What it is

OA/HOW stands for "Overeaters Anonymous/honesty, openness and willingness." It is a national program for compulsive overeaters. OA/HOW in the Twin Cities began in 2001 and has about 300 members. Meetings are free, butpeople often donate up to $2. OA/HOW is is a subgroup of Overeaters Anonymous which has about 50 meetings in Twin Cities locations.

Where it meets

There are five Overeaters Anonymous/HOW Meetings in the Twin Cities:

Sundays, 7-9 p.m., Prince of Peace Lutheran Church, 8115 Hwy. 7, St. Louis Park (call 952-285-7285).

Wednesdays, 7-9 p.m., First Lutheran Church, 5801 Minnetonka Blvd., St. Louis Park (call 952-401-4484).

Thursdays, 7-9 p.m., Faith Covenant Church, 12921 Nicollet Av. S., Burnsville (call 651-687-0085).

Fridays, 6:30-8:30 p.m., St. Paul United Church of Christ, 900 Summit Av., St. Paul (call 651-353-1810).

Saturdays, 8-10 a.m., Our Savior's Lutheran Church, 9185 N. Lexington Av., Circle Pines (call 651-786-0451).

A list of Overeaters Anonymous/HOW meetings in the region may be found at http://www.OA-HOW.org.

A list of all Overeaters Anonymous meetings in the Twin Cities can be found at http://www.overeaters.org or call 612-377-1600.

A list of Overeaters Anonymous meetings in other parts of Minnesota and the country can be found at http://www.oa.org.

How it works

Members follow a 12-step program similar to Alcoholics Anonymous. The first step is acknowledging one's powerlessness over food.

"For many people who suffer from an eating disorder, emotional eating is the first step in relapsing back to old behavior patterns," said Tim Sheehan of the Hazelden Foundation. "By practicing the steps, you take ownership for those emotional difficulties and you implement a plan to resolve them." The OA fellowship provides support for members who are learning a new way of eating and living.

What the experts say

"This is the only program that I have ever seen that's worked that does not involve intensive medical intervention," says Linda Block, a dietitian. She has developed food plans for about 60 HOW members in the Twin Cities.

"I think it has a lot of potential," said Dr. Charles Billington, co-director of the Minnesota Obesity Center at the Veterans Administration Hospital in Minneapolis. Billington attended a meeting of OA/HOW in November. "What I experienced . . . was very powerful. I think it is clearly a way to help those folks. It is a very intense program, and I think it's something that not everybody is going to be willing to do." He said there is strong evidence there are brain mechanisms behind the dependence on eating particular foods. "You can choose to override your biology, but it is quite difficult," he said. "From my perspective, that is what the folks in this program are really doing. They are using the program to overcome a biological mechanism driving their eating."