Posted on February 4th, 2016

Studying nutrition and working as a qualified nutritionist was not something I ever thought I would end up doing. I always enjoyed food and did a lot of cooking with my family after being diagnosed with Coeliac Disease back in 2003. Back then eating gluten free was not well understood, times have certainly changed!

Instead I left school and studied a double degree in Business (Human Resources) and Arts where I spent just under 4 years working in the construction industry. Two of those years were spent working on fly in fly out (FIFO) projects. I moved to Brisbane and spent a year in the corporate world before spending 6 months flying into Gladstone for a project. I was then relocated to Perth to work on Barrow Island.

Before starting FIFO I had a mentor at work who encouraged me to look at studying nutrition as a side hobby as it was something I enjoyed. Living in Brisbane exposed me to a new take on food. Restaurants in particular were more adventurous, and there were many different groups of people who were extremely passionate about their food choices and diets. Specialty health food stores were more abundant and people in general took more of an interest into what they put in their bodies. Spending time travelling overseas amongst other cultures also built up my interest in nutrition.

At first the idea was to study nutrition for personal interest only and to continue working in Human Resources as I really wanted to specialise in Industrial Relations. As I progressed further into my Advanced Diploma in Nutritional Medicine I started to consider the idea of one day actually working as a Nutritionist with the hope to have my own business. Spending 2 years in FIFO camps made this decision easier as I wanted to be able to encourage, inspire and educate people on how to make better food choices that would benefit their health long term.

Friends, family and work colleagues could all see that I was passionate about nutrition and were probably getting sick of hearing about food!

In February this year I resigned and left FIFO work and the construction industry behind and moved back to Rockhampton to focus on completing the last of my Diploma fulltime.

Today I work as a Nutritionist and absolutely love what I do.