EIGHT years ago Tracy was eating her way, she believes, to an early grave. She felt in complete isolation, controlled by a compulsion eating disorder which was making her ill, miserable and desperate.

Now, at the age of 34, Tracy is a changed person who day by day is overcoming the problems which have dogged her life since she was a teenager. The cause of this turnaround has been Overeaters Anonymous.

Tracy struck up the courage to go to a meeting of OA ? the food addicts? equivalent of Alcoholics Anonymous ? after moving to Plymouth from Doncaster when comfort eating turned into an obsession.

From a young age whenever she was depressed, frightened or upset she would turn to food ? she would put on weight and then feel so ashamed she would join numerous slimming clubs and gyms but they only gave a temporary solution to the problem.

When Tracy left her friends and family to move to Plymouth with her new husband ? a soldier ? things took a turn for the worse.

?My husband would be away for days at a time and the eating just took over,? she said. ?Instead of having just one piece of cake or one yoghurt I would keep going back into the fridge until I finished everything.

?When I replaced what I had eaten I would buy extra and then eat that as well. Very often I would get on a bus, go to the shops, buy six or seven chocolate bars and go back home again.

?I would binge and binge but at the time I did not know I was suffering from a disease which is like anorexia or bullimia.?

She said there came a point when the eating took control and she felt powerless to do anything about it.

?I would be surrounded by a heap of chocolate wrappers and I felt in so much physical pain and so ashamed about what I had done but I could not stop myself,? said Tracy. ?Everytime I would make a resolution not to do it again but each time I failed to stick to it.?

?I had gone from a bubbly person to someone with no energy, no enthusiasm and no interest in anything.?

Tracy did not want to go out of the house or see anyone and for some time she could not bring her problems out into the open: ?I had tried to talk to people in the past but they would frown or shake their heads.

?I would only over eat in private so no-one could see I had an obvious problem, not even my husband. I used to hide chocolate bars in the drawers amongst my clothes. I felt so isolated ? like I was the only one going through this.?

But that first meeting of OA she attended in Plymouth was ?the beginning of the rest of my life.?

?I had seen an advert for OA on the TV before I moved down here and got the number for a local group out of the phone book ? I was on course to self destruct and knew if I did not do something I might not be around that much longer.?

For the first time Tracy could see that there were other people like her: ?It was like they were reading my diary ? I could identify exactly with what they were saying.

?OA teaches you to arrest your addiction one day at a time and you gain support through the other members ? it?s a fellowship where everybody helps each other.?

OA follows a 12 step recovery plan which teaches you about accepting yourself, understanding your problems, communicating with others and believing in a power greater than yourself.

The organisation began in America in 1960 and has grown to thousands of meetings throughout the world. Plymouth now has two meetings a week and OA in Tavistock, which meets at 7.30pm on Monday nights in the Abbey Mead Health Centre, is currently celebrating its second birthday. There are no fees to attend OA sessions.

Tracy said she has now found the confidence to work, travel across the country attending OA meetings and act as a mentor for other food addicts.

When she looks back at the woman she was, she hardly recognises herself: ?I was a completely different person but at the time I did not understand what was happening to me. Now I realise I was eating to cover up a lot of the feelings I had, primarily ones of fear. As a child if I was frightened or worried about something I used to sneak out of my room at night and help myself to biscuits. It was just the start of a compulsive eating disorder which totally consumed my life.?

Her battle with her food addiction involved days of food binges and days of starving herself to keep her weight down: ?I would gorge myself and then diet ? a few days before I was due to go to a slimming club I would eat virtually nothing and drink loads of water to keep the weight off.

When Tracy joined OA she had put on three stones because the periods of dieting had become less and less: ?I had been living a lie for so many years but by the end I could not keep it up ? I was obsessed with food.?

Her over eating eventually destroyed her marriage but there is another happy ending to this story in that Tracy?s recovery has brought the couple together again ? next year they plan to remarry and hope to have a family.

Now whenever Tracy feels vulnerable she will contact one of the friends she has made through OA: ?There is no hierarchy or professionals in OA. It is all about getting helping from each other,? she said. ?It might sound like a cliche but OA changed my life and I hope through my experiences I can help other people to turn their lives around too.