116. Rewire Your Brain to Stop Emotional Eating using FBI Counterintelligence Secrets with Holly Bertone
Release Date: 07/21/2025
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Emotional Eats Podcast: What Women Over 40 Really Need to Know About Food, Hormones, and Their Bodies Without the Diet Culture Spin
Join the Cool Girl Collective This is your safe space to ask questions, share your story, and find practical tools for your health and happiness. 👉 Click Here to Join: This episode is one of those conversations that feels easy, natural, and surprisingly comforting. I’m joined by Jen, the creator behind the popular TikTok and Instagram account @jenopause_midlife, and what happens is an honest, fun, and deeply relatable conversation about midlife, hormones, and everything women were never really taught about this stage of life. We talk about what it’s like to start...
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140. A Simple Meal Prep System That Actually Works in Midlife and Stops the Takeout and Snacking
Emotional Eats Podcast: What Women Over 40 Really Need to Know About Food, Hormones, and Their Bodies Without the Diet Culture Spin
Join the Cool Girl Collective We created the Cool Girl Collective for women over 40 who are ready to feel supported, seen, and understood. Inside, you’ll find real conversations about menopause, hormones, emotional eating, chronic illness, relationships, and everything midlife brings along with humor, heart, and community. This is your safe space to ask questions, share your story, and find practical tools for your health and happiness. 👉 Click Here to Join: Meal Prep Made Simple In Episode 140 of the Emotional Eats podcast, Kim breaks down the simple system she uses to...
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139. Alcohol and Midlife Women: To Drink or Not to Drink
Emotional Eats Podcast: What Women Over 40 Really Need to Know About Food, Hormones, and Their Bodies Without the Diet Culture Spin
Join the Cool Girl Collective We created the Cool Girl Collective for women over 40 who are ready to feel supported, seen, and understood. Inside, you’ll find real conversations about menopause, hormones, emotional eating, chronic illness, relationships, and everything midlife brings along with humor, heart, and community. This is your safe space to ask questions, share your story, and find practical tools for your health and happiness. 👉 Click Here to Join: To Drink or Not to Drink in Midlife In today’s episode, we’re talking about alcohol in midlife through a...
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138. Why Anxiety Increases During Menopause and What To Do About It
Emotional Eats Podcast: What Women Over 40 Really Need to Know About Food, Hormones, and Their Bodies Without the Diet Culture Spin
Join the Cool Girl Collective We created the Cool Girl Collective for women over 40 who are ready to feel supported, seen, and understood. Inside, you’ll find real conversations about menopause, hormones, emotional eating, chronic illness, relationships, and everything midlife brings along with humor, heart, and community. This is your safe space to ask questions, share your story, and find practical tools for your health and happiness. 👉 Click Here to Join: If you are a woman in perimenopause or post-menopause and you’ve noticed more anxiety, restlessness, looping...
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137. The Episodes That Sparked the Biggest Conversations with Women Over 40 in 2025 Around Gut Health, Menopause, Menopause Weight Loss, Vaginal Health, Hormones and Emotional Eating.
Emotional Eats Podcast: What Women Over 40 Really Need to Know About Food, Hormones, and Their Bodies Without the Diet Culture Spin
Join the Cool Girl Collective We created the Cool Girl Collective for women over 40 who are ready to feel supported, seen, and understood. Inside, you’ll find real conversations about menopause, hormones, emotional eating, chronic illness, relationships, and everything midlife brings along with with humor, heart, and community. This is your safe space to ask questions, share your story, and find practical tools for your health and happiness. 👉 Click Here to Join: This special Best of 2025 episode brings together the most listened to, most shared, and most talked about...
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136. How to Set Real Boundaries with Dysfunctional Parents Without Turning to Food
Emotional Eats Podcast: What Women Over 40 Really Need to Know About Food, Hormones, and Their Bodies Without the Diet Culture Spin
Join the Cool Girl Collective We created the Cool Girl Collective for women over 40 who are ready to feel supported, seen, and understood. Inside, you’ll find real conversations about menopause, hormones, emotional eating, chronic illness, relationships, and everything midlife brings along with with humor, heart, and community. This is your safe space to ask questions, share your story, and find practical tools for your health and happiness. 👉 Click Here to Join: This episode is a reminder that you are not “too sensitive” for needing boundaries and that healing does...
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135. Why Midlife Women Can’t Lose the Last Five Pounds with Kim Hynes
Emotional Eats Podcast: What Women Over 40 Really Need to Know About Food, Hormones, and Their Bodies Without the Diet Culture Spin
Join the Cool Girl Collective We created the Cool Girl Collective for women over 40 who are ready to feel supported, seen, and understood. Inside, you’ll find real conversations about menopause, hormones, emotional eating, chronic illness, relationships, and everything midlife brings along with with humor, heart, and community. This is your safe space to ask questions, share your story, and find practical tools for your health and happiness. 👉 Click Here to Join: If you’ve ever felt frustrated, stuck, or conflicted about that last bit of weight, this episode offers...
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134. Why starting in January Backfires for Your Midlife Midsection and Metabolism
Emotional Eats Podcast: What Women Over 40 Really Need to Know About Food, Hormones, and Their Bodies Without the Diet Culture Spin
Join the Cool Girl Collective We created the Cool Girl Collective for women over 40 who are ready to feel supported, seen, and understood. Inside, you’ll find real conversations about menopause, hormones, emotional eating, chronic illness, relationships, and everything midlife brings along with with humor, heart, and community. This is your safe space to ask questions, share your story, and find practical tools for your health and happiness. 👉 Click Here to Join: If you are a woman in your 40s, 50s, or 60s who keeps promising yourself you will “start fresh” on Monday,...
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133. Your Over 40 Guide to Saying No to Nonsense
Emotional Eats Podcast: What Women Over 40 Really Need to Know About Food, Hormones, and Their Bodies Without the Diet Culture Spin
Join the Cool Girl Collective We created the Cool Girl Collective for women over 40 who are ready to feel supported, seen, and understood. Inside, you’ll find real conversations about menopause, hormones, emotional eating, chronic illness, relationships, and everything midlife brings along with with humor, heart, and community. This is your safe space to ask questions, share your story, and find practical tools for your health and happiness. 👉 Click Here to Join: This fun, lighthearted episode has a big dose of truth underneath it. Kim is 59 and officially in her “not...
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132. Post-Menopause Belly Fat? These 5 Fixes Feel Like Cheating Part 2
Emotional Eats Podcast: What Women Over 40 Really Need to Know About Food, Hormones, and Their Bodies Without the Diet Culture Spin
Join the Cool Girl Collective We created the Cool Girl Collective for women over 40 who are ready to feel supported, seen, and understood. Inside, you’ll find real conversations about menopause, hormones, emotional eating, chronic illness, relationships, and everything midlife brings along with with humor, heart, and community. This is your safe space to ask questions, share your story, and find practical tools for your health and happiness. 👉 Click Here to Join: Feeling better in post-menopause isn’t just about food and workouts. In this second half of the series, we...
info_outlineGet the FREE Tapping Video to Stop the Late Day Emotional Eating.
Click here: https://kimhynes.com/late-day-emotional-eating-tapping-video
I sat down with my new friend, Holly Berton who is a former Chief of Staff in FBI Counterintelligence turned emotional eating expert.
Holly shares how her childhood experiences, her high-achieving career, and her own struggles with emotional eating led her to develop a method using FBI-inspired tactics to overcome food obsession and cravings.
Together, we get into the shame, the guilt, and the internal chaos so many high-achieving women feel with food, even when they "look" like they have it all together. This is not about willpower. This is about rewiring your brain and creating lasting change to stop emotional eating. If you’ve ever struggled with emotional eating or food obsession, this one is for you.
Episode Highlights
- 03:40 – The truth about labels like “emotional eating,” “binge eating,” and “food addiction”
- 06:10 – What changed in our generation: discomfort, smartphones, and the loss of hobbies
- 09:40 – From puzzles and psychology to FBI counterintelligence and food patterns
- 14:25 – Holly’s emotional eating story and her turning point with ice cream
- 20:45 – Why the health coaching education system missed the mark
- 23:25 – FBI-level tactics: patterns, blind spots, and threats applied to food
- 27:40 – The 3 S’s: See It, Stop It, Shift It – a simple but powerful rewire method
- 33:30 – Dopamine, cravings, and why willpower doesn’t work
- 37:00 – The karaoke study: how shifting emotions can change behavior
- 42:00 – Is it better to abstain or allow moderation? Here’s how to tell
- 45:10 – How your identity impacts your relationship with food
- 48:00 – 8 questions to ask yourself if you’re wondering whether you struggle with emotional eating
- 51:00 – Holly’s special freebie: The Emotional Eating Tactical Blueprint
Key Takeaways
- Emotional eating affects women across all sizes, backgrounds, and levels of success
- Dieting and willpower won’t fix what's rooted in survival patterns and coping
- Holly’s 3-step “See It, Stop It, Shift It” approach helps rewire the brain and interrupt cravings
- The dopamine hit comes before the food hits your mouth, which is why you can feel out of control
- Identity and past trauma deeply influence eating patterns—it’s not about laziness or lack of effort
About Holly
Holly Bertone is a certified health coach and former Chief of Staff at the FBI’s Counterintelligence Division. After decades of her own emotional eating struggles and a high-pressure career, she now helps high-achieving midlife women take back control from food and cravings. Combining her background in behavioral analysis and neuroscience with her personal experience, Holly has built a powerful framework that empowers women to break free from emotional eating and finally feel in control.
Connect with Holly
Get her Emotional Eating Tactical Blueprint free when you DM “blueprint” on Instagram!
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/holly.berton
- Website: https://www.pinkfortitude.com
- Free Blueprint: https://www.pinkfortitude.com/blueprint
If this episode resonated with you:
- Share it with a friend who needs a mindset shift around food.
- Hit Follow or Subscribe so you never miss an episode.
- Leave a review — it helps other midlife women find this support.
Join the Conversation, Coaching and Community:
Continue learning, talking, and getting coaching and support around emotional eating, midlife women’s health, and menopause by joining the Emotional Eats Community.
Click here to join: https://kimhynes.com/emotional-eats-community-sign-up
CLICK here for a FREE tapping video to STOP EMOTIONAL EATING
Use this short, powerful 7-minute tapping (EFT) session to help stop emotional eating after work, before dinner, or whenever the cravings hit hard.
https://kimhynes.com/late-day-emotional-eating-tapping-video
Connect with Kim:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kimhyneshealth
Website: https://www.kimhynes.com
Podcast: https://kimhynes.com/podcast
If you like the Emotional Eats podcast, please subscribe, follow, and leave a 5-star rating and review. Tag us on social media—I would be so grateful.
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Disclaimer: The information in this podcast is not intended to replace working with your doctor, medical provider, or mental health professional. It is for conversation, information, and entertainment only.
Note: Some links may be affiliate links, and I may receive a small commission or sponsorship support at no extra cost to you. These partnerships help me keep the Emotional Eats Podcast going and allow me to continue creating free content to support you on your journey.