We were lucky to catch up with Courtney Pelitera recently and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Courtney thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. We’d love to hear about the best advice you’ve ever given to a client? (Please note this response is for education/entertainment purposes only and shouldn’t be construed as advice for the reader)

The best advice that I can give to anyone looking to make a big change nutritionally in their lifestyle is to make things as easy as possible for yourself! Often times this start with writing out what your week ahead looks like. When will you have time to cook? Do you have any long days that you know could get really difficult? Let’s plan ahead for things like that. This can mean different things for different people! Maybe you meal prep ahead of time. Maybe your cooking skills are not the best and you need to plan on a healthy option that you can order. Maybe you need to plan on good nutrition you can carry around with you or keep in your desk or backpack. Nutrition is never a “one size fits all” approach!

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I am a registered dietitian who works with people looking to improve their health and fitness through nutrition and athletes varying from high school and college up to the professional level. I became a dietitian after having some struggles with nutrition myself as a 3 sport high school athlete and a long distance runner after college. I was personally someone who was chronically under-fueled, not giving my body the nutrition that it needs to really thrive under the extreme stress that we ask of ourselves as athletes! After learning fully about nutrition in graduate school (we are talking the chemistry of nutrition, down to the cellular level!), I decided I wanted to help the active and athlete population, as I believe many of us have been misguided on this information for a long time!
My goal is to provide accurate information on nutrition, not fear about certain kinds of foods. All foods can fit into our diet and have the appropriate place – yes, even desserts.

Putting training and knowledge aside, what else do you think really matters in terms of succeeding in your field?

I think the most helpful thing when succeeding as a dietitian is having the ability and empathy to connect with clients. I often compare nutrition coaching to therapy because if this. A great dietitian will dive deep into a person’s life. Nutrition is often times about so much more than just the food on our plate. It is the experience, the memories, emotional, physical. I think this gets forgotten often with the diet industry and marketing. I try to dig into the “why” behind my clients decisions and behavior.

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

I can’t even count the number of times I have pivoted! I would say one of the biggest pivots in my business is when I was not “jiving” with a mentor that I hired. I would be sitting in our group meetings dreading putting into action the things that he told me I “had to do” to be successful. In school for dietetics they definitely don’t teach you how to run a business, so I thought this is what I had to follow.

Thankfully I found a new mentor that encourages me to think like an entrepreneur and a human being at the same time. She really focuses on “how much time and energy do you have for your business this week? Let’s make the most of it”. It was life changing!
One of my favorite thought processes I gained from this is: If it is not a full body YES!, then say NO.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.devouryourlifenutrition.com
• Instagram: @devouryourlife.nutrition
• Linkedin: Courtney Pelitera

Image Credits
Julia Fay Photography NSPStudioDot