Rhaya’s background

I’m Australian but a long-term Anglophile and have been in London on and off for 25 years.  I am a trained Naturopath having taken a 4 year course in my hometown Sydney. I am qualified in bodywork (which I no longer practice), herbal therapeutics, but my great passion is food and nutrition. I also have a design certificate in Permaculture and a fascination with how we are going to feed ourselves well and sustainably in the next 100 years.

I became the Naturopathic Director of Blackmores UK, in my 20’s helping to introduce a correspondence course in Mineral Therapy and training practitioners throughout the UK.  While there I was also involved in introducing the biodynamic skincare range Jurlique into the UK

I left Blackmores to join the University of Westminster where I helped develop and the Bachelor of Science in Nutrition Therapy and stayed as a senior lecturer in health sciences for 8 years.  I taught Anatomy, Clinical Skills, Nutrition, Biochemistry, Philosophy and Complementary Therapies. I was involved in setting up the largest Complementary Health training clinic in Europe and hold a Post Graduate Certificate in Higher Education.

When my children were small I returned to  Australia and practiced collaboratively in a diabetic specialist pharmacy and a GP-lead community-based eating disorder group.  It was eye-opening, to say the least, and sparked my interest in addictive or compulsive eating and working with people with DMT2 which continues now.

My experiences coupled with my years of teaching and clinical practices have shaped my current approach which is to help people normalise their relationship with food.  I don’t adhere to any one approach to diet, I never give out food sheets, and I am not dogmatic about any one approach.  I believe the introduction of evidence-based medicine has been a game-changing event in orthodox medicine and work to encourage its adoption in complementary healthcare.

I am now practicing at James Duigan’s beautiful health club Bodyism on Westbourne Grove in Notting Hill.   I continue to teach at CNELM and for Middlesex University and I  run an online program for people with insulin resistance and diabetes with Reboot, Joe Cross’ company formed in response to the overwhelming feedback from his film Fat Sick and Nearly Dead. I am also honoured to be the resident nutritionist with Daylesford Organics, one of the most beautiful and dedicated centres for sustainable food and wellbeing in the UK.