Generated by All in One SEO v4.9.10, this is an llms.txt file, used by LLMs to index the site. # Secular Overeaters Resources for atheists, agnostics, and others who are fellows in Overeaters Anonymous. ## Sitemaps - [XML Sitemap](https://secularovereaters.org/sitemap.xml): Contains all public & indexable URLs for this website. ## Pages - [Secular Overeaters Home](https://secularovereaters.org/) - Jenne M: The 12 ForksJenne M: Thank god, not!!!Martha S: The principle of Step 4 is courageMartha S: Steps 6 and 7Maggie M: Today I canDavid M: A vision for meCarol G: Lost in the scary forest of overeating Welcome to Secular Overeaters* You are not alone. Secular Overeaters (SO) is an informal community and - [DBT Class Materials](https://secularovereaters.org/so-dbt-class-materials/) - DBT Class Materials If you attend the Friday DBT Class (see Meetings for time and Zoom link), here is a list of handouts and video links for the topics that were discussed. We’re probably not going to be that great about updating this right after class, but we hope to post the materials here for - [Non-English Twelve Step Secular Materials](https://secularovereaters.org/so-non-english/) - Non-English Secular Twelve Step Materials We are excited to provide a space to spotlight secular Twelve Step materials for non-English speakers! If you know of resources we can add, let us know! Contact us here.EspañolInventarios Diarios / Décimo Paso (ejercicios de escritura diarios, 2 páginas, pdf)Los Doce Pasos Seculares: Una Breve Coleccion (Traducción al español - [SO Helpful Documents](https://secularovereaters.org/so-documents/) - Documents Steps and TraditionsAA Agnostica: A Collection of Alternative 12 Steps (pdf)Alternative 12 Step Discussion Guide for Secular Overeaters, Version 2 (2024, pdf, 29 pages)Alternative 12 Step Discussion Guide for Secular Overeaters (Version 1, 2022, pdf, 27 pages)Freethinker Alternative 12 Steps for Overeaters (No-god version, pdf)Los Doce Pasos Seculares: Una Breve Coleccion (Spanish translation of AA - [Secular Steps: Getting Started](https://secularovereaters.org/so-steps-getting-started/) - Secular Steps: Getting Started If you’re a compulsive eater seeking a secular approach to the Twelve Steps, you won’t find it in Overeaters Anonymous. OA does not allow the use of “outside” Steps or literature at their meetings. Don’t be discouraged by this restriction; as an individual, you can use whatever resources support your recovery! - [SO What's New](https://secularovereaters.org/s0-whats-new/) - What's New? WorkshopsAccountability Buddy Workshop for Secular OvereatersSunday, Sept 13 | 9a PT / Noon ET/ 5p UKCome join this one-hour presentation to learn about how Accountability Buddies can strengthen your program. You will practice new skills and get tips on how to find a buddy. This is a great way to get more secular - [SO Book Recommendations](https://secularovereaters.org/so-book-recs/) - Book Recommendations One of our SO Initiatives developed secular literature, and we’re pleased to announce the first edition of Food Freedom: A Resource Manual for Secular Overeaters.Other than Food Freedom, there is currently no dedicated secular 12-Step literature available for compulsive eaters, but there are many secular books for other addictions that we’ve found helpful.If there’s - [Secular Recovery Podcasts](https://secularovereaters.org/so-podcasts/) - Podcasts We are lucky that so many Overeaters Anonymous (OA) Intergroups host podcast channels, but there is still a lot of god-talk to wade through. Here is a curated list of shares by secular and spiritual fellows including atheists, agnostics, Buddhists, pantheists, and others.Secular PodcastsGod-lite PodcastsDo you have a favorite secular episode? Send us the - [Other Secular Recovery Communities](https://secularovereaters.org/so-other-fellowships/) - Secular Twelve-Step Resources and Fellowships Secular Overeaters ResourcesJoin our monthly newsletter email list: https://bit.ly/SO-SubscribeNewsletterJoin our private Facebook group, Secular Overeaters and Friends (in Overeaters Anonymous).Other Secular ResourcesWhile there is not much of a secular presence in Overeaters Anonymous, we do have the company of many other fellowships that have gone before us. Below is a - [SO Donate](https://secularovereaters.org/so-donate/) - Secular Overeaters Thanks for Your Support Our mission is to support an underserved community of atheists, agnostics, and others who seek recovery from obsessive behavior around food and body image. Work on this site is entirely a volunteer effort; donations help support five Zoom room licenses (so meetings have a free place to meet online), - [SO Treasurer Reports](https://secularovereaters.org/so-treasurer-reports/) - Secular Overeaters Reports Secular Overeaters Charter Charter, Secular Overeaters, 2025 (8 pages, pdf)Charter, Secular Overeaters, 2023 (7 pages, pdf)Annual Reports 2025 Annual Report, (3 pages, pdf)2024 Annual Report, (2 pages, pdf)2023 Annual Report, (2 pages, pdf)2022 Annual Report, (2 pages, pdf)2021 Annual Report, (1 page, pdf) Treasurers’s Reports We post quarterly financial reports on approximately 1/1, 4/1, 7/1, and 10/1. - [SO Temporary Sponsoring](https://secularovereaters.org/so-temporary-sponsoring/) - Be a Temporary Secular Step Sponsor Secular Overeaters (SO) has developed a temporary sponsor path for members who would like practice in sponsoring before making a long-term commitment. Temporary Secular Step Sponsoring takes 10 weeks and follows a specific plan that introduces new members to secular OA and the Steps. We suggest that potential sponsors - [Managing Emotions](https://secularovereaters.org/so-managing-emotions/) - Managing Emotions You can learn new skills for managing feelings that can lead to compulsive food behaviors. Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT)DBT is a form of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) that focuses on building skills for managing powerful emotions. Many people with compulsive food behaviors deal with their feelings by eating or restricting. Compulsive eating can make - [SO Service](https://secularovereaters.org/so-service/) - Service Doing “service” is one of the tenants of Twelve-Step communities. It can aid your recovery by getting you to meetings, helping you feel like part of the group, teaching you a new skill, or providing a break from incessant navel-gazing!At the Individual LevelThere are easy things you can do at the individual level. Showing - [SO Tools for Recovery](https://secularovereaters.org/so-tools/) - The Tools The Twelve Steps offer compulsive eaters a framework for living an integrated life, an opportunity to clear the wreckage of our pasts, and, hopefully, relief from the obsession around food. The Tools of Recovery are daily practices that members have found help us on the journey toward abstinence and higher living. The tools - [SO Accountability Buddies](https://secularovereaters.org/accountability-buddies/) - Accountability Buddies Accountability Buddies, sometimes called Awareness Buddies, Accountability Partners or Fellow Travelers, are two members who help each other find and maintain recovery. Every pairing is different: some want to text each other their daily food plan, some meet once a week by phone to read a Tenth Step, some meet for coffee and - [SO Sponsor Alternatives](https://secularovereaters.org/so-sponsor-alternatives/) - Sponsor Alternatives Well, as a newcomer, there really is no substitute for a sponsor, but sometimes it may take a while to find someone to work with. It’s also important to create a community of support, not in lieu of a sponsor, but in addition to a sponsor. Accountability Buddies and Recovery Circles are two - [SO Sponsoring](https://secularovereaters.org/so-sponsoring/) - Sponsoring a Secular Member Overeaters Anonymous (OA) brochures encourage sponsors to “let everyone follow their own path.” When working with a secular sponsee who is atheist or agnostic, or has a non-Judeo-Christian spiritual practice, it often supports their recovery to be willing to work outside of the OA box. Be open to sponsees reading secular - [Secular Overeaters Newsletter](https://secularovereaters.org/so-newsletter/) - Secular Overeaters Newsletters Below is an archive of the Secular Overeaters Newsletters. If you’d like to subscribe, click here. 2026 Newsletters 2026 NewslettersApril 2026 EditionMarch 2026 EditionFebruary 2026 EditionJanuary 2026 Edition 2025 Newsletters 2025 NewslettersDecember 2025 EditionNovember 2025 EditionOctober 2025 EditionSeptember 2025 EditionAugust 2025 EditionJuly 2025 EditionJune 2025 EditionMay 2025 EditionApril 2025 EditionMarch 2025 EditionFebruary - [Community Developed Resources](https://secularovereaters.org/so-community-developed-resources/) - Community Developed Resources We have many talented secular members who have developed free recovery resources to help other members, and we’re starting to list them on this page.If you’ve developed a resource, let us know (Contact us)! We will consider hosting your resource on this page; bear in mind, the resource must be free and - [SO Initiatives](https://secularovereaters.org/so-initiatives/) - Secular Overeaters Initiatives Overeaters was a new community that began coalescing on Zoom in July of 2020, and in 2021 we had a series of Community Gatherings where we identified areas and initiatives we wanted to work on. Several committees completed their tasks, some are still active, and others never really got off the ground.Initiative - [Foundational Resources](https://secularovereaters.org/so-foundational-resources-3/) - Foundational Secular Resources These key resources are can help you connect with other members and deepen your understanding of a secular approach to recovering from struggles with food and eating.If you haven’t already, be sure to subscribe to our newsletter.WebsiteSo, you’re here already! Be sure to poke around!Resource ManualFood Freedom: A Resource Manual for Secular - [Non-theist OA Literature](https://secularovereaters.org/so-non-theist-oa-literature/) - OA-approved Literature If you’re a registered OA meeting (a meeting listed on oa.org), you will need to follow their rules and only use “conference-approved” literature. Most of what’s available is highly theistic and sexist. On this page you will find secular curated OA literature that can be used at OA (and non-OA) meetings, without offending - [Collage Tips](https://secularovereaters.org/so-collage-tips/) - Collage Tips! Collect ImagesIf you’re planning on doing collages for all of the Steps or Traditions, you might want to spend some time finding potential images BEFORE you start working on a piece. As you flip through source materials, you can start a folder and paper clip together images that might work with a particular - [SO Step Art](https://secularovereaters.org/so-step-art/) - Working the Steps through art!WARNING: There are food images included in these collages. If you’d like to submit samples of your own work for the website, contact us!Go here for some collage tips. - [SO Secular Traditions](https://secularovereaters.org/so-secular-traditions/) - The Traditions The Secular TraditionsThe Twelve Traditions are to the health of the group what the Twelve Steps are to an individual’s recovery. This secular version is reprinted with permission of AA Agnostica.Common welfare comes first. Personal recovery depends on group unity.Group Conscience is the group’s authority. Decisions are arrived at by group conscience. Minority - [SO Sponsor Speaker Series (from 2021)](https://secularovereaters.org/so-sponsor-speaker-series/) - Secular Sponsor Speaker Series RecordingsThese recordings are from the innovative Monday Secular Sponsor Workshop series from 2021. Each week a new topic was discussed by an OA sponsor, and there are often role plays, audience participation, breakout rooms, Q&A, and helpful handouts. (This meeting, now called Get Connected with Secular Peers, follows a more traditional - [SO Living the Steps](https://secularovereaters.org/so-living-the-steps/) - Living the Twelve Steps After you’ve worked the Steps and you’ve been in the Overeaters Anonymous (OA) program for a while, the tools become ingrained in how you encounter the daily challenges of living. Here are a few examples of how to use specific steps on a daily basis.Do you have a go-to for “Twelve-Stepping” - [SO Tenth Steps/Daily Inventories](https://secularovereaters.org/so-tenth-steps/) - Daily Inventories / Tenth Steps The Overeaters Anonymous (OA) version of Step Ten reads, “Continued to take personal inventory, and when we were wrong, promptly admitted it.” Some people find writing a daily Tenth Step an important part of their recovery practice, as it helps them to take stock of their emotional life and become - [SO Sponsors](https://secularovereaters.org/so-sponsors/) - Finding a Sponsor Many who have attended Twelve-Step meetings have heard about sponsorship, but beyond that basic awareness, the sponsor-sponsee relationship can seem mysterious. For instance, how does a newcomer get a sponsor and what do they actually do? Read on to find out more about how sponsorship works, and why it’s a vital component - [SO Newcomers](https://secularovereaters.org/so-newcomers/) - Welcome Newcomers! Visiting a Twelve-Step meeting for the first time can be daunting, but the most important thing is to just show up with your mind open. For the first couple of times you may feel like you don’t belong, but the more stories you hear, the more you will realize there are others with - [SO Workshops](https://secularovereaters.org/so-workshops/) - Secular Workshops Workshops dedicated to the needs of the secular OA community are uncommon, so we’ve created our own!Secular Overeaters WorkshopsThe SO Workshop team offers 4-6 workshops a year on topics such as: Accountability Buddies, Outside Resources, Temporary Sponsor Training, Recovery Strategies, and Recovery Circles. These are announced through the monthly newsletter (sign up here: - [SO Recovery Circles](https://secularovereaters.org/so-recovery-circles-2/) - Recovery Circles (RCs) A Recovery Circle is a small group of 3-6 people who commit to meet on a regular basis to promote their recovery. Usually one person comes up with the kind of group they want (e.g., all atheists, available Sundays, 9am Pacific Time), and then starts looking for others to join. Since this - [SO Meeting Scripts](https://secularovereaters.org/so-meeting-scripts/) - Meeting Scripts If you’re thinking of starting a new meeting and need secular script inspiration, several meetings have generously shared their scripts and practices. Secular meetings do not necessarily follow the suggested Overeaters Anonymous (OA) meeting formats (see below); luckily, OA Tradition Four allows each meeting to decide its own format. OA is very clear, - [SO How to Start a New Meeting](https://secularovereaters.org/so-start-new-meeting/) - How to Start a New Secular Meeting Starting a new meeting may seem daunting. Don’t be deterred. The century-old Twelve-Step approach to addiction originated in a single living room and has grown to include hundreds of thousands of members the world over. Similarly, there is another movement amassing among those searching for a secular model - [SO and OA Meetings](https://secularovereaters.org/so-meetings/) - Secular Meetings Being a secular person in Overeaters Anonymous (OA) can sometimes feel like being a vegan at a traditional holiday meal of meat and dairy-eaters where you’re not allowed to bring your own food, and you leave really hungry. Luckily agnostic OA meetings for non-believers are slowly growing. Before the Pandemic there were five - [SO Alternative Steps](https://secularovereaters.org/so-alternative-steps/) - Alternative Twelve Steps Eureka! Yes, there are other versions of the traditional Twelve Steps that do not include an omniscient deity being who will remove your defects or find you a parking place. We’re highlighting the Freethinker Alternative Twelve Steps for Overeaters as a place to start. When you’re working the Steps, just swap these - [SO and OA Meeting Schedule](https://secularovereaters.org/so-meeting-schedule/) - The meeting times listed on this calendar are updated automatically to your own local time zone (check the very bottom of the calendar box, on the right, to verify). The “+” [plus sign] means that this a meeting that is not registered with OA (for instance, they may be using “outside” literature, alternative Steps, or - [SO Recovery Chip](https://secularovereaters.org/so-recovery-chip/) - SO Recovery Chip In 2023 the Secular Overeaters Board decided to invest in a recovery chip. Many 12-Step programs offer them as a welcome to the community and for abstinence birthdays (e.g., a 10-year chip for 10 years of sobriety). We began distribution to everyone who requested one after submitting their 2023 community survey. And - [SO About](https://secularovereaters.org/so-about/) - About Secular Overeaters Mission StatementSecular Overeaters is an informal community and resource hub created to support the physical, emotional, and integrative recovery of Overeaters Anonymous members and others who don’t identify with the traditional Twelve-Step presentation of god. We recognize that theist and patriarchal language can not only alienate but also cause additional harm to - [SO Contact Us](https://secularovereaters.org/so-contact-us/) - Contact Us We’d love to hear from you. This site is a volunteer effort to provide secular tools and support for our fellows in recovery. We welcome your feedback, suggestions, and contributions of content—including your personal experiences and links to other resources you think might help others.Join Our Mailing ListJoin the Secular Overeaters community email - [SO Working the Steps](https://secularovereaters.org/so-working-the-steps/) - Working the Steps Here are some stories by Overeaters Anonymous (OA) secular members, outlining how they navigate, translate, and work the Steps without a higher power.Go below for links to secular podcasts where people discuss working the Steps without God.Many people find it helpful to read outside secular literature along with the OA books. Often - [SO Privacy Policy](https://secularovereaters.org/so-privacy-policy/) - Privacy Policy Any personal information gathered by this website, including any name or email address you might provide, will only be used for the non-commercial mission of this website, such as sending you updates. No personal information will ever be shared, sold, or used for any other purpose. You can contact us at any time - [Our Secular Stories](https://secularovereaters.org/so-our-stories/) - Our Stories Some of these stories were previously printed in the OA Lifeline magazine. Other stories are Secular Overeaters (SO) exclusives! Would you like to submit your story? Use the contact form, and we’ll get back to you. The Secular OA Stories Project The OA Secular Service Board has started a project to collect stories - [SO Working the Program Without God](https://secularovereaters.org/so-no-god-program/) - Working a Program Without God If God is not a source of abstinence, then what is?OA literature and the Twelve Steps say that finding God is the way to be free of compulsive overeating. Secular OA types don’t find that answer very helpful. So, what works for you?If you would like to add your solution, - [SO Community Resources](https://secularovereaters.org/so-community-resources/) - Community Resources This page lists resources recommended by Secular Overeaters Community members. If you have a resource to share, send a description to secularovereaters@gmail.com to include on this page and in our monthly newsletter.Books50 Ways to Soothe Yourself Without FoodIn this book, Susan Albers, Psy.D., has compiled a list of strategies and tips used by - [SO Art for the Website](https://secularovereaters.org/so-art/) - Submit Your 12-Step Collage! Art can be another way to gain deeper insights and understanding of our addiction, and the pieces on this site were all created by members of Overeaters Anonymous. If you’re interested in collage art, consider submitting a piece that represents some aspect of recovery from compulsive eating. Inspiration might come from - [Practice](https://secularovereaters.org/practice/) - Heading Two Hello! Héading ThreeDo not type here! Go to the Text Editor on the left!!!To have a line without extra paragraph spacing, Hit shift + option + returnSee? No space under this line.Let’s try an accent. Accént. On a Mac, it’s option + e, then e again. éééé. Will this work with a? á Yes!!!