Peterson Nutrition and Fitness: Services
Testimonials:
Julianna's Success Story
Overcoming anorexia was no easy task. I started out just trying to lose weight to gain more acceptance from the people around me at school, and at home. At the time I was unable to see that the only person who truly needed to accept me was me. I was feeling unaccepted at school and just bad about myself so I threw all my energy into losing weight and thought it would get me what I wanted but it didn’t. Attempting to gain people’s acceptance through losing weight was a bad idea for a few reasons. One reason would be because I was hurting myself very badly. Another would be the fact that people around me are either going to like me or not like me because of my attitude, not because of my clothing size. That was one of the hardest concepts to understand, but it is the truest and I am incredibly glad to say that I have finally come to realize it. My experience with this disorder was scary at times, however I did learn a lot from it. That is not to say that anyone should put themselves through this to learn something from it, but I did. The most important thing I learned was that it is important to love yourself. If you don’t love yourself, it is impossible for anyone else to love you. This is something that I wish everyone could understand. I started out at the lowest low and am now at the point that I can be happy and eat when I feel hungry and stop when I feel full. It is the best feeling in the world to know that I am taking care of myself. All of the support I had throughout this entire process was incredible. My parents, Elisabeth Peterson, and Dr. Petrey, were probably the people who gave me the most support and push to get back to what was healthy and normal. Both of my parents helped me to realize that what I was doing was really harmful and without them, I don’t really know where I would be right now. I don’t really know if I ever would have caught that I had a problem. Elisabeth Peterson also helped me a tremendous amount. With her help and guidance, I am now able to understand the basics of the things that my body needs to function and all kinds of information on ways to accept myself. Dr. Petrey helped me become more patient with everything and everyone around me. He also helped me to realize that I was not the reason that my biological father left our family when I was so young. All of these people are truly amazing and without their support, I have no idea where I would be right now. I learned a lot from each of them and reached out when I needed help. If I ever feel like I am going to fall back into the bad ways of anorexia, I know that I can reach out to any of these people and get right back on track. As of right now, I don’t really think that will be happening because I feel like I have kicked the disorder right out and am ready to move on and live life the healthy and normal way. Thank you to everyone who has helped me through this rough patch in my life. It is truly a blessing to have people who really care about you.
--Julianna
