Diet vs Abstinence – OA Foot Steps

Diets are something you start on Monday and go off by Thursday. Abstinence is an on-going daily reprieve from the disease of compulsive overeating.
Dieting is going through the day obsessed with eating as little as possible. Abstinence is eating nourishing meals, with life in between.
Dieting is having a goal weight, a goal day, clenched fists and gritted teeth. Abstinence is accepting powerlessness over food, relaxing and giving up the fight.
Dieting is starving myself so that I look good at my high school reunion. Abstinence is accepting and liking myself as I am today, realizing that my self-worth does not hinge on the size of my body.
Dieting is life-threatening. Abstinence is life-giving.
Dieting is placing all the emphasis on the food, which must be controlled in order to solve the problem, which is believed to be fat. Abstinence is knowing that fat is not the problem, but only a symptom of an illness called compulsive overeating.
Dieting is being obsessed with calories, carbohydrates, and charts, always jumping on the scale to monitor my weight. Abstinence is letting go and letting God, and following a simple food plan, trusting the results to a Higher Power.
Dieting is believing that thin is well and that once I lose the weight, all my problems will go away. Abstinence is living in the here and now, realizing that recovery must be on all three levels – spiritual, emotional and physical – if I am to obtain true serenity.