"Why are the Twelve Traditions so important to us? In general, the Twelve Steps guide the individual to recovery, and the Twelve Traditions ensure the well-being of the groups. Although the Traditions were developed to prevent group problems, individual members can also practice the principles of the Twelve Traditions in personal relationships."—Read the full The Twelve Traditions of Overeaters Anonymous (pamphlet #230).

Excerpted from The Twelve Traditions of Overeaters Anonymous (pamphlet #230), ©1993, 1995 Overeaters Anonymous, Inc. All rights reserved. Rev. 5/23.

The OA Handbook for Members, Groups, and Service Bodies, along with The Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions of Overeaters Anonymous, Second Edition, offer a deeper understanding and provide specific guidelines for applying the Twelve Traditions.

The Twelve Traditions of Overeaters Anonymous are:

1.      Our common welfare should come first; personal recovery depends upon OA unity.

2.     For our group purpose there is but one ultimate authority—a loving God as He may express Himself in our group conscience. Our leaders are but trusted servants; they do not govern.

3.     The only requirement for OA membership is a desire to stop eating compulsively.

4.     Each group should be autonomous except in matters affecting other groups or OA as a whole.

5.     Each group has but one primary purpose—to carry its message to the compulsive overeater who still suffers.

6.     An OA group ought never endorse, finance or lend the OA name to any related facility or outside enterprise, lest problems of money, property and prestige divert us from our primary purpose.

7.     Every OA group ought to be fully self-supporting, declining outside contributions.

8.     Overeaters Anonymous should remain forever nonprofessional, but our service centers may employ special workers.

9.     OA, as such, ought never be organized; but we may create service boards or committees directly responsible to those they serve.

10.  Overeaters Anonymous has no opinion on outside issues; hence, the OA name ought never be drawn into public controversy.

11.   Our public relations policy is based on attraction rather than promotion; we need always maintain personal anonymity at the level of press, radio, films, television and other public media of communication.

12.  Anonymity is the spiritual foundation of all these Traditions, ever reminding us to place principles before personalities.

Permission to use the Twelve Traditions of Alcoholics Anonymous for adaptation granted by AA World Services, Inc.