Dear Healthcare Professional
We consider it a privilege to have an opportunity to introduce the Compulsive Eaters Anonymous-HOW Concept. This program is based on the Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions of Alcoholics Anonymous, and offers a disciplined and structured approach to recovery from compulsive eating.
You may often advise a patient, “You must lose weight!” or “You must eat properly.” Certainly it is frustrating when it is apparent that your patient is disregarding your advice.
That person is often out of control when it comes to food. Many are the hopeless, and seemingly helpless that cannot stop eating compulsively. We are the men and women who had to postpone needed surgery due to excessive weight. We’ve been seen for a myriad of life threatening ailments, which are often directly related to obesity such as bleeding ulcers, phlebitis, high blood pressure, colitis, and diabetes.
We believe that we have an answer to compulsive eating. The CEA-HOW Program provides the necessary tools to carry out the mutually beneficial goal (to both the patient and the health care professional) of controlling this eating disorder.
The CEA-HOW program involves a suggested eating plan. Interested individuals may obtain the full plan of eating when they join the CEA-HOW program. We believe in abstaining from sugar, flour, and quantity. Our program recommends that we eat three meals a day, weighed and measured, with nothing in between except sugar free gum, sugar free soda, and non-caloric beverages. Modifications to fit a patient’s medical needs are acceptable. We offer an active support system through which we have seen our members find abstinence and recovery on a physical, emotional, and spiritual basis.
We welcome any referrals you may make. We can also provide qualified participants for panel groups or health fairs. We impart our principles and information through our personal recovery. We do not solicit, nor do we advertise. Our participation is by invitation only.
We offer an anonymous program. Our ranks are filled with people from all walks of life, with various backgrounds and professions. Some of us are also health-care professionals who are licensed and have degrees. We know both sides of the nature of eating compulsively, both the anguish and recovery.
In the traditions of all Twelve Step Programs there are no dues or membership fees. The only requirement for joining is the desire to stop eating compulsively.
We encourage you and your patients to view our website for more information on the CEA-HOW program and for a listing of our meetings worldwide.
We would be happy to speak with your staff, clients, or patients and answer any questions you may have. Please contact us via email at gso@ceahow.org. Additional information is available at ceahow.org.
Thank you for your consideration.
Sincerely,
Compulsive Eaters Anonymous-HOW, Inc.