On List Eater
Andrea can't recall her worst Thanksgiving. In the years before she went into a 12-step group to control her compulsive eating, her holidays were a blur.
She would eat normally when other people were around, then be "the last to go to bed so I could stay up and eat," said Andrea who, like others interviewed for this article, asked to be identified by first name only.
"What I remember is sneaking into the kitchen without the floor boards creaking and waking someone up, then eating as little of as many things as possible, so people wouldn't notice the next day," she said. "My thoughts were all about food."
Compulsive overeaters have another name for Thanksgiving: amateur night.
The holiday season is full of publicly encouraged excess and potential dangers for addicts of all stripes - food, alcohol or compulsive spending.
They will be flocking to marathon 12-step meetings and booking extra sessions with addiction specialists such as Barbara McKenna, the director of Crossroads Centers, a drug and alcohol treatment program in Baltimore and Frederick.
"We do a lot of work from here on until after New Year, talking about traumatic events that could occur during the holidays," she said. "Some people are very new; they may think, I can go out and drink. We give them alternatives."
Finding alternatives is the name of the game for most addicts, whether they are dealing with family, holiday parties or the nonstop commercials urging them to buy
more presents, more food and more alcohol.
Andrea now eats no sugar or white flour, restrictions she knows some may find rigid, but she sees as "freeing." She says she has also found that paper lists are a good alternative to traditionally addictive foods.
"The holidays are about rest and giving love and receiving love from the people I'm with," she said. "And about taking care of myself at the same time. And about eating lists."
[This message has been edited by TX_Aggie (edited 12/9/2004 3:45p).]