I have been having some trouble with excess eating/binging for a while so I decided to go to a Food Addicts Anonymous meeting (I saw a flyer about them at the gym). Everyone there seems very successful at losing weight and they have a very strict no sugar, no flour, no snacks between planned meals regimen. I was wondering if anyone here has had any experience with this group? or diet type? just wondering if anyone has any words of advice or recommendations?

No sugar, no flour, no snacks? Sounds like a recipe for disaster to me. Way too strict to keep up for the rest of your life, so once you go off it, the weight will come back on, probably more than before.

Also, sugar is actually healthy, in moderation, so I would never cut it out of my diet completely. Now that I think about it....any 'diet program' that requires you to cut a certain thing out of your diet completely is destined to fail, or at the very least, it isn't healthy, or sustainable.

So personally, I would stick with going to the gym (which you apparently do seen that you saw the flyer there), and eating healthy.

I'm not a member of Food Addicts Anonymous so I can't speak for them. I am a member of Overeaters Anonymous (OA) and I can speak a bit to why FA might advocate no sugar, no flour, no snacks.

FAA like OA follow the path established by Alcoholics Anonymous. AA's literature describes the alcoholic as having an allergy to alcohol which drives the compulsion to drink. Many in OA and I believe FA think of sugar and flour the same way as the alcoholic thinks of alcohol. Food addicts have an allergy. I know for me, sugar is a problem so I avoid it. I don't eat things made with white flour either. I do eat whole grains. I don't snack but my meals are large enough to hold me. Lots of OA Members do snack (though often these mini-meals go by other names).

Frankly, the body does not need refined sugars or flours. I do think it sometimes needs more than 3 meals a day.

And, just to qualify a bit here, I came to OA in July 2002 at 306 pounds (I am 5'10") and by October 2003, I was 170. I've been there since.

All the best...

Thank you for your input You have given me much to think about

He didn't specify 'refined sugars' in his op. All it said was sugar.

I must say I find the comparison of an alcohol or food 'addiction' (term used very loosely, I am a firm believer that there is no such thing actually) to an allergy. An allergic reaction would have the opposite effect, making you get away from the thing that causes the allergy, rather than going back to it time and time again.

I'm allergic to strawberries, and believe me, I have no compulsion to go and eat them whatsoever. So that makes no sense to me to be honest.

I've changed my eating habits in August last year. I went from 368 to 238 without cutting anything completely from my diet. In fact, if I had cut something out totally, I probably wouldn't have made it this far.

I used to eat until I would throw up, and then eat some more, but I had no 'food addiction', not in the physical sense. I just liked the taste of the stuff, and I liked to eat, that's the top and bottom of it.

Other than a few days of headaches because I stopped drinking coffee, I had no 'withdrawal' symptoms, or the compulsion to go back to eating the way I was before. So I am rather sceptical about the 'compulsive' eating and the allergy theroy.

I have been in FAA and I would be very cautious. First, it is a 12-step program, which is okay with me; however, it is a very controlling one. Not only is there no sugar (honey, high fructose corn syrup etc.) and no flour. There is a daily call to a sponsor (hope you get the right one) and daily readings of the big book and the 24 hour a day book. Plus 30 minutes of 'quiet time'. You must also weigh and measure your food and commit it daily to your sponsor. You must also attend three meetings a week (if possible). The meetings are structure and you can't speak unless you have 90 days of abstinance. You must also make three outreach calls (to others in the program) a day. They also eschew exercise lest people use that as an excuse to eat more and remain in their 'addiction'.
There are a lot of religious overtones to the program. If that doesn't bother you then that is fine. I found it somewhat irksome, but not a showstopper.
Having said that, I found a number of people that have lost a lot of wieght and kept it off for a number of years.
I left the program because I found it somewhat cult-like. After a while it was a little creepy with sponsors (contrary to program guidance btw) giving advice on doctor prescribed medications (common) on relationships and other aspects of peoples personal lives.
What I took away was avoiding sugar and weighing and measuring my food. These were and are important disciplines to me.
The rest of it I can do without!!

I understand what you're saying, and I think allergy is definitely the wrong word, but there is some validity to the idea that sugar & flour can be addictive in that they cause an insulin spike which can cause cravings/hunger etc. Generally, eating the same amount of sugars in fruit doesn't have the same result because the fiber slows down the insulin spike (I'm not entirely sure on the details of how this works). And you may even end up craving starchy foods so you'll have something for the excess insulin to work on.

So while I personally think it makes more sense to learn what foods cause the insulin spike and avoid them or pair them with something to soften the spike, I can see where some people would just find it simpler to avoid sugar & flour in general.