COMBATTING THE BULGE: Food Addicts member, Melissa, carefully breaks off pieces of chicken and places them onto a dish to be weighed as one of the ingredients she is allowed to eat for her dinner.

Overeating is a growing problem in America, but one local group is fighting their food addictions by supporting each other through thick and thin.

Food Addicts in Recovery Anonymous, or FA, is a nationally recognized support group that helps members battle food issues. Some members are fighting overeating, some undereating and others bulimia, but all are looking for a way to control their eating habits.

After more than three years in the program, Ray, a 76-year-old Tracy resident, said several of his weight-related health problems are cured. (Because the group operates on the same principals as Alcoholics Anonymous, members are not allowed to give their last names.)

“It saved my life,” Ray said. “I was a pre-diabetic with sleep apnea, high blood pressure and a cancer survivor, and now it’s all gone.”

Ray is not alone when it comes to FA success stories. During a recent meeting in Tracy, Ruth, of Palo Alto, told fellow members that before FA, food had taken over her life. Her habit was bulimia; she ate excessive amounts of food and then forced herself to vomit.

“I had a field day, me and my food,” Ruth admitted. “I hated myself. I wanted to die.”

At times, Ruth said she ate while her family slept; the next day she scrambled to cover her tracks, going store-to-store to replace what she ate.

“I lied a lot,” she said. “I would blame the dog, saying the dog ate it.”

Ruth can trace her habit of sneaking food back to her childhood. But after 12 years in FA, she said, food no longer calls to her.

“I discovered what really matters,” she said. “What I think about me. Today I just try to become a better person.”

FA helps its members succeed by carefully regulating how they prepare their meals. Each member is required to weigh every ounce they eat and strive to exclude sugar and flour from their diet, which members refer to as a “food plan.”

Ray, for example, begins an average day with breakfast — one ounce of oatmeal, six ounces of yogurt and six ounces of fruit. Lunch is four ounces of protein, six ounces of steamed vegetables and eight ounces of salad with a tablespoon of dressing. Dinner is the same, but with an added six ounces of fruit.

In addition to managing their food consumption, members also use Alcoholics Anonymous’ 12 steps and 12 traditions philosophy to help them “gain freedom from addictive eating.” Like AA, members are given sponsors to guide them through their recovery.

Members are also required to read from AA’s “Big Book” — the bible, so to speak, for many looking to kick addiction. Since FA focuses on eating disorders, members say they are able to read about ways to control any type of addiction. In the coming year, FA officials hope to publish their own book focused specifically on eating addictions. And like alcohol or drug addiction, FA maintains that food addiction is life long — and recovery is life long.

“It’s like heroin,” said Sandy of San Ramon. “I need it (food) more and more. It’s a life or death matter to me. This disease will kill me. I’ve been abstinent for nine and a half years, but it doesn’t mean I’m cured.”

San Joaquin County’s FA group meets from 9 to 11 a.m. Saturdays in Tracy at the Community Church, 1790 Sequoia Blvd. Members come from throughout the county and Northern California. There are no fees, no weigh-ins and no dues.

For information, call 835-5577, or visit www.foodaddicts.org.