GreySheeters Anonymous - TWELVE STEPS AND TWELVE TRADITIONS of GreySheeters Anonymous

TWELVE STEPS AND TWELVE TRADITIONS

of GreySheeters Anonymous

October, 2015

Copyright 2015 by GreySheeters Anonymous World Services, Inc.

Library of Congress Control Number: 2015916118

ISBN: Hardcover 978-1-5144-1269-5

Softcover 978-1-5144-1270-1

eBook 978-1-5144-1268-8

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

This is GreySheeters Anonymous World Services Conference-Approved Literature.

In an effort to combat the overwhelming challenges of food addiction, a group decision from the GreySheet community was made to release this first edition of the GreySheeters Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions to show support for the still sick and suffering food addict. All stories are original and submitted with their authors' full permission. This book is not a replacement, it is an addition.

"GreySheeters Anonymous" and "GSA"

are registered trademarks of GreySheeters Anonymous World Services, Inc.

Rev. date: 11/05/2015

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

This first edition of Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions of GreySheeters Anonymous is dedicated to the pioneers who worked tirelessly to bring us here. Their dedication, hard work and vision gave us: ownership of the GreySheet; development of a World Services Board; the guidance to build GreySheeters Anonymous intergroups, and so much more.

Pioneers, you are appreciated and treasured.

Thank You

W elcome to the first edition of the Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions of GreySheeters Anony mous.

GreySheeters Anonymous (GSA) is a fellowship of individuals who are collectively solving our eating problems. GSA has helped people who have tried but previously failed to gain lasting freedom from being controlled by food. We do not offer another diet! It is an abstinence program for compulsive eaters and food addicts. For us, the GreySheet is a specific food plan that takes away cravings for grains, sugar, and alc ohol.

GSA offers a clearly defined abstinence (our definition of sobriety from food addiction), proven tools, and support from a worldwide community. In GSA people share personal experience, strength, and hope to help each other recover from compulsive behaviors around food. There are no dues or fees. We are self-supporting through our contributions. We are not aligned with any other group or organiza tion.

If you think you might be one of us, join us. Attend at least six meetings and consider if you identify with the physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual aspects of the disease and recovery. Get a sponsor, try our program, and stay long enough to experience for yourself the freedoms that come as a result of doing this program one day at a time consecutively. You will be am azed.

THE TWELVE STEPS AND TWELVE TRADITIONS OF GREYSHEETERS ANONYMOUS

T his text is a resource for GreySheeters---a book filled with Experience, Strength, and Hope (ESH) specific to food addiction, compulsive eating, overeating, or under eating. This text is for those who use the GreySheeters Anonymous recovery program and the GreySheet food plan. Others are certainly welcome to use this text; however, be forewarned that the frequent references to the GreySheet and the GreySheet Steps and Traditions may create a yearning for abstinence which only a sponsor in GSA and use of the GreySheet food plan will satisfy. The GreySheet comes with a sponsor. The tools that a sponsor and sponsee share offer GreySheet abstinence and recovery.

These are suggested readings used for regular meetings, retreats, A Way of Life (AWOL) groups, or with a sponsor or trusted adviser. We work together one on one or in a group. We meet face to face or on phone conference calls. Many also use online communication methods.

The best way to work the steps is with a step sponsor who has worked through them and can serve as a guide to share personal experiences. Using the same process with the Traditions and a service sponsor, a wiser member who has done service in groups and service beyond the group level, opens new doors. The food, step, and service sponsors may be the same person or different ones. Each sponsor shares his or her personal experience, strength, and hope, regarding food, steps, and service.

Some ask when is the best time to work the Steps and Traditions? Talk with your sponsor and listen to what is shared. Some start doing steps after reaching 90 days of abstinence. Others begin with step one at the beginning of their recovery. If you are having difficulty getting abstinent, taking a first step will help you surrender. If you are reading this, the best time may be right now.

Working the traditions often follows the recovery of step work. The Traditions focus on relationships. This work may be needed sooner rather than later. The Traditions apply to our GSA groups as well as families and relationships in work settings.

The GSA Steps and Traditions are also the basis for closed group meetings and sharing in AWOL groups that meet and work through the material together. The friendships created in these closed groups often remove the isolation of years of compulsive eating and food addiction. We are not alone. We hear the experience, strength, and hope shared.

One group meets face to face monthly in a mini-marathon meeting with people frequently traveling an hour and a half. They read the step of the month, answer the questions, and then hear a member qualify for 20 minutes with a focus on that step, and finally, share in an open forum.

After the two-hour meeting, people enjoy a potluck meal and do steps with newcomers to share their experience of staying abstinent in GreySheeters Anonymous.

Another group gets together quarterly from several states to share a meal and participate in meetings. Outpost loners, GreySheeters that live in an area where there are no other GreySheeters, need not be alone.

AWOLs have met on the phone using versions of these Steps. Participants have benefitted from identification, not only with the disease, food addiction, and compulsive eating but also with our unique solution - use of the GreySheet food plan, Steps, and Traditions.

AWOLs are not GSA meetings or GSA groups. They have their unique agreements for participation, leadership, and membership. We listen carefully to the expectations, books to be used, prerequisites, and agreements prior to taking the commitment to participate in an AWOL. GSA AWOLs enlist membership from around the world, and as a result, friendships have blossomed into close relationships.

Working the Steps multiple times brings new insights for action, service, and personal growth. Reflections on the principles of this book change over time. Thus learning to prosper in life and service with our Traditions allows us to grow in usefulness.

We hope that you find this book helpful for yourself and those you sponsor. Ours is a one day at a time program of recovery from a progressive and fatal disease. We wish you physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual recovery.

The main goal of working these GreySheeters Anonymous Steps and Traditions is to obtain and maintain abstinence from compulsive eating and active food addiction and to help other compulsive eaters and food addicts who still suffer. We have the opportunity to live new lives with the freedoms gained from our insights, recovery, and new relationships with others and God, as we understand Him .

M y name is Dr. Vera Tarman. I am the Medical Director of a major treatment center in Toronto. I have treated over five thousand people suffering from alcohol and drugs. Over the course of years, I have noticed that many of my patients have in common a history of disordered eating patterns. They either had an eating disorder prior to their current addiction, or they developed an eating disorder while in recovery from their substance of abuse.