| | Between the Sheets: The History of Overeaters Anonymous and its Food Plans |
 | | (13) Alcoholics Anonymous is an anonymous, abstinence-based program that is founded on the tenets of the disease model-the belief that alcoholism is not merely a bad habit, but an incurable and potentially fatal physical illness that can be controlled only through total abstinence from alcohol. |
 | | In 1977, Overeaters Anonymous dismissed all of the plans that had been distributed years earlier and released in their stead a blue sheet called "Suggested Abstinence Guide for Losing Weight." The Blue Sheet, as it came to be called, officially replaced the Grey Sheet, but many in the group were not happy with this change. |
 | | Overeaters Anonymous, like many groups based on the 12 steps, is similar to but not exactly like Alcoholics Anonymous, which by all accounts has been the most successful--in terms of membership numbers--of all the 12-step programs. |
| www.shutitdown.net /text/oa.html (3353 words) |