I am really surprised at the hostility here. Someone in OA once said to me, scratch an overweight woman and you find a very angry one. I think that is very true and it applies to men, also.
Addicts who identify as addicts (by their own personal definition) need specialist help - from other recovering addicts. Rock stars such as Eric Clapton freely admit that AA/NA saved their lives. Clapton even toured with a band called The Character Defects.
The concept of a Higher Power, put simply, means trusting in a power greater than ourselves. As was explained to me - this could be the group itself, one group member, or The Christmas Tree Fairy so long as this WORKS for you as an individual. Many take their sponsor as their Higher Power. Others take their group, or a loving friend or teacher. Others still, perhaps already committed to their own religions, take their own concept of God.
The point of this is to remove the notion that we as individuals are the centre of the universe which, alas, addicts often mistakenly feel they are. Alcoholics in particular are notorious for being selfish in all things, because such an addiction consumes the person and steadily destroys the original personality. Likewise drugs. The moral compass becomes skewed and the ability to make the right decisions all but vanishes. Food may not affect people in the same way as drugs or booze and we need to eat to survive, we cannot go cold turkey but we can give up foods that trigger our binge eating. Compulsive overeating ruins lives, end of story. Those who don't feel they are compulsive overeaters may not need something like OA. I was and remain a compulsive overeater. I will always be at risk around junk food! But I learned to arrest my addiction, one day at a time.
The steps were created a very long time ago, when most people in the USA (where AA was born) did in fact accept the concept of 'God'. Also the steps were created to combat alcoholism in particular and later adapted to deal with Food, Narcotics, Sex, Gambling, and lots more.
If people have a problem with the Higher Power concept then they need not adopt it! Nothing in OA is rigid or 'fixed'. Suggestions are offered to help with the addiction - ideas, things that have worked for others, things that may help even in the darkest hours. Membership is voluntary and free. If a person does not like the sound of it they are at liberty to just not get involved! However it strikes me as very dubious to criticise something that helps so many without personal experience of it. Every meeting is different in that the people leading the meetings are human beings in all their frailty and are not clones. But the basic principles remain the same and members keep their own Recovery by continuing to help others.
There is a saying - 'take what you want, and leave the rest'. I will add to this, or take nothing at all. Walk on by if you so wish. But please do not denigrate and criticise such a valuable organisation out of personal prejudice.
That kinda says it all.