Maria Deveson Crabbe

Maria Deveson Crabbe has become a pioneer of the Australian health and fitness industry over the past decade. She began her career in the industry in 1987 when she launched her modeling agency Aussie Bodies Sports.  At a time when anorexia was the industry standard, AB Sports promoted the idea that athleticism could be a desirable body shape.

Through involvement with athletics Maria learned about the vital role of nutrition in competition sport and how elite athletes could manipulate its interaction with training to obtain optimum results.

She also realised that it wasn't just elite athletes who had a vested interest in managing this relationship.  As a woman, Maria was familiar with the daily battle to maintain self-esteem in a world bombarded by idealized caricatures of women.  She understood that body image impacts on self-esteem, and that women – and men – are constantly pressured to conform to idealized beauty, often at the expense of their physical and emotional health.

In 1992, as a result of this interest in the interaction between nutrition, physical performance and emotional wellbeing, Maria founded Aussie Bodies.  Although the initial commercial objective of Aussie Bodies was to develop pharmaceutical-grade supplements for body builders and elite athletes, Maria knew that the nutrition and training principles used by this group had enormous relevance for the broader community.

Aussie Bodies' range of products was redesigned and renamed to appeal to a broader market.  Retail outlets were expanded beyond gymnasiums to include health food stores and supermarkets.  Maria consolidated Aussie Bodies market penetration to grow the company 700 percent in five years.  Aussie Bodies is now Australia's leading food supplement developer, creating innovative products that are being consumed by thousands of Australians every day.

Maria is also author of Your Body Your Life – How a protein-rich diet can help you achieve balance, beauty and the healthy body you've always wanted (Hodder Headline 2002).

Rated by the Sunday Age as one of 'The five best health books', Your Body Your Life is part autobiography, part health manual and is an easy-to-read, entertaining insight into the basics of nutrition.

Maria wrote Your Body Your Life for every woman who thinks she has to give up the things she enjoys to get the body she wants. It's also for everywoman who has ever 'failed' a fad diet, given up an exercise program, or simply looked in the mirror and despaired of ever loving what she saw.

On the personal front, Maria is the daughter of prominent Melbourne businessman and former Lord Mayor, Ivan Deveson. She is married to Wayne, and they are the proud 'parents' of five year-old whippet Lucy, who is featured in advertising for Aussie Bodies Protein Whip ice cream mix, and one year-old greyhound Ardo, who is impatiently awaiting his moment of glory.  She is not a regular gym-goer, but gets her exercise from walking Lucy and Ardo.  She is a keen advocate of regular yoga and has initiated weekly yoga sessions for her staff, and also practises meditation.

For almost a decade, Maria Deveson Crabbe has been at the cutting edge of nutrition science, often flying in the face of conventional thinking.  She has seen her company through numerous changes and many ups and downs, throughout which she has never lost her enthusiasm and desire to bring to the Australian market high-quality products that allow consumers to successfully manage their own unique nutrition needs.

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