What is GreySheeters Anonymous (GSA)?
GreySheeters Anonymous (GSA) is a Twelve Step Recovery Program for people who suffer from compulsive eating, food addiction, binge eating disorder, anorexia, bulimia and obesity.
GreySheeters Anonymous World Services, Inc. (GSAWS) is not affiliated with any other organization and has its own elected Board of Trustees.
GSA has members and meetings around the world. There are no membership fees or dues; GSA is self-supporting through the voluntary contributions of its members.
GSA and the Healthcare Provider
GreySheeters Anonymous serves as an independent resource for health care and mental health professionals who work with those for whom other approaches to weight and food management are unsuccessful.
When these people have tried to stop their disordered eating, they might resist for a few days to a few weeks, only to succumb to unmanageable eating once again. Their obsession about food is continuous, regardless of whether they are restricting or overeating. This lack of control usually leads to remorse, anxiety, depresssion, self-loating, and a progressive worsening of symptoms.
—Dr. Vera Tarman, “The Doctor’s Experience,” Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions of GreySheeters Anonymous, xvi.
Ours is not a medical program or a substitute for a doctor’s care, though many GSA members have experienced marked improvement in conditions that resulted primarily from their compulsive eating behaviors, in addition to relief from the compulsion to over- or undereat. We encourage our members to continue to work with their doctors and mental health professionals, especially in situations where medications may need to be adjusted.
The GreySheet Food Plan
GSA provides a specific food plan (called the GreySheet because of its color) that takes away cravings for grains and sugar. It is only available through a qualified GSA food sponsor.
Members are free to share the food plan with their healthcare providers, but the food plan only works long-term in the context of the program as a whole. If you would like to review the food plan before recommending that someone under your care attend a GSA meeting and find a sponsor, please contact the Public Information Committee (pic@greysheet.org).
The GreySheet sets boundaries around food and is nutritious and delicious with generous weighed and measured portions. The foods on the GreySheet can be purchased at grocery stores; easily prepared, weighed, and measured; conveniently packed for travel; and found at many restaurants.
The GreySheet is simple and many members have followed the food plan and program for decades, maintaining their optimal weight.
How does GreySheeters Anonymous support its members?
By Sponsorship
A sponsor is a GSA member who has been abstinent continuously on the GreySheet for at least 90 days. Sponsors share the GreySheet food plan; how to get started; steps to take to recover emotionally, physically, and spiritually; and their personal experience, strength, and hope.
By Offering Meetings
Face-to-face, telephone, and video meetings—as many as 10 per day—are listed on this website. The meetings follow a format and are a gathering place for GSA members to share about their problems as they relate to food and how they use the GSA program to recover.
By Maintaining a Website
The GSA website (www.greysheet.org) provides information about GSA meetings, recovery events such as round ups, retreats, and telephone marathons, the World Service Conference, public information, member resources, links to GSA resources online, and an international telephone contact list.
Through Conference-Approved Literature
GreySheeters Anonymous literature contains experience, strength, and hope on attaining and maintaining GreySheet abstinence and working the Twelve Steps of GreySheeters.
Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions of GreySheeters Anonymous guides us in our mental, emotional, and spiritual recovery through readings, shared experiences, and questions for reflection. Living Abstinent offers a practical guide to living in abstinence. Forthcoming books include a GSA history book, a daily reflections book, and Sharing the Solution, a collection of letters.
Short-form literature is also available to download and print. You may wish to download If You Are A Healthcare Professional, which contains the information found on this page and a list of questions to help identify compulsive eaters who are likely to benefit from the GSA program, or A Solution for Compulsive Eaters, which introduces the GSA program to compulsive eaters who are struggling with food.