The University of Alabama Collegiate Recovery and Intervention Services will host its second weekly 12-step Food Addicts Anonymous support meetings on Wednesday, April 17.

What: Discussion-based Food Addicts Anonymous meeting

Who: Open to all

When: April 17, noon-1 p.m.

Where: South Lawn, at the Collegiate Recovery and Intervention Office

Why:

“We are the first Food Addicts Anonymous meeting in the state of Alabama,” said Gerard Love, executive director of Collegiate Recovery and Intervention.

Love said Food Addicts Anonymous is an independent, 12-step, student-facilitated support group. He said this particular program has a broad interpretation, and it includes people who have a compulsive relationship with food and people who restrict, which is what happens with anorexia and people who binge and purge.

“[Food Addicts Anonymous] is simply a meeting where people that have a common interest in terms of not letting food control their life can get together and talk about where they are and what they are doing as they move toward trying to have a healthy relationship with food,” Love said.

Love said the meetings are open, meaning anyone can attend and be anonymous.

To learn more about Food Addicts Anonymous, visit foodaddictsanonymous.org.

“Food is intricately involved in our culture and so, therefore, sometimes people aren’t even aware that they have an unhealthy relationship with food,” Love said.