416: Cracking the Code: Overcoming Emotional Eating with Holly Bertone

Let’s be real — emotional eating is something so many of us deal with, especially as busy women navigating the demands of midlife, careers, family, hormones, and everything in between. Maybe it looks like mindless snacking after a long day, or that late-night craving that feels impossible to resist. It can feel like a cycle you can’t escape — but you can.I sat down with Holly Bertone, a certified holistic health coach — and former FBI Chief of Staff for Counterintelligence — to talk about why we eat the way we do, and how we can finally stop feeling like food is in control.This episode is packed with eye-opening insights and practical tools, especially if you’ve ever thought:

• “Why can’t I stop eating even when I’m not hungry?”
• “I was doing so well…what happened?”
• “I know what to do, I just can’t seem to do it.”
  

Let’s dig into what Holly had to share.

The Truth About Emotional Eating

Holly brings a one-of-a-kind approach to emotional eating by blending her FBI training in pattern recognition with her expertise in brain science and health coaching.

Some of her biggest messages:
✨ This isn’t about willpower.
✨ It’s not your fault.
✨ And you’re not broken.

She explains that our brain makes food decisions in under half a second — before we’re even aware it’s happening. That’s not something you can out-discipline. You have to retrain it — and that starts with understanding your emotional triggers.The Big Lie We’ve Been SoldThe diet industry.Holly shared an interesting statistic — the U.S. diet industry is worth between $70 and $90 billion dollars… and yet diets fail 92% of the time. That’s not just a fluke — that’s by design.We’ve been conditioned to believe:

• Willpower is the answer (it’s not).
• You just need more discipline (you don’t).
• Quick fixes are the solution (they never are).
  
  

The truth? If you’re stuck in an emotional eating loop, it’s not because you’re weak. It’s because your brain is running an outdated program — and it’s time to update the software.

Holly’s 3-Step Framework: See It. Stop It. Shift It.

Holly teaches a practical 3-step process to help interrupt emotional eating in real time — no shame, no judgment, just real strategies that work.

1️⃣ See It

First, identify your patterns. Holly uses “counterintelligence” tactics (yep — straight from her FBI playbook!) to help you recognize the hidden triggers behind your habits. Awareness is always the first step to change.

2️⃣ Stop It

Once you spot the pattern, it’s time to interrupt it. Holly teaches “countermeasures” — tactical interventions that create a pause between the craving and the behavior. This gives your brain the space to choose differently.

3️⃣ Shift It

Finally, this is where the rewiring happens. You begin to create new neural pathways, replacing the old automatic response with a healthier one — so it feels natural, not forced.

Awareness + Forgiveness = FreedomThroughout our conversation, we kept coming back to this: The power of awareness.When you can recognize your patterns without shame — and meet them with curiosity and compassion — you open the door to real, lasting change.We talked about everything from:

• Why food feels so comforting
• How childhood messages (hello, Clean Plate Club!) still show up today
• And how to rewrite your story without guilt, restriction, or perfection
  
  

Freedom from emotional eating doesn’t come from following more rules. It comes from understanding yourself better and giving yourself the grace to grow.Want Holly’s Emotional Eating Tactical Blueprint?If you’re ready to take action, Holly has something special for you.Head over to Instagram and message her @holly.bertone with the word “Blueprint.”

She’ll send you her Emotional Eating Tactical Blueprint — a powerful resource that includes:
✅ A quiz to identify your #1 emotional eating trigger
✅ Her signature 3-step process
✅ “Crime Scene Files: Emotional Eating Edition” (because she’s also a true crime lover!)It’s smart, insightful, and 100% free.

🎧 Tune in to the full episode to hear more of Holly’s insights and grab the blueprint to start making shifts today.
 

Want more support? Come join the Real Life Runners Team and learn how to live, train, and eat in a way that supports your whole self — no guilt required.

You don’t have to do this alone. If you’re ready to stop guessing and start thriving, we’d love to support you. Our Real Life Runners Team is built around you — your life, your body, and your goals.

Click here to check out the Team.

You deserve to feel calm and in control around food. Not constantly battling cravings, not stuck in shame spirals, and definitely not trapped in another “start over Monday” cycle.

This episode is your reminder that change is possible — and it starts with understanding, not restriction!