Affecting four to 16 per cent of Australians, eating disorders are a serious mental health condition that involves an unhealthy obsession with eating, exercising or dieting.

Following a similar 12-step recovery plan as Alcoholics Anonymous groups do, Overeaters Anonymous (OA) is a fellowship of members who wish to put an end to compulsive overeating or dangerous dieting and exercising practices. 

Founded in 1960 in America by the anonymous Rozanne S, the OA fellowship was established to combat addiction to food. 

“It’s not about dieting or coming in and saying ‘oh, you can’t do this and you can’t do that’, or getting on the scales,” says a member from the Canberra group, we’ll call Sam. 

“Most of us have spent years trying all of those things before we came in after suddenly realising one day that it isn’t working.”

Despite its title, OA welcomes those suffering with anorexia, bulimia and compulsive overeating or binge eating. 

“The name is more historical than anything,” says another member of the Canberra group, we’ll call Charlie. 

“Sometimes you see some random media saying anorexics can’t do well in [OA], but lots of people in the fellowship have anorexia.”

Ultimately, members of OA are united in their unhealthy relationship with food. 

“It’s hard when the thing you’re addicted to is something you are still required to consume every day,” says Sam. 

“If it was any other addiction, such as alcohol or drugs, it would be possible to go without, but it’s a little harder when it’s something you have to continue to monitor each day.” 

“We take each day one step at a time,” says Charlie.

Recovery from an eating disorder isn’t a black or white case. 

“As a teenager, I chronically under ate and restricted my food, and the binging was like being underwater for too long and coming to the surface,” says Sam. 

“As soon as I got to the place where I was starving, I put food in my mouth and couldn’t stop.

“Initially, it was just a survival thing, but it became an obsession.”

“It’s an obsessive disorder.”

Canberra has three places to meet in person each week, with many more online options.

Determining a schedule and frequency of attending meetings is entirely up to the member. 

Sam says it’s important to understand that recovery isn’t a linear process.

“It’s a hard concept, but sometimes you need to work on steps one, two and three for the entirety of your life and, sometimes, you might start overeating again,” he says. 

“My first step was understanding [that I had a disease] and coming out of the denial that I had.”

The fellowship has a strict “no opinion on outside issues” rule, preferring to see each member as an equal regardless of status and opinion in the outside world. 

“We’re also not recommending anything,” says Sam.

“We’ve got no authority to recommend anything, we just share by talking about our own experience, strength and hope.” 

With branches around the world, OA is an organisation that has the power to help people worldwide. 

“I went travelling and found myself struggling while overseas,” says Sam.

“I ended up jumping on a Zoom call and talking about my struggles with other members.” 

According to Charlie, being part of OA and addressing the obsession is about spiritual, emotional and physical healing. 

“Some of us have done huge things to get this disease down to the right size before the program, but found we couldn’t keep to it, so that’s the first step, admitting we’re powerless over food,” he says.

Ultimately, Charlie says OA boils down to freedom. Freedom from food. 

“I liken it to having asthma,” says Sam. 

“You haven’t got a choice about your lung capacity if you have an asthma attack.

“You can’t just apply a bit of self discipline and breathe better. 

“We’ve come to see that this problem with food is a disease we can’t cure ourselves by behaving better, being more self-disciplined or getting our act together.”

“It’s a disease,” says Charlie. 

“But we take our life day by day and knowing we aren’t alone is a powerful step.”

Overeaters Anonymous is a not-for-profit organisation that has no fees. For help, visit oasydney.org for local information or oa.org for worldwide help.