Therapy for Your Relationship with Food in Tampa, FL
In person in Tampa · Virtual throughout Florida and vermont
There's a way out of this that doesn't involve another diet.
Food shouldn’t be this hard. It’s not your fault it is.
You've spent years constantly thinking about food. What you ate, what you shouldn't have eaten, what you're going to eat next - oh so much thinking. Here’s my hot take - you're not broken, and you don't have a “willpower problem.” You have a complicated relationship with food that makes complete sense given everything you were taught to believe about your body and your ability to take care of it.
This is a space to untangle all of that. Not to eat "better" - to actually feel freedom around food.
You’re in the right place if…
Does any of this sound like you?
Food is on your mind basically all the time (and you're exhausted by it)
You eat "perfectly" all day and then can't stop bingeing or overeating night (and hate yourself for it)
You know diets don't work, but you still get sucked back in every time
You use food to cope with stress, boredom, loneliness, or basically every feeling
You have "good food" and "bad food" and a lot of shame around the “bad” stuff
You feel out of control around certain foods and have no idea why
You don't feel "sick enough" to deserve help, but this is really affecting your life
You can't remember the last time you ate something without thinking about whether you should have, or making a plan to compensate in some way
You don’t have to keep doing this alone.
I offer a free 15-minute consult so you can get a feel for whether this is the right fit - no pressure, no commitment.
Accepting new clients · Tampa in-person & virtual throughout Florida & Vermont
what we work on
What Relationship with Food Therapy in Tampa, FL Looks Like
This isn't about fixing what you eat. It's about understanding why food has this much power.
Most of the folks I work with don't have a diagnosable eating disorder - they're just in a really painful, exhausting place with food that nobody around them quite gets. We work on the whole picture.
Break the Binge/Restrict Cycle
Understanding what's driving the cycle — not just the behavior on the surface — so you can actually get out of it.
Hunger & Fullness
Reconnect with what your body is actually telling you after years of being taught to ignore or override it.
Food Rules & Diet Culture
Untangle everything you were taught to believe about your body and food. Figure out what you actually think, separate from all of that.
Food Noise
That constant mental chatter about food, calories, what you should or shouldn't eat. We work on turning it way down.
Emotional Eating
Not "stopping" emotional eating, but understanding what it's doing for you and building a fuller toolkit so food isn't the only thing that works.
Make Peace with Food
The goal here isn't “perfect” eating. It's getting to a place where food is not a source of shame, stress, and obsession.
What We Don’t Do Here
Weight loss isn't the goal in this space. Not because I think it's wrong to think about it, but because chasing it is probably part of what got you here in the first place. We don't count calories, swap one set of food rules for a shinier version, or hand you a meal plan on your way out. And we don't expect you to love your body. That's a big ask and we're not starting there. We just work on helping you stop being at war with it. The goal is reclaiming your attention so your body takes up appropriate space in your life, not all of it. Oh - and we don't judge bodies here. Not for size, gender, sexuality, or anything diet culture has tried to convince you is a problem. Just in case that needed to be said.
How We Get There
Healing your relationship with food isn't just about changing your behavior around food - it's about understanding what's underneath it. Here's how we do that:
As a certified intuitive eating counselor, I draw on IE principles to help you rebuild trust with your body after years of being taught to ignore it. Not as a diet, not as a set of rules, but as a framework for finally hearing what your body is actually telling you.
There's a part of you that wants to change your relationship with food, and another part that's terrified to - or that's been using food to cope for a really long time. IFS helps us get curious about those parts instead of fighting them.
A complicated relationship with food is often stored somewhere words can't always easily reach. Brainspotting is a body-based approach that gets underneath the surface, working with what's held in the nervous system rather than just talking about it.
A little about me
Hi, I'm Keri - a licensed clinical social worker in Tampa and a Certified Intuitive Eating Counselor. I've spent my career working with folks who are exhausted by everything they were taught to believe about their body and food, who've tried everything, and who are done pretending it's fine.
I also know this work from the inside. I spent years stuck in my own cycle of chronic dieting — the rules, the starting over, the exhaustion of it — and it was a significant part of my own healing journey that brought me to this work. That's not something I share to make it about me. I share it because I want you to know I'm not just trained in this. I've lived it.
My office is stocked with fidgets, snacks, and rainbows. There's no version of yourself you have to perform here.
- Keri Baker, LCSW · Brainspotting & IFS Therapist · Certified Intuitive Eating Counselor
Change is possible. I’ll help you get there.
a word about being “sick enough”
You Don’t Need a Diagnosis to Deserve Support
A lot of the folks I work with have spent years thinking their relationship with food wasn't "bad enough" to get help - not anorexic, not bulimic, not whatever threshold they thought they needed to meet. So they just kept suffering quietly.
There's no threshold here. If food is making your life smaller, harder, or more exhausting than it needs to be - that's enough. You don't have to hit rock bottom. You don't have to have a diagnosis. You just have to be tired of this running your life.
ready to start?
Imagine being able to interact with food without all the noise.
That's not a fantasy. That's what this work is for. And it starts with one conversation.
Book your free consultation call today.
Accepting new clients · Tampa in-person & virtual throughout Florida & Vermont
Schedule a consult
Schedule a consult
Questions?
FAQs
-
Yes, though not everyone I work with would use that label for themselves, and that's completely okay. I work with folks across the full spectrum of complicated relationships with food: chronic dieting, restrict-binge cycles, food noise, eating to cope with emotions, and everything in between. You don't need a diagnosis or a label to get support here.
-
A dietitian works with the food itself - what you're eating, when, how much. Therapy goes underneath that. We work on the thoughts, the feelings, the patterns, and the history that are driving your relationship with food in the first place. For a lot of people, that's the piece that's been missing.
I also love working with dietitians and often recommend clients also see one when appropriate!
-
No - and honestly, a lot of people come in still really ambivalent about that. You don't have to have it figured out before you get here. We work with wherever you are.
-
That's really common - and it usually means you were missing the therapeutic support piece. Intuitive eating as a concept is one thing; working through it with a certified intuitive eating counselor in a clinical, trauma-informed way is something different. A lot of my clients found IE on their own first and still needed this.
I also know that there are some tweaks that you might need to make to have Intuitive Eatingwork well for you.
-
Not at all. Most of my clients don't have a clinical eating disorder, they just have a really complicated, exhausting relationship with food that's affecting their quality of life. There's no threshold you have to meet to deserve support here.
I have also diagnosed clients with eating disorders when they have fallen through the cracks of traditional eating disorder treatment. Folks who are in larger bodies, are BIPOC or neurodivergent often fall into this category.
-
I work with folks across a wide range of goals and starting points, but weight loss is never the focus of our work together. If that's something you're navigating, it's worth reading the "what we don't do here" section of this page before we connect, just so you know what to expect.
-
Honestly, it varies a lot. Untangling a complicated relationship with food takes time. It didn't develop overnight and it won't resolve overnight either. Some clients notice meaningful shifts within a few months. Others work with me longer. We move at a pace that actually works for your nervous system, not a predetermined timeline.
-
Both. I see clients in person at my office in the Carrollwood area of North Tampa, and virtually across Florida and Vermont. Pajamas are welcome on video calls. And snacks.
Relationship with Food Therapy in Tampa, FL
Services also offered virtually throughout Florida and Vermont