Dear Readers,

I was asked to post First Step of 12 Islamic Steps to Eating Disorder Recovery. I’ve adopted First Step from Militti Islamia (the Introduction) and the exercises and the rest from Eating Disorders Anonymous (EDA). Millitti Islamia focuses on Addiction Recovery from Substance Abuse but because of the many similarities between eating disorders and addictions, several of the 12-step principles are applicable to the individual recovering from an eating disorder.  I apologize for all the errors and please do feel free to correct me.

Please Click Here for The Twelve Islamic Steps of Eating Disorder Recovery:12 ISlamic Steps

Please download the Original Step One of EDA Here: Step One

Sufi Mystics say the secret of the Qur’an lies in the verse  Al-Fatiha,

And the secret of Al-Fatiha lies in Bismillahirrahmanirrahim

And the quintessence of Bismillah is the letter ba,

And there is a dot below that letter….

The underneath the B embodies the entire universe….

The Mathnawi starts with B,

Your recovery Starts with

 

 

 

 

We admitted that we were powerless over our Eating Disorder and our1ives had become unmanageable.

From an Islamic viewpoint, what does it mean to say that one is powerless?

It is to say that we, in and of ourselves, are totally dependent upon Allah for our total sustenance. We come into this world powerless. We bring nothing but total dependence with us when we are born. Yet, we are taught that this is when we are most Muslim. This totally dependent, powerless state is unconsciously Muslim.

As we grow we become conscious of our dependence on “a power greater-than ourselves”, which in most cases is our parents. This consciousness brings with it knowledge that even our parents are dependent on something greater even than themselves.

As we become more conscious of our dependencies, we come to realize that all our help, aid and provisions originate with Allah, and it is at this stage that we become believing Muslims, or “Mu’muneen”, or we become something other than “full” believers. In other words, we are still Muslims, but with room for other influences to enter that will lead us away from “sirat’ul mustequeem”, or the straight path.

We then find ourselves dependent upon various “powers” that are not necessarily wholesome for our well being. This is a fate worst than death for Muslims, and leads us down all the wrong paths, eventually destroying whatever potential peace and security that can be attained in conscious, total dependence upon Allah.

We are people awakening to our true dependence, which is not Eating Disorder, but dependence on Ahad (One) that can arrest this illness. Ahad (One) who can even cure us of our disordered thinking. That Ahad (One) is Allah. The solution to powerlessness is in Qur’an and the example of who Allah honored with delivering the Book to the people of the earth, Prophet Muhammad, may the peace and blessings of Allah be upon him.

The realization of this, we believe, is the first step in solving our Eating Disorder problems. This is the first step to the fulfillment of our Islamic destiny. This is the first step of Recovery.

For people with anorexia, eating compulsively can take many forms: food rules, calorie counting, rules around not eating, using diet pills or laxatives, and over exercising. For people with bulimia, compulsive eating includes binging and purging through vomiting, laxative/diet pill abuse, binging and over exercising, and periods of restricting food intake. The program of recovery outlined in the 12 steps empowers people to recover for the rest of their lives. In recovery, people gain freedom from the obsession with food, weight, and/or body concerns. In doing so, they come to live happy, joyous, and abundant lives on a daily basis. This is a solution that’s been proven effective in arresting the illness for hundreds and thousands of people. Many people in recovery become “Weller than the well.”

Let Your Illness become your source of Strength, defeat this demon of Eating Disorder and Take your First Step towards Recovery Now!

Step One Exercises

Step 1 and exercises that accompany it are more about admitting where we stand than about pushing forward. . What sacrifices in life (happiness, health, and relationships) have you made, in order to protect your eating disorder and carry out the behaviors? The following questions are meant to help you realize what the eating disorder has taken from you, and what has become of your life as a result.

Your answers will help you clarify those strange terms, “Powerlessness” and Unmanageability.”

Use your journal. Explore your feelings underneath the idea of being powerless. Write quickly and freely. Do not edit, censor or review your writing. Re-reading your writing after a few weeks or months is okay. Although you can do a good job with Step One in very little time, please do not spend more than a week on it even if you haven’t answered all the questions as completely as you might want. If you are like many of us, you are probably scared of taking this step.

Here is a strategy: Read through all the questions as quickly as you can. Commit to reading and thinking about one question a day. Write down what you can as fast as possible at the end of the day in ten minutes or less. Then let it go. Start with a new question the next day even if you aren’t satisfied with your answers.

 

Do NOT go back to previous questions. It is really, really okay to be imperfect!

 

1. Make a list of food memories, from an early age until now. This can go in order, or just be random. It’s amazing how many memories you will find, once you write down the obvious ones. Do not spend more than an hour at this activity. So often we are tempted to overdo.

See how much you can write down in half an hour or even twenty minutes.

 

2. How have you tried to control your eating in the past? List foods you have binged on in the past and foods you have restricted.

Again, don’t spend too much time at this. Twenty minutes to an hour is more than enough, less is better.

 

3. Have you promised yourself or others in that past that you would stop using your eating disorder? Did you try to stop acting in eating disordered ways and fail? Have you tried to reduce your eating disordered behavior (i.e. I’ll only purge once today) and failed?

 

4. Have you continued to use your eating disorder even though it produced negative consequences in your life? What negative consequences has it produced?

 

5. Have you ever done anything you would have stopped yourself from doing if you could have? If so, what specifically did you do? Do you ever do any of this habitually, or in a pattern of any sort?

 

6. Make a list of all the things you missed and are missing because of your eating disorder or all the things you lost out on in life because of your ED.

 

Did you answer all of the above questions honestly?

 

You have, in essence, just taken Step 1.

 

Please don’t delay: Move on to Step 2. Step 1 is not a particularly good place to stop.

 

 

Next Week I will be posting the Next Step. Step 2 holds the ticket to freedom and a new life. Even if you don’t think you can do step 2 yet, get started. Even if you are not entirely sure you have done a perfect job on this Step 1, you will be probably working these steps again: the steps are such a useful process for understanding and solving problems, they are likely to become part of your daily life skills tool kit. Put Step 1 down now, and go on to step 2.