Elisabeth Peterson: Biography
Growing up | Home Life | Early Career | Creating Peterson Nutrition
Creating Peterson Nutrition:
After all this time working for others, I knew what I wanted: a professional identity built from my own philosophy, with a place for empathy and compassion and desire; a business I could form around the individual needs of my clientele; a practice where I could walk in the shoes of my clients and feel their pain and rejoice in their successes.
Peterson Nutrition and Fitness became my small, private practice, and it allowed me the mobility to customize each session to individual needs. That was the answer to my fulfillment and that is why I love my private practice.
As the owner of Peterson Nutrition & Fitness, I have been able to satisfy my desires to help those who are struggling with confusing nutritional concepts. After listening to my clients’ stories over the years, I realized that there were several common themes revolving around imbalances in their lives. It became clear that many people are so focused on taking care of families, jobs and community service, etc., that they fail to care for themselves. In addition, often they see no outlet offering the support needed to nurture themselves. It also became readily apparent to me that people have difficulty listening and trusting the wisdom of their own bodies.
After attending the National Eating Disorder Association conference several years ago and being introduced to GirlForce, I recognized a need to provide some grass roots effort in Richmond. GirlForce is a program that nourishes girls in mind, body and spirit by integrating instruction, mentoring and community resources. A colleague and I introduced GirlForce to the Richmond area YMCA and we began serving as mentors in our community. Today, GirlForce enriches girls in our community though activities and instruction in healthy activity, healthy body image and healthy nutrition.
At a subsequent conference, I was inspired to provide a safe place for women to talk about and be supported in their personal journeys and to be a witness in support of others’ struggles with food and body image. I joined with a colleague to create the groups that we offer based on Anita Johnston’s book Eating in the Light of the Moon. I thoroughly enjoy supporting women in their journey into themselves and creating an environment that nurtures their growth in a balanced way. Balancing our lives spiritually, physically, intellectually, emotionally, and socially and creating an environment that supports that balance is essential to healing and living.
Another part of my practice consists of consulting in a variety of other capacities including clinical research trials, hospitals, physicians, pharmaceutical companies, and corporations. I speak before various groups, have been an Adjunct Professor at Virginia Commonwealth University, a dietetic advisor for magazines and have authored various nutrition articles.
On a more personal note, my darling husband, beautiful family and close friends keep me grounded. I enjoy spending time with them cycling, swimming, scuba diving, kayaking, boating, fishing, gardening and generally being outside and active.
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