STEP ONE SCIENCE (SOS)

STEP ONE SCIENCE WORKSHOP

Welcome to the Step One Science Workshop! We are going to take a deep dive into the science of compulsive overeating and food addiction. We’ll explore how the science explains the physical allergy, the mental obsession, and the strange mental blank spot. We hope this workshop will help you to take Step One at a much deeper level and help you get (and stay) abstinent.

Session 1  – The leader shares her story including how learning the science impacted her ability to get abstinent and stay abstinent.

    • Read SOS Study Guide pages 1-10 prior to this session.
    • Link to Session 1 Video watch this video prior to this session.

      • Reflection Questions
        • Do you carry any shame about being a about being a compulsive overeater/food addict?
        • Do you know where you got it?
        • How does it affect your ability to stay abstinent? Your ability to recover?
        • Do you think you are a weak person because you have a food addiction?
        • What does it say about your character because you are 30 pounds, 50 pounds, 100 pounds overweight?
        • Are you still operating under the Energy Balance Model? DO you still believe this model is true for you?
        • How many times have you tried pills, shots, surgery to address your food addiction? How well did it work for you?
        • What do you honestly believe causes your food addiction/overeating?
        • Do you honestly and truly believe your food addiction is caused by powerlessness?

 

Session 2  – Physical Allergy-Part 1 – We explore how insulin resistance and leptin resistance drive us to eat despite our desperate desire to be abstinent.

    • Read SOS Study Guide pages 11-17 prior to this session.
    • Link to Session 2 Video watch this video prior to this session.
      • Reflection Questions
        • ⁠What are you demanding your body and brain do? Are you making unreasonable demands that are impossible for your body and brain to do – that are against the laws that your body and brain work by?
        • Where are you putting your willpower right now? Is it working for you?
        • ⁠Where is the physical hunger sensation coming from? Am I believing these dysregulated and dysfunctional signals?

 

Session 3 – Physical Allergy-Part 2  – We explore the starvation response including how it leads us to relapse back into our disease.

 

Session 4 – Mental Obsession-Part 1  – We look at how dopamine and the reward system in the brain cause our “effect.” We also see that science can explain the “strange mental blank spot.”

    • Read SOS Study Guide pages 21-28 prior to this session.
    • Link to Session 4 Video watch this video prior to this session.
      • What is your emotional reaction to this information? Do you even believe it? How has it operated in your life?
      • What does all this information that I’ve gone over in this workshop so far mean to you with regard to powerlessness and free will around food?
      • What does this information mean regarding your personal responsibility in managing your disease? Are you starting to really see what I mean by “setting yourself up for success?”
      • How do you see step work, meetings, fellowship and other program-related things (like Surrender School) fitting into what I’ve talked about so far in this workshop? Can you see how they can help you with some of these unconscious forces?

 

Session 5 – Mental Obsession-Part 2  – We explore the effects of stress and cortisol on both our physical allergy and mental obsession.

    • Read SOS Study Guide pages 29-32 prior to this session.
    • Link to Session 5 Video watch this video prior to this session.
      •  When you look back at your eating history, can see the effects of stress on your bingeing behavior and weight? What were these effects?
      • How do you tend to perceive stress? Do you typically think you have at least some control over the situation or do you typically feel victimized? Is there any way you can change your feelings of helplessness so that you can have more of a feeling of control over the stress?
      • Has trauma had any impact on your food addiction? What are some things you can do to mitigate these effects of trauma

 

Session 6 – Self-Care – We look at the science of sleep and epigenetics as methods of self-care in order to help us mitigate the effects of our physical allergy and mental obsession.

    • Read SOS Study Guide pages 33-36 prior to this session.
    • Link to Session 6 Video watch this video prior to this session.
      • What is the quality of our sleep like and what can you do to improve it?
      • Have you been able to connect the dots between your sleep patterns and your eating patterns?
      • Do you understand how epigenetic can help or hurt your recovery?
      • What epigenetic techniques do you currently use?
      • What epigenetic techniques to you want to try?
      • Can you tell difference in your energy levels between when you are bingeing on your alcoholic foods and when you are eating a healthy nutrient-rich, diet?
      • Can you see how all of the different ways physical self-care can influence your mitochondrial health resulting in better energy levels and better fat loss?
      • What types of things do you want to try in order to increase your mitochondrial health?

 

Session 7 – Conclusions – We go over the lessons that the leader has learned over her 5-year journey of investigating the science of our disease including ways you may apply them to your own program.

    • Read SOS Study Guide pages 37-41 prior to this session.
    • Link to Session 7 Video watch this video prior to this session.
      • Right now, when I think of food addiction I feel…
      • My body’s response to the thought of my favorite alcoholic food is…
      • The word that comes to mind when I think of my “effect” (the chemical reward I get from food) is…
      • In this moment, I need…
      • I am avoiding…

 

BIBLIOGRAPHY FOR THIS WORKSHOP

This workshop is based on the information in the following books: