to others. Arresting this disease makes us better family members, friends, colleagues, and citizens. FA members say, “If I put my program first, I am promised a life second to none.”

It Works If You Work It

Recovery takes time and effort. Reordering our priorities and altering certain aspects of our lives is difficult and uncomfortable, but it’s the only way to create lasting change. If we are powerless over food, there is no other way. We find the relief that results from these changes far outweighs the temporary discomfort.

Do What You Can When You Can

FA is a program of action: we grow by doing. Saying yes to service, raising our hands to read or share, making outreach calls, joining a committee are ways we give our time and energy to help other food addicts. No one is expected to carry the whole load, but we must all contribute. Service keeps us connected and reminds us that we’re part of something bigger than ourselves. It stretches us beyond our comfort zone and teaches us humility, responsibility, purpose, and new skills.

Principles Before Personalities

Our program relies on spiritual principles, not individuals. When we put a sponsor, a speaker, or a longtimer on a pedestal, we risk confusing their personality with the principles that actually keep us abstinent. People can inspire us, but they make mistakes, have blind spots, and are not immune to acting from ego. Our recovery is grounded in the Twelve Steps, the tools, and a Higher Power.

Let It Begin with Me

We have the free will to make our own choices. No one is forced to take a sponsor’s suggestions or work the Twelve Steps. We ask for help and try to learn from members who demonstrate the disciplines, commitments, actions, and attitudes that lead to long-term, unbroken abstinence. Ultimately, our recovery is our responsibility. We have the choice to embrace this way of life without feeling sorry for ourselves or blaming others.

It Keeps Getting Better

It’s a tremendous relief to stop hurting our bodies and spirits with addictive eating. We’re told, “It gets good, then it gets real, then it gets real good.” In addition to a healthy body and a neutral relationship to food, our lives transform and we experience the promises of the program coming true. 

___________________________________________________________________

In addition to slogans, here are some of the simple sayings and acronyms many members find useful:

Act yourself into right thinking instead of thinking yourself into right acting.

Bless them, change me.

Compare and despair.

Do the next right thing.

EGO-Easing God Out

FEAR-False Evidence Appearing Real

Feelings aren’t facts.*

God is in charge.

Happiness is a byproduct of right living.

HALT-Hungry, Angry, Lonely, Tired*

If you've been abstinent today, it's been a good day.

I have enough, I do enough, I am enough.

It’s a simple program for complicated people.

It’s easier to stay abstinent than to get abstinent.

Just for today*

Just for this moment*

Look for the good.

One bite is too many and a thousand isn’t enough.

PACE-Positive Action Changes Everything 

Principles before personalities

Remember that the Power behind you is always greater than the problem in front of you.*

The person with the longest abstinence is the one who got up earliest this morning.

There’s always another meal coming.

Turn it over.

When you point a finger at someone else, you have three pointing right back at you.

When in doubt, leave it out.

Wear the world like a loose garment.

We’re only as sick as our secrets.

*For more on this slogan, see “Before You Take That Bite”