Jan remembers a preoccupation with food starting in grade school - looking forward to eating on the way home from school, and eating at home in her empty house. "I just remember feeling pretty lonely and empty and food just created a false sense of feeling good. I found comfort in food."

Jan became a mother in her teens, and a few years later began to binge and purge to get rid of the extra baby weight. She thought it was the answer, but it was the beginning of a vicious cycle, a true addiction to food that lasted for many years. Her co-addiction was marijuana, and for many years bingeing, purging and smoking were the story of her life, in addition to codependency and self-esteem issues.

"I remember thinking, 'I'm going to be 70 years old, hanging over a toilet, throwing up and smoking pot.' And I just gave up. I thought, 'God must be so disgusted with me.'"

Watch Jan's story to hear about her journey with food addiction.

Jan found that she could fight her food and marijuana addictions in her own will at times, but it would never last. She was still addicted emotionally and physically. The difference came when she found out about God's grace for her, that she didn't have to be "good" to be loved and accepted. She began to be able to go several days without bingeing and purging and found that the desire to do those things was gone. But she knew she needed to do some work on the issues that led to the behavior.

She found a sense of community in a 12-step recovery program and says she still works the 12 steps to this day‚ learning to cope, owning her mistakes, and giving and seeking forgiveness. "I had a sense of normalcy in my crazy world for the first time in years. I didn't feel judged or condemned. We were all there for the one purpose of recovery."

Watch Jan's Story, Part 2 to learn how Jan fought her addictions.