06.07.2026 - Strength & Recovery - Long Term Recovery & the Rewards of Service - Annie, Robin, Tawna, Kathy R06.07.2026 - Strength & Recovery - Long Term Recovery & the Rewards of Service - Annie, Robin, Tawna, Kathy R
OA RISE | Recovery Inspires Shared Experiences
Four OA members share how long-term recovery, abstinence from sugar, and a wide range of service roles have reshaped their lives and relationships with food. The meeting highlights progress-not-perfection, community support, and practical ways service can make abstinence more sustainable and less lonely.
2:13:40•7 Jun 2026
Strength, Service and Sugar-Free Living: Long-Term Recovery Stories from OA RISE
Episode Overview
- Service positions—from simple meeting tasks to intergroup, region and world roles—helped each speaker stay connected to people who had the abstinence they wanted.
- Putting down sugar (or “recreational sugar”) and treating it like an addictive substance was key for several speakers in finding relief from constant food obsession.
- Many described years of struggle and relapse, emphasising that continued meeting attendance and progress-not-perfection were essential before abstinence became stable.
- Sponsorship, including the idea of a service sponsor, provided guidance on boundaries, character defects, and avoiding compulsive over-service.
- Volunteering and practical service outside OA, such as working at a food bank, supported food neutrality and reinforced the amends process.
“Perfect abstinence is not a requirement for love and acceptance in this program.”
What drives someone to seek a life free from compulsive eating, and what keeps them coming back for decades? This OA RISE meeting zooms in on long-term recovery and how service becomes a lifeline, featuring four speakers whose stories span relapse, return, and real change. Annie shares how she came to Overeaters Anonymous at 60, already sober in AA but unable to stop eating sugar.
She talks about learning portion sizes with a nutritionist, detoxing from sugar before a retreat, and the moment the urge to “grab something to stuff my feelings” lifted. Her journey through intergroup, region, and world service shows how saying yes to service roles pulled her deeper into recovery and into a wider international fellowship. Robin brings a candid, often humorous look at 30 years of in-and-out OA experience, where dieting and self-will never quite worked.
She describes finally trying “90 meetings in 90 days,” putting down recreational sugar, and discovering that “perfect abstinence is not a requirement for love and acceptance in this program.” Her story highlights how simple service roles—reading scripts, joining committees, helping with events—grew into solid abstinence, better relationships, and even a calmer approach to roller derby refereeing. Tana jokes that service is her insurance policy against gaining weight while she heals from a broken leg.
She traces how early trauma, medical issues, and codependency fed her eating, and how intergroup, region, and world service gave her boundaries, confidence, and a network of friends who “make me laugh.” Closing out, Kathy R talks about joining OA in 1996 but only truly working the programme after retirement. Service at her home group, sponsoring, and volunteering at a food bank all support her abstinence and growing food neutrality.
If you’ve ever wondered whether service could actually make recovery more fun (and less lonely), this meeting might give you a few ideas—what kind of service could you try next?
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