Erica: Hey, girl. By now, you know I have Her Collective, my online community for ambitious women who are done doing it alone. Her Collective is for the women who are smart, capable, and driven, but they find themselves stuck on the sticky floors like self doubt, burnout, and waiting for permission that quite honestly never comes. Inside HER, you get more than motivation. You get real support, real strategies, and real momentum.

Erica: We work on things like clarifying what you want now and what's coming next, building confidence without burning yourself out, navigating hard conversations, career moves, and leadership moments with clarity, and surrounding yourself with women who actually get it. This isn't about hustling harder. It's about moving intentionally with the right tools and the right people in your corner. If you're ready to stop spinning, start choosing yourself, and build a career in life that actually feels aligned, I'd love to welcome you inside her collective. You can learn more and join us at www.joinhercollective.com.

Erica: Because honestly, girl, you were never meant to do this alone. Are you feeling trapped in a cycle of stress eating, eating past the point of fulfillment, or not even sure why you're eating? Do you ever wonder why despite all of your efforts to eat healthy and exercise, you still find yourself reaching for food when you're not even hungry? Do you struggle to understand why food seems to be your only comfort in times of anxiety or overwhelm? Well, I'm here to tell you today, you are not alone.

Erica: And this episode, it is going to be designed specifically for you. We are going deep into the world of emotional eating with Jessica Procini, the founder of Escape Emotional Eating. Jessica brings not only her professional expertise, but also her personal journey of transformation from an emotional eater to someone who has found peace with food. Join us as we explore how to identify emotional eating, understand its roots, and learn practical strategies to heal. Whether you are seeking to embody your full potential or you're simply curious about emotional eating, this episode promises insights that could change the way you relate to food forever.

Erica: You are listening to the Glass Ceiling and Sticky Floor podcast, the podcast that will empower you to shatter limiting beliefs and toxic behaviors to uncover infinite possibilities so that you can live your best life. I'm Erica Rooney, and I'm on a mission to bring more women into positions of power and keep them there. I'm obsessed with all things growth and abundance, and I'm here to talk you through the tried and true secrets to get you to level up your career and your life. We talk about the hard stuff here. Imposter syndrome, perfectionism, fear, and burnout.

Erica: So pull up a seat, pop it in your bud, and let's dive in. Today's guest is a woman on a mission. She is the founder and leader from Escape Emotional Eating, and she is all about helping women who strive for excellence heal from their roots of emotional eating so they can embody their full potential. Jessica Procini, how are you today?

Jessica: I'm very well and very excited to be here.

Erica: Me too. I am super pumped because emotional eating is not a topic that we have covered on the podcast, so this is gonna be brand new for the audience. But I would love to kick it off with learning a little bit about you, both your personal and your professional journey.

Jessica: Okay. So just a little bit of background. I live in Philadelphia and been married to my husband of six going on seven years. I've been the founder of Escape from Emotional Eating for almost thirteen years now. And really how I got into this body of work was I was an emotional eater and had no idea for many, many years.

Jessica: For example, I used to have this thing with granola, like a seemingly healthy food, but when I would eat it, I could go through a bag in a matter of seconds, and it wasn't until I woke up from this what felt like a food trance that I was kind of looking over my shoulder being like, woah. What happened? Who ate all my food, and how did I end up here? And the truth is is those food trances would happen a lot when I was stressed or anxious or overwhelmed or even just trying to process some of my internal world, I would really lean on food as a way to try to either tidy up or escape from the voices in my head or the feelings I was feeling. As that was happening, I started to go on this health journey and started eating healthier and working out more and eventually ended up quitting my corporate job to go back to nutrition school.

Jessica: But what was really surprising to me was that I binge ate my way through nutrition school, meaning they really did not cover emotional eating, compulsive eating, anything that I was experiencing. A lot of it was kinda eat this, not that, work out more, and you'll be happy and healthy. And I was kind of under this idea that if I could just eat really well, like, almost, like, perfectly, and if I could just work out every day, like, I would finally have peace with food. But the truth is is that the more healthy that I ate, the more compulsive I felt around food. And the more that I worked out, the more stressed I was and the more that I would eat.

Jessica: And it was like, what they were telling me should help was actually having the opposite effect. And it wasn't until exhausting a lot of my options that I came to this realization that I was an emotional eater. Even though at that time, I didn't have hundreds of pounds to lose, I never put away, like, 10 bags of potato chips or anything. But what I was doing was textbook emotional eating. From there, a lot of things started to make sense.

Jessica: I was finally able to get the help that I needed and find solutions and even discover aspects of my relationship with food that no one was talking about and no one was teaching. And fast forward to today, it's my journey and my story that really brought me to the creation of escape from emotional eating because I knew how underserved, especially high achievers are when it comes to their relationship with food. And I wanted to kind of fill that gap in the industry where you know that eating healthier and working out more isn't really getting to the root of what's going on, and your issues aren't as bad as, like, a full blown eating disorder. It's like in this gray area, there's really important work to be done, and peace with food really is possible. So now it's been a number of years and my emotional eating is fully extinct.

Jessica: I eat when I'm hungry. I stop when I'm full. Food is great, but there's also a lot of other great things in my life too. I don't feel compelled or magnetized to it anymore. Yeah.

Jessica: And that's really where the start of escape for emotional eating came from.

Erica: It's so fascinating to me because I come from a background of, like, fitness and wellness. So I did take several nutrition classes, mainly focused more on corporate wellness, but you're right. They never really talk about emotional eating. You will cover other eating disorders like anorexia and bulimia, but never emotional eating. And so when I hear emotional eating, I think about, okay.

Erica: I'm stressed. I'm just gonna eat. Or I'm, you know, really upset. I'm gonna eat. Is that what it is, or can is there more to it?

Erica: Like, what's what are the layers?

Jessica: Yeah. So that's not what may show up, but what really defines, like, unhealthy emotional eating is when we're overriding our body. So in those examples, it would be like, I'm really stressed. I'm not hungry physically, but I'm gonna eat. That's where it becomes a problem is when we're eating when we're not hungry, we're overeating, so overriding our natural satiation.

Jessica: And we're consuming when, a, we don't need to be consuming, but we're consuming as a way to try to manage our internal world when food wasn't designed to manage our feelings. Food wasn't designed to manage our stress. Food wasn't designed to manage our anxiety. Food wasn't designed to be a coping mechanism. And when it is used as a coping mechanism, that's where it can be a slippery slope to self sabotage, self destruction, and even health issues.

Erica: Would you consider it almost like an addiction of some kind, or is that too

Jessica: far reaching?

Erica: Hey there, listeners. If you have ever felt like you're stuck in a place, held back by self doubt, perfectionism, or that pesky inner critic, you're not alone. We all face those sticky floors that keep us from reaching the heights we dream of. But guess what? It's time to shatter those limiting beliefs and toxic behaviors to uncover infinite possibilities.

Erica: My book, Glassy Leads and Sticky Floors, is your ultimate guide to smashing through barriers, overcoming limiting beliefs, and stepping into your full potential. This book has been endorsed by none other than the great Mel Robbins, best selling author and motivational powerhouse. It's also been featured in Success Magazine, so you know it's packed with insights that work. Inside, you'll find real life sticky floor stories, practical strategies to help you navigate your own sticky floor moments, and a whole lot of inspiration to keep you climbing. This isn't just a book.

Erica: It's your road map to success, confidence, and freedom. Grab your copy of Glass Ceilings and Sticky Floors today at www.ericaandersonrooney.com. Whether you're in the boardroom, the classroom, or just starting out, this book is for you because no one, and I mean no one, deserves to stay stuck, no one deserves to feel small, and you have glass ceilings to shatter. Let's do this.

Jessica: You know, I always tiptoe around the word addiction Yeah. For a number of reasons. Number one, when I was in the thick of it with my issues with food and someone said, oh, you're addicted to food, I would have immediately pushed back and be like, no. I'm not. Now taking a look at what was going on from, you know, a different perspective, I think there were elements of it, but I personally would not identify with a food addict.

Jessica: So that's why I don't really use that word or that language because I think it it shuts a lot of doors and it shuts out a lot of opportunities for people to look at their or their relationship with food without shame or without labels or, you know, when we start to bring in some of these heavy hitting labels like addiction, I actually think it works against what we're trying to do. And, really, the goal, especially when it comes to, like, podcast interviews and talking about it, is to allow people to look at their relationship with food through a different lens, through a different perspective. And at the end of the day, it's your relationship with food. You get to call it whatever you wanna call it. But I would draw the line and say, like, I I don't really use that word or that phrase because I didn't identify with it, and I think it can actually put people who are struggling in their relationship with food.

Jessica: It can put them further into denial rather than moving them towards hope and possibility.

Erica: I love that you just said all of that because as someone who does not drink alcohol, I do not define myself as an addict. I know some people do, and it's very helpful for them, but I also think it's very different with food because you don't need wine to survive. You do need food to survive. So I think that is powerful in saying, like, let's not attach that label to it because it does bring so much just the word brings shame. Like, an item is someone who doesn't drink alcohol.

Erica: So I completely love that mentality around that, but I wanted to just get your perspective on that. Yeah. Jessica, what was it that made you have this realization that you were, an emotional eater? Because you said you went through nutritional school. You know, you've done all the regular things that you would think you would have this moment in nutritional school.

Erica: What was that for you?

Jessica: You know, I think it was really exhausting a lot of my options and being like, okay. Eating healthier is not the way. Working out more is not the way. You know, being a nutritionist is not the way. Teaching fitness classes full time is not the way.

Jessica: Therapy all day every day is not the way. Like, it was I was kinda like, what do I have left? Like, and why do I feel so crazy and compulsive around food? And and I think it really came from a real honest conversation with myself where I was, really evaluating, like, am I going to feel this way for the rest of my life? Like, is this my cross to bear?

Jessica: Like, is this crazy compulsive feeling that I feel around food? Is this a secret I'm going to have to carry for the rest of my life? And then what does that look like as I get older, you know, as I have a family, as people come into my life and they get to know me? Like, is this something that I have to share with them? And the immediate response I got from myself was like, I don't wanna do that.

Jessica: Like, I don't wanna live with this the rest of my life. I don't want to feel compelled around food. I I wanna be able to say no thank you and be okay with enough in my body. Like, I want to know what that feels like to feel satiated, but not stuffed and sick. And it was kind of following a lot of different bread crumbs, and it wasn't until I was actually already starting to do some of the deeper work that the label came into my awareness, and and I was able to really understand, like, oh, that's what I'm doing.

Jessica: Because, like, a lot of people, I had this stereotype in my mind that an emotional eater is someone we see on, like, my 600 life because that's how it was our always, like, displayed in media and TV. And I think there's a lot of miseducation around emotional eating, and it can often be coupled with eating disorders. But this really is kind of like a an area of health and wellness that is really miseducated and misunderstood. So it really wasn't until, like, I was already on the path that I started to connect the dots and then be able to be like, oh, I'm an emotional eater. I'm sure somewhere along the way, someone had said something to me like, hey.

Jessica: That's emotional eating or maybe I you know, it was shared, but I just wasn't in a place to identify with it. But, yeah, it wasn't just, like, one thing. I think it was a lot of soul searching. It was a lot of trial and error, and it was a lot of finally surrendering to the process and being like, okay. I'm not okay in this area of my life.

Jessica: This really needs to change and really being willing to, like, look at it head on where previous to that, I think I was in a lot of denial. And, like, under that myth of if I just try harder or I eat less or I work out more, then then I'll be free. And, you know, that all kinda backfired.

Erica: Well, thank you for sharing, number one, because I think and this is my favorite part about these podcasts is when people come on and share their stories, it allows for someone else to hear it and maybe really hear it for the first time and really hear that message and say, like, oh, me too. Or, like, I feel like this. Okay. This is resonating with me. So when you talk about doing the deep work and that was where you really started to uncover that, okay.

Erica: Maybe I'm struggling with emotional eating. If somebody is listening to this, what does that deep work look like, and how can somebody get started to try to recover from emotional eating?

Jessica: Yeah. So what I really recommend is, like, we take a backdoor. So we don't, like, start, like, moving food around. Right? Because that's the biggest fear of an emotional eater is, like, you're gonna take my food away.

Jessica: Right? When to an emotional eater, food feels like oxygen. It feels like our safety blanket. So we don't wanna take that away or even change anything from the get go because there's such an attachment to it. We take a backdoor at escape from emotional eating and actually start with building emotional fitness.

Jessica: So, luckily, our industry and our culture is starting to trend toward, emotional literacy and emotional understanding. But there's a difference between knowing what you're feeling and why you're feeling and then knowing what to do about it. I think there's a disservice in the mental health world where therapy can really highlight why you're feeling something and what you're feeling, but I can't tell you how many people come to me and be like, okay. But, like, I need to move through this. Like, I need to show up at work.

Jessica: Like, I need to, like, be able to perform in my life. And that's really where I come in with tools and systems to be able to move through the emotional mud and be able to come out on the other side and be able to take action to support ourselves and showing up in our lives. And I do that by teaching my clients tools, like digesting emotions is one of them. The fear flush is another because when the emotional, like, crap storm kicks up, we need to be ready, and we even need to be proactive about it so that we can show up in our lives from a really calm, centered, grounded place and aren't always operating at this stressed out fight flight free state. Now when we when we take care of the emotional landscape and we build emotional fitness and we're moving through what once was, like, emotional constipation, when we have, like, an emotional, metabolism, so to speak, then we don't feel so threatened by our internal world.

Jessica: Then we don't feel like our feelings are a threat or, like, they're just gonna, you know, destroy everything. And that's where you start to recognize that food isn't the only way to manage or cope with feelings. You start to see that there's, like, other ways. There's other possibilities, and that loosens the attachment to food to where then we can dive into the next phase of work, which is really understanding when are you truly hungry physically, when are you truly full physically, and, also, what does emotional hunger feel like in your body, and what is it telling you, and how do we nourish it without using food?

Erica: First of all, I love all the words that you're choosing and how they all tie in to the body, like metabolism and constipation, all of those things. Number one, fascinated with how you did that. That was amazing. But what I really wanna talk about is, like, how do you work through like you said, you have the fear flush. You have the digestions of emotions.

Erica: Like, how do you move through that? Because I will fully admit that I've been somebody that's like, I've had a bad day. I want my comfort food, which is Mexican. Right? Now I don't I won't go over to the point of eating until I'm completely stuffed and sick, and I think that's where the difference is.

Erica: Right? Right. But how do you move through that, I guess, is my question.

Jessica: Well, for emotional eater eaters, and I'll speak to, like, my people, where we can get caught in our emotional mud and, like, really sit in it and not in a healthy way is we're coming in with this skill of, like, all or nothing and a lot of perfectionism in there as well. Meaning, if one thing goes wrong in my day, everything is wrong in the day. Right? It's like if I made one mistake, then everything is shot to hell. And where emotional fitness and emotional metabolism and all these things that we're talking about is starting to recognize the value of 1% and starting to recognize that, actually, life isn't black and white.

Jessica: It's a lot more gray, and that one thing doesn't mean that everything is awful, and it doesn't mean that, you know, we need to even punish ourselves in any way. It means that we need to be able to get back on and get back into situations and be able to show up in difficult, experiences faster. So we're talking about, like, a faster rebound, a faster resilience Because if one little thing goes wrong and then it's a terrible day and then it turns into a terrible week and then it turns into a terrible three months, that's wasting a lot of time. And most of all, what happens in that place is you're internalizing it, and you're beating yourself up, and you're punishing yourself for it. And that's just misdirected and misplaced energy and attention.

Jessica: So when it comes to being able to move through these things, one of the elements is being being able to turn on a dime. To be able to to have something crappy happen, feel the feelings, and then let them go and be able to take action in the direction that you want things to go. And the bandwidth and the time for that to happen shortens as we continue to practice. So here's an example. I had a client once who came to, one of my retreats, and we were talking about, like, emotional fitness and and being able to move through emotions more quickly.

Jessica: And she was, like, clung to her anger like a barnacle on a ship. She is like, I do not want to let this go. I do not want this to change. She was like, I was wronged. I, like, I I do not want this to change.

Jessica: And I really laid out for her, like, okay. Then you get to stay in that place for as long as you want. But tell me, like, do you feel good? Are you able to, like, sleep at night? Are you able to digest food?

Jessica: Do you have indigestion? Like, we literally laid out all the ways that clinging to her anger and stewing in it for days and days and days on end, what that would do to her physically, mentally, and emotionally. And then we looked at okay. So you have your anger, and what would it do to let it go more quickly? What would it do to feel it, to acknowledge it, and then be able to meet your needs and be able to move through it?

Jessica: And it came with a lot less baggage, a lot less sleepless nights, a lot more health in her body and her mind, and she could see how holding on to her anger and stewing in it and ruminating in it and chewing on it over and over and over actually wasn't serving her in the long run. And that's really what, like, emotions are is, like, they're meant to stay in motion. They're meant to come in, teach us something, and then leave. Where it makes us sick is where they come in, we attach ourselves to them, and carry them with us everywhere we go until something happens and we explode. And then everybody's like, woah.

Jessica: What happened? Because it's not just this one situation. We are, like, hoarding emotional energy until we eventually erupt. And that's not fair to us, and that's not fair to the people around us either. So to be able to have that healthy emotional metabolism, we have to be able to allow the emotions to come in, take what we need to learn from them, and then quite literally poop them out so we can move on.

Jessica: Because if we hold on to them and we stew and we ruminate, that's where it becomes toxic both for our emotional body and our physical body.

Erica: I mean, that's that's that quote where it says, you know, when you're holding on to anger or something like that, it's like drinking poison but waiting for the other person to die.

Jessica: Yes. Exactly. Exactly.

Erica: I mean, you're hitting the nail on the head, but what what I am finding so fascinating with this conversation, Jessica, is just how many parallels there are. Right? It's not just about this emotional eating. It's really about peeling that onion back and getting to the root cause, which are these emotions that you talk about, which those emotions are like the the sticky floor for all of us. You know, you were talking about perfectionism earlier and this all or nothing mentality.

Erica: And, you know, that's something that I've struggled with with my workouts for so long where I was like, well, if I can't get in thirty minutes, it's a waste. It's, you know, it's worthless. Don't do it. But you have to work through that. And, like, why do you think that, and what's going on, and what would happen if you did do fifteen minutes versus, you know, thirty minutes that you wanted to get.

Erica: So

Jessica: Mhmm.

Erica: I'm just seeing how this conversation would be so impactful for so many different women and that it's not just this emotional eating thing, but it's really about getting into the core of who we are and working through those emotions. And I think my favorite thing that you've said, which was a light bulb moment for me, is that emotions are meant to stay in motion.

Jessica: Yes. Yeah. That's like literally.

Erica: Yes. That is amazing. And I think that's something that we all need to remember is that, like, happy days, sad days, good things, bad things, like, we are all going to move through all of those maybe multiple times throughout the day. And then we just need to feel those things and then move on to the next one, whatever that might be and however that might look for us.

Jessica: Right. Exactly. Yeah. I wanna take a left turn

Erica: on you for a little bit, and I'm sure this is something you probably talk about with other people. But I'm thinking about this through the lens of, like, I'm a parent. I want my kids to have healthy relationships with food, and I'm already categorizing all the things I need to change, and we haven't even talked about any of this yet. But I'm, like, thinking about treats and teaching our children. Like, what would be some of the things that parents really need to keep in mind so that their kids have healthy relationships with food?

Jessica: You know, I would say one of the things that if I could kind of teach parents to do differently is really teaching their children how to reward themselves by not consuming something. So oftentimes, we think about rewards being in the form of food or drink or a toy or some other kind of form of consumption, quite honestly. Oh, you get to watch your favorite show. That's even a form of consumption. And I think we need to expand the category of what actually feels like a reward.

Jessica: This is going to vary from person to person, and I think this is actually even valuable for us as adults to inquire about of, like, what actually feels like a reward. And when I was going through this because I come from an Italian family, my parents are emotional eaters. Like, it was always like, oh, you're sad? Have some cookies. Oh, you're feeling low?

Jessica: Have some spaghetti. You know? Like, it was it was always, like, consume something to make yourself feel better. As I was healing my relationship with food, I I, like, went through this process of, like, what actually feels like a reward for me. And, of course, at the top of my list at that time, it was like food, ice cream.

Jessica: And I'm like, okay. But if I don't have food or ice cream, like, what's next? And I was like, shopping. Buy something. And I'm like, okay.

Jessica: Well, that's still consumption. And what if I don't wanna spend any money? Like, what if that doesn't align with where I am right now? And I just kept peeling and asking myself the question. And for me, what felt like fun without an f u of some way was time.

Jessica: Just literally time. Time to do whatever I felt like and to have no judgment on it. And this really is how I now live my life is, like, if I don't have time to do the things that I love to do, like, I will burn a small village down because that is so nourishing to me to have time, whether it's time to myself, time with people I love, time to, like, play and wonder and wonder. Like, time to me is so so when I started to bring, like, these time rewards in, whether it was, like, taking two hours to myself or kind of building in, I started to notice that I would come back from those experiences, like, completely rejuvenated. And it didn't have to be, like, a week or even a whole day.

Jessica: It was just these, like, pockets of intentional moments and quite literally time. So I think it's, like, starting to open up that curiosity and look at what does a reward look like without consumption. And I think that can also translate over to social media and technology as well of, like so often we'll use technology or social media, like, on breaks or to reward ourselves or things like that. And it's just like, we need to reevaluate the the time that we are consuming and be sure that we're balancing it with the methods and time to quite literally empty. So I think part one is looking at, you know, how do you reward yourself, and then how can we expand the category of reward for children as well.

Jessica: And then depending on the age and where your child is in development, it's starting to, especially as they get older, make some food decisions for themselves. We don't wanna let them, like, completely, you know, run their food life, but, like, there's certain, pieces of the food decision, like how much they eat or what they choose to eat. Like, there's some of these that we can slowly start to hand over to them so that they're practicing making choices that are really intuitive and aligned with them and not dictated to them all day every day, especially as they start to develop and get older.

Erica: I love that. And, Jessica, you have a true, like, eight step process. So I wanna, like, throw this out there because I'm sure there are some women who are listening. This is the podcast for ambitious women who are going to new levels. If somebody wants to work with you and they want to know more about emotional eating, how can they get in touch with you?

Jessica: Come on over to escapefromemotionaleating.com. You can fill out a form so we can set up some time for us to talk and explore this more deeply. I have to say, I recently revamped my discovery session process to teach the people who go through that process how to manage their fear because fear is the thing that's holding us all back from anything that we want, whether it's emotional eating or something else. So I'm really excited about that new process and teaching people this no matter what. So you can find information about that on my website.

Jessica: But if you kinda wanna do some digging on your own, there's a wonderful resource, a quiz that helps you get into the roots of your emotional eating along with a beginner's guide. It's a really great starter kit. So no matter where you go or what you choose, if you're interested or anything that I shared today resonates with you, come on over to escapefromemotionaleating.com, and it's just a playground of resources and support.

Erica: Yeah. And you also have more than one program to offer, which I love because it's not just about going all in, which you do have an all in program, but you have different levels for people, which I think is so amazing. So if this resonates with you or someone that you love, I would absolutely head over there. But, Jessica, the one question I love to ask all of the amazing women on my podcast is if you could go back back to the Jessica who's, like, in corporate, emotional eating, stressed, fearful, all the things, what is the one piece of advice you would give her today?

Jessica: I would really want to tell her that she's doing a great job. I know that Jessica was extremely hard on herself and trying to fit herself into all of these perfectionist boxes of what she should and shouldn't do. And I would really love to just whisper in her ear that she has a really unique and valuable set of skills, and she's not gonna be in this place forever and that she can change. I think back then, I really told myself I can't a lot, and it wasn't really about my ability. Like, can, can't isn't really what I was struggling with.

Jessica: It was more about giving myself the permission to try. So I would wanna, like, share all of that with her, and I think it would have made a really, really big difference.

Erica: I think that's beautiful. I love that. Well, thank you, Jessica. I'm gonna link all of this stuff in the show notes. Amazing, amazing session today.

Erica: I think this is so fascinating, but, Jessica, thank you for being here. Thank you. Oh, I just love it when we get a topic that we have not covered on the podcast, and today's episode with Jessica was nothing short of amazing. Now if it resonated with you or if you find yourself nodding along knowing that your relationship with food could use a deeper understanding and healing, do not let this conversation end here. I encourage you to take that first step towards a healthier relationship with food and ultimately with yourself.

Erica: Make sure that you visit Jessica's website, escapefromemotionaleating.com, and discover more about her programs, take her quiz, or access just the wealth of resources that she has to offer. Remember that change is possible and you do not have to navigate this journey alone. Now if today's episode has been enlightening, consider sharing it with someone who might find this beneficial, and don't forget to subscribe to the podcast for more episodes just like this. I'll talk to you next time.