Glen Korstrom
Northern News Services

NNSL (May 22/98) - After years of self-denial and avoiding the issue, Anne did something about her overeating six years ago.

The 39-year-old Yellowknifer, who asked her last name not be used, found herself in a routine many overeaters will find familiar.

"After a large meal I would sit down to watch TV with a large bag of taco chips," she said.

"I'd eat until I felt sick, then I'd throw part of the bag away as I swore I'd never eat so much again, fall asleep for a while and then get up and get the bag out of the garbage and finish it."

Anne knows she weighed more than 200 pounds but did not get on a scale because she did not want to know her weight.

Though she realized she had a problem with eating that went back to her teenage years, she was not able to do something about it until she was 33 and met a longtime Overeaters Anonymous member from the U.S.

The two started a Yellowknife chapter of the organization, which follows similar principles to Alcoholics Anonymous. The group, mixed evenly between men and women, meets every monday at noon at the Pentecostal Church.

"To someone who hasn't experienced it, it sounds like a strange thing (as they wonder why you can't) just stop," Anne said. "But you can't."

This is why meetings are so valuable: as a source of strength and help.

Though Anne came from an alcoholic home, she said she is not sure this is a cause. "There are probably as many reasons as there are people who do it."

What underlies many reasons, however -- and this is also true of other addictions -- is the behavior is masking an inner need, she said.

"A spiritual sickness is what it is," she said in the Pentecostal church basement, though the group is not affiliated with any religion.

"The power greater than ourselves could be God or Buddha or anything else," she said.

Including atheists, she said they can draw their inner power from the rest of the group.

People with disorders such as bulimia or anorexia are welcome in the group, too.

Anne admitted to self-induced regurgitation a few times but her real problem was laxative abuse.

Some members of the group endure the ravages of bulimia -- stomach problems and teeth worn down by stomach acids.

Overeaters Anonymous isn't the only option for those seeking help.

Don Irwin, executive director of Northern Addiction Services, said the centre helps people with various addictions as they are all similar, be they tobacco, caffeine, sex, gambling or any other compulsive activity.