Original Text of the "Grey Sheet" of Overeaters Anonymous Food Plan

The following is the text from the original Overeaters Anonymous (O.A.) "Grey Sheet" food plan. Those who follow this plan are called "greysheeters" and they have started their own group called Greysheeters Anonymous. Greysheeters Anonymous is a splinter group from Overeaters Anonymous for those who follow the greysheet food plan.

Greysheeters are adamant this is more than a low-carb diet; it's an entire way of life based on the 12 steps of Alcoholics Anonymous. Greysheet abstinence is defined as following the food plan listed below, including three weighed and measured meals each day with nothing in between except for no-calorie beverages. Before deciding on a food plan please read the History of Overeaters Anonymous and its Grey Sheet to learn more about how the grey sheet food plan came to be, and why it is not officially supported by Overeaters Anonymous today. 


PAGE ONE OF OA PAMPHLET

PLAN "A" -- LOW-CARBOHYDRATE

(Suggested for losing weight)

SAMPLE MENU

BREAKFAST
1 Protein
1 Fruit
Coffee

LUNCH
1 Protein
1 Vegetable
Finger Salad
(no dressing)

DINNER
1 Protein
1 Vegetable
Salad

For carbohydrate sensitive people, man-made sugars and starches create a craving for more of the same. Therefore these foods cannot be eater at all! This plan provides for complete abstinence from man-made sugars and starches and from any foods with more than 10% carbohydrate content.

We suggest three measured meals a day with nothing in between but black coffee, tea or no-calorie soft drinks.

Overeaters Anonymous offers a choice of three disciplined eating plans:

For losing weight ... Plan "A", low-carbohydrate (this pamphlet) or Plan "B", basic-four food groups. For maintaining normal weight ... low-carbohydrate maintenance plan. Before you choose any plan, see your doctor. If you have a medical problem, follow your doctor's plan. You will still be abstaining from compulsive overeating.

REMEMBER .... OURS IS A THREE-FOLD ILLNESS. THESE SUGGESTED EATING PLANS CAN GUIDE US ON THE PHYSICAL LEVEL BUT WE NEED THE 12 STEPS TO REMEMBER OUR RECOVERY ON THE SPIRITUAL AND EMOTIONAL LEVEL AS WELL.


PAGE TWO OF OA PAMPHLET

SUGGESTED GUIDES FOR PLAN "A" ABSTINENCE

Proteins may be mixed (i.e., chef's salad). Vegetables may be mixed. If a ½ cup vegetable is included, the whole portion may not exceed ½ cup.

Sugar must be listed 5th or below on ingredient labels: not among the first 4 items (Ex. Veg Oil, water, salt, spices, sugar.)

Check labels for sugar content: packaged meats, low-cal and regular dressings, mixed spices, vegetables in cans and jars.

Dextrose, lactose and corn syrup are forms of sugar. Must be listed 5th or below on labels.

Mix family salads, then measure two 8 ounce cups for your own, using up to 2 tbs dressing without sugar.

A finger salad is three small, raw vegetables or green salad without dressing.

When eating out, if cooked vegetable in not available have a 4th raw vegetable.

If fresh fruits are unavailable, use fresh frozen not packed in sugar or syrup, fruits packed in water, or their own juice, not sugar added. Mixing of fruits except the ½ cup fruits to total 1 cup.

Use real mayonnaise only, not whipped dressing.

Watch out for high carbohydrate artificial sweeteners. If you are concerned about artificial sweeteners, see your doctor.

1. Use diet catsup and regular mustards on your meats and fish.

2. 3-tsp. lemon juice daily may be used in tea or finger salad. If milk is used as a protein, some of that milk may be used ...

PAGE THREE OF OA PAMPHLET

FOOD PORTIONS SHEET

PROTEIN

Beef - 4 oz.
Cheese - 2 oz.
Chicken - 2 pieces
Clams - 4 oz.
Crab - ½ cup.
Cold Cuts - 2 slices.
Cottage Cheese - ½ cup.
Eggs - 2.
Fish - 4 oz.
Frankfurters - 2
Ham - 4 oz.
Heart - 4 oz.
Kidney - 4 oz.
Lamb - 4 oz.
Liver - 4 oz.
Lobster - 4 oz.
Oysters - 4 oz.
Pork - 4 oz.
Salmon - ½ cup
Sardines - ½ cup
Shrimp - 4 oz.
Soyburger - 4 oz.
(soy proteins, ham & sausage links)
Steak - 4 oz.
Tongue - 4 oz.
Tuna - ½ cup
Turkey - 4 oz.
Veal - 4 oz.
Milk - 8 oz = ½ protein
Buttermilk, 1 cup = ½ protein
Yogurt, low fat plain 1 cup = 1 protein

COOKED VEG. - 1 CUP

Artichoke
Asparagus
Bean Sprouts
Broccoli
Brussel Sprouts
Cabbage
Cauliflower
Celery
Chard
Cucumber
Eggplant
Greens : Mustard, Collard,Beet, Spinach, Turnip
Lettuce
Mushrooms
Okra
Peppers - green, red
Radishes
Parsley
Pickles - sour, dill
Sauerkraut
String Beans
Summer Squash
Tomatoes
Turnip
Zucchini

COOKED VEG. 1/2 C.

Beets
Carrots
Onions
Pumpkin
Rutabagas
Winter Squash
Wheat Germ - 1/8 cup

THE FOLLOWING MAY BE USED FOR COOKING ONLY

All spices, Onion Soup, Horseradish, Soy Sauce and Paste, Worcestershire Sauce.


PAGE FOUR OF OA PAMPHLET

FRESH FRUITS

Apricots - 3 medium
Apple - 1 medium
Blackberries - ½ cup
Blueberries - ½ cup
Boysenberries - 1 cup
Cantaloupe - ½
Casaba Melon - ¼
Cranberries - 1 cup
Gooseberries - 1 cup
Grapefruit - ½
Honeydew Melon - ¼
Lemons & Limes - 2
Orange - 1 (3" diam.)
Pineapple - 1 cup
Peach - 1 medium
Plum - 2 medium
Raspberries - ½ cup
Rhubarb - 1 cup
Strawberries - 1 cup
Tangerine - 2 large

This is the food plan. It will get rid of the outer manifestation, fat. It is only a part of our program. The 12 Steps will take care of our living problems.

You may ask, "Can I do it?"

Yes, the key is within yourself. All you need is honesty, willingness and an open mind.

Many of the things you hear will sound strange at first. Just listen to the new ideas. Let them flow over you. Give these concepts time to settle.

A choice is open to you. You can choose to become responsible to yourself, for yourself. Learn, one day at a time, to like and love yourself.

Recovery begins here. The choice is yours.

Keep coming back!


PAGE FIVE OF OA PAMPHLET

The 12 Steps of Overeaters Anonymous

Here are the steps which are suggested as a program of recovery.

1. We admitted we were powerless over food-that our lives had become unmanageable.

2. Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.

3. Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him.

4. Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.

5. Admitted to God, to ourselves and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.

6. Were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character.

7. Humbly asked Him to remove our shortcomings.

8. Made a list of all persons we had harmed and became willing to make amends to them all.

9. Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.

10. Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong, promptly admitted it.

11. Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God as we understood Him, praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out.

12. Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these Steps, we tried to carry this message to compulsive overeaters and to practice these principles in all our affairs.

PAGE 6 AND FINAL PAGE OF THE PAMPHLET

GENERAL SUGGESTIONS

WEIGHING AND MEASURING FOOD

We use an 8-ounce measuring cup (level) and a postal or kitchen scale. Foods are measured and weighed after cooking.

FOOD PREPARATION

Meats may be broiled, baked, boiled, roasted, pan-fried, or grilled. Eggs may be fried. Salad dressing without sugar once a day; a pat of butter or margarine may be used in cooking vegetables.

FOODS WE AVOID

Cake, candy, candy coated gum, catsup, cookies, honey, jam, jelly, nuts, pastries, peanut butter, pie, sugar, sugared soft drinks, syrups, Creamed, fried or scalloped foods. Cereals, noodles and spaghetti, Beer, wine and other alcoholic beverages. Condensed milk, cream cheese, sour cream and whipped cream. Crackers and all bread products.


WE ALSO SUGGEST . . .

1. Write your food plan daily; call it in to your food sponsor for one month.
2. Eat slowly, taking small bites.
3. Eat your meals sitting down.
4. No second helpings at meals.
5. Do not skip any meals.
6. Weigh yourself only once a month.
7. Avoid your individual binge foods.
8. Call before you take that first bite.

DO NOT EAT DIET SWEETS OR FOODS NOT ON THE FOOD PORTIONS SHEET 
WHEN IN DOUBT, LEAVE IT OUT.

Appendix

The Twelve Traditions of Overeaters Anonymous

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 non-professional, 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.

The History of Overeaters Anonymous and its Grey Sheet

78 comments:

Trostur Freyr Sigfusson said...

To my friends. Can you help? The amount of food in pr. Carb and fat-do the scale numbers when weighing food apply for man and ladies, meaning that man consume the amount food and as our ladies. And another thing, the greysheet plan-is it possible to find it in Kilogram not US weigh standard. Thank you my recovery friends.

Anonymous said...

My sponsor and I both do Grey Sheet as written. He's male, older than me, and very active physically, at least when it's warm out. The amounts are the same for male and female. When I'm in Canada I use 125g for 4 ounces, 250 for 8 ounces. I weigh everything -- it's too hard to figure out with some foods, strawberries, brussel sprouts, whole green beans, how much of One Cup is strawberries and how much is air. Hope that helps.

Unknown said...

Yeeks - this is amazingly awful. According to this, your protein can be two frankfurters and you get three proteins a day. That's six franks a day. At two ounces each, that's twelve ounces of high sodium and fat.

Unknown said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
cocolatte said...

Choices... Never eat franks.

Unknown said...

I have been working on the grey sheet for almost a month it can get hard and tricky at times for me because I don't always have my scale with me and to lazy to make my food at night however I have been doing good. I have currently lost 10 pounds

Unknown said...

Can you advise, as I don't see it above - if any fats are allowed. Butter, olive oil, coconut oil? If so, how much per day?

Unknown said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Keyee said...

My O.A. sponsor suggested:
No fast for breakfast or just spray lightly in pan
2 tbs fat for lunch
1 tbs fat (olive oil, butter etc) dinner
Are Ther any better suggestions?

Keyee said...

Typo:
Breakfast: NO FATS

cdl exam answers said...

Greysheet is successful only with a sponsor- 1 tbls fat for lunch 3tbls fat for dinner-

Keyee said...

Online for Grey sheet concurs with:
breakfast: no fat/oil
lunch: 2 Tbs fat/oil
dinner: 1 Tbs fat/oil
MissYoni Rivera, I have been in Grey Sheet Anonymous for about a month and I've been calling my sponsor daily with food I'm planning for the following day. Also, I've only eaten what is allowed on the list. I have also lost 10 lbs. I have full faith in GSA. DENMW.

Unknown said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Unknown said...

11 months greysheet abstience weighing and measuring checking food in with sponsor a wonderfull program for me hugh a food addict ..g.b don't eat no matter what

BVaughn7 said...

I did it for a while then moved to FAA. Works better for me in the long run but so glad to have a start with GreySheet. So grateful to be free of sugar, flour and wheat, food compulsion and living my life again.

pinkcat47 said...

USE YOUR HEAD!!!!!!

pinkcat47 said...

1 tbs butter at lunch on hot veggie. 1 tbs butter at night, and 2T salad dressing at night with sugar listed 5th or below in the ingredients.

Unknown said...

Thank you for your helpful comment.

Unknown said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Unknown said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Unknown said...

Thank you for your helpful comment.

Unknown said...

Get a sponsor! Greysheet.org

Unknown said...

The Greysheet does not state 2/TBs fat at lunch

Unknown said...

The Greysheet does not state 2/TBs fat at lunch

Unknown said...

Please get a sponsor - Greysheet should not be attempted without a sponsor who has a sponsor. I have done it for 14 years with sponsors who have sponsors who have sponsors... Blessings - Linda

Anonymous said...

6oz for protein for men. Lost 90 lbs in 90 days

Anonymous said...

you would eat franks 3 days in a row and then never eat them again. Save it for 4th of July and memorial day.

Anonymous said...

Progress not perfection. Soon you will get into a routine. People who claim to have 20+ years of abstinence did not work a perfect program. Ever get stuck in an airport? So sick you couldn't get out of bed? We have all been there.

Unknown said...

Does FAA work the same as Greysheet?

Unknown said...

Is FAA as restrictive as Greysheet?

Jane said...

Very similar with less fat than Greysheet.

MorningStar L. said...

Nonsense. But if you want to be happy while you're on it, doing the 12 Steps is essential.

Unknown said...

Thank you for sharing such great information.It is informative, can you help me in finding out more detail on Diet Plan,iam interested and would like to know more about this field and wanted to understand the basics of Healthy Food

Unknown said...

Thank you for sharing such great information.It is informative, can you help me in finding out more detail on diet plan ,iam interested and would like to know more about this field and wanted to understand the basics of healthy food

Coffee said...

This is NOT nonsense. Without a sponsor, Greysheet is nothing more than a food plan that the food addict will fail at. The recovery is in the steps, NOT the Greysheet food plan. The Greysheet only takes care of the outer manifestation of our illness. The 12 Steps take care of the insides and prevent recovery and lifelong abstinence.

Coffee said...

This is not a diet plan.

Coffee said...

This is not a diet plan.

Unknown said...

Thank you for sharing such great information.It is informative, can you help me in finding out more detail on Diet Plan
,i am interested and would like to know more about this field and wanted to understand the details about Guided Meditation

John Marshall Mantel, Inc. said...

I lost 90 lbs. with greysheet. But you must commit to the whole system, not just the parts you like. I also would suggest crossfit workouts to build strength as you lose fat.

Unknown said...

If you take care of the 12 steps; the twelve pounds will be taken care of.

Unknown said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Unknown said...

Thank you for sharing such great information.It is informative, can you help me in finding out more detail on Diet Plan
,i am interested and would like to know more about this field and wanted to understand the details about Healthy Food

Unknown said...

I am not a greysheet participant but I can understand why a sponsor is needed. I have been a chocoholic who exercises a lot for 40 years. It took me three attempts recently to remove all processed carbs, eat medium levels of proteins, and high amounts of healthy (cold pressed olive and coconut oil and grass fed butter) fats and lots of non-starchy vegetables. Have been losing 1/8 lb per day for about twelve weeks. Intermittent fasting is effortless once your body is fat adapted because you are consuming adipose when you are not eating, if you are more than 5% body fat. It is possible that the greysheet diet could be even easier if it was more strict with trash carbohydrates since they are not even needed by the body (produced by the liver as required). That way real hunger goes away and all that is left are bad habits. It is also great for endurance sports. I rode 67 miles drinking only water last weekend, the energy comes from adipose tissue while exercising, no need for carbs. In the long run you avoid diabetes and the associated vascular decline. From the dietary perspective it is all about keeping insulin very low.

Unknown said...

can anyone confirm if I am allowed to have dried roasted red peppers as part of my weighted uncooked veg or slad

Unknown said...

Does anyone have the recipe for WheatGerm hockey puck cookie to take on the go when traveling?

Connie said...

Yes, you absolutely must get a sponsor in order to work the Greysheet program. I have been weighing and measuring from the Greysheet for 15 years. You must work the plan as the 12-step program that it is. Don't eat no matter what.

Connie said...

Greysheet will not work without a sponsor. I agree with Coffee. A food addict will fail without a sponsor.

Connie said...

Greysheet is not a diet plan.

Connie said...

You should ask your sponsor this question. Don't eat no matter what.

Melanie Adams said...

How many ounces of vegetables (rather than 1/2 cup and 1 cup measures?

MarkD said...

A cup of mixed vegetables is about 5 oz. I prefer to weigh everything, makes it alot easier. Put the plate on scale, zero the scale,add the food, put on table.

Roger G. said...

I've been on Greysheet every day since 9/15/204. I am 5 ft. 11 and have 115 lbs. of physical recovery, but most of all I have freedom from food obsession. You have to have a sponsor. See Greysheet.org for more information.

mamalondon said...

I am doing greysheet food plan but am confused about avocado ? Would that be a 1 cup veg or a small finger veg ? Could I just eat half an ago with my mwall as either the finger salad at lunch or the green salad at dinner ?

mamalondon said...

Also fats ! IA it compulsory that I add the fats to lunch and dinner even if I don't want them ? Does the fat amount include f
The fat when frying ?

mamalondon said...

Also don't understand amounts for finger salad ?? Can you tell me how you define this ? Thank you

Unknown said...

A good low carb diet plan is you should always trust.

Not it said...

I did greysheet for 9 months and lost a lot of weight. Then I went to a nutritionist who told me to eat complex carbs. I quit greysheet and gained more weight back. I call it my food cult days. If you need help losing weight please do anything but greysheet. Weighing and measuring three meals a day and attending greysheet meetings should not be your whole life. Sure the women there are skinny but there is more to life than being a size 2.

ElLisa said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
ElLisa said...

If I am a vegetarian, or legumes and beans OK for protein? Any suggestions in that case?

Unknown said...

Hello,
The last line of page two (of the Grey Sheet) states:
"If milk is used as a protein, some of that milk may be used ..." What/how can that milk be used, please?
Thank you.

Joann Handsford said...

I'm wondering if this is approved literature?

Unknown said...

For example: A small tomato, a couple baby carrots, and maybe a few slices of cucumber, celery sticks or a radish or two.

Unknown said...

If you like milk in your morning coffee...

Unknown said...

How do I get a sponsor . And get a meeting. 815 919 4420. I am not good with e mail need help in being accountable

Unknown said...

I have a sponsor I havent been using . Tomorrow at lunch time i start the plan. My pain dr put me on this type of diet. She said no grains no flour. Just meat and protien.and veggies. She didnt say anything about fruit. I have a question
About the wheat germ muffin
That's not considered a grain? I know that there are minute muffins made with flax seed. Ground that are low carb. Would this be ok

JumpinJuli's Mojo said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Anonymous said...

I love this program. It has saved my life. There are are some wonderful ideas, and some bad ones too. For instance, a food plan is dictated and not suggested, as all other 12 step programs do, then it is more of a food club than a true 12-step program. And basically, the primary purpose is to abstain from all man-made carbs and sugars. I call my food into my sponsor every day, as a gesture of desire to stay abstinent. Being a New Yorker, schedules are hard to keep but if I become rigid and obsessive about doing a perfect program like so many of the women i’ve met, I will wind up relapsing. One woman brought a photo scrapbook with pictures of her 50 measured 1-cup vegetable portions in little plastic containers! That’s happiness in Greysheets Anonymous? Shoot me dead!

Juliet Parry said...

8 ounce = 1 cup . non-starchy veg
4 ounce = 1/2 cup starch veg

Katlizy said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Ken p from NJ said...

Wing and thigh. Drumstick and thigh ? Ask your sponsor.

Anonymous said...

All of these people who insist you do this with a sponsor is interesting to me. I am in a different COE fellowship (not Greysheet) and I didn't join Greysheet in part because I find it somewhat suspicious that they refuse to make this public and only distribute the plan to sponsors who have 3 months of working the plan to then give to their sponsees. I'm so glad I found this website which is open and honest about what's actually on the grey sheet. I have not been able to get to a nutritionist yet because of COVID-19 and I will try the plan until then.

Dawn Trook said...

I wouldn’t worry so much about the sodium in hot dogs when you are on a plan as clean as this in every other regard. If I feel restricted on a food plan, I will binge. That’s why diets don’t work: it’s a vicious cycle, so things like hot dogs and bacon make me feel that this is a yummy guide to eating. This plan will help you lose weight: but as someone recovered from the desperate cycle to get thin, it is not about the weight. It’s about freedom from the obsession with food and controlling your food intake. Freedom from scales and calorie counting. It’s about freedom from fear and guilt and shame. It’s about joy, it’s about connection

Eva Jlassi said...

I can see how this plan is working for people triggered by carbohydrates (it is a recognised, real addiction). About fats: When loosing weight, you are "eating" plenty of fat from your own fat stores. It is a healthy (mammalian) animal fat. Helps explain why people feel well. Loosing 1 pound of weight per week we utilise approx. 64g of our own fat per day. When is time to switch to maintenance, we need that fat to come from outside. It is 4-5 tablespoons of fat a day (less if we like oily fish, marbled steak, full fat milk or avocado).

Anonymous said...

How do I find a sponsor? Barbara In Jacksonville Beach, FL

Anonymous said...

Looking for a GSA food sponsor in the Dallas TX area please - to call in my food daily etc ❤️

Anonymous said...

How do I find a sponsor

Anonymous said...

Find a sponsor as well as more info from the official GSA website: https://www.greysheet.org/is-gsa-for-you/finding-a-sponsor

Anonymous said...

Having a hard time finding a willing sponsor. That’s why I never became involved. I’m trying again on my own out of pure frustration. I found the program online and will attend daily meetings. That’s the best I can do.

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