All About Me
ABOUT FAYE JAMES
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Faye James is a powerhouse in the world of nutrition and wellness. With over two decades of experience and accolades including Accreditation as a Nutritionist and membership with Nutrition Council Australia and associate member of the Australian Menopause Society, she's a trusted voice in the field.
As the author of the highly regarded anti-ageing recipe book The Long Life Plan published in 2018 and weight loss program and recipe eBook The 10:10 Diet published in 2019, Faye has helped countless individuals achieve their health and wellness goals. Faye's expertise has made her a sought-after speaker and influencer, having collaborated with major brands such as Woolworths, Weight Watchers, Fitness First, and Goodlife. Her writing has been featured in top-tier publications like ELLE, Body & Soul, Women's Health, Prevention, Glamour, Harper's Bazaar, and many more.
Determined to make a real impact, Faye dedicated herself to solving a common problem faced by many women: weight gain during menopause. After extensive research and countless hours in the kitchen, Faye developed her new book The Menopause Diet which helps women feel confident, energised, and in control of their weight. She speaks from personal experience, as she too manages her own perimenopausal symptoms with the diet she created.
Faye was born in London but now calls Sydney home with her husband, food photographer Darrin James, and their two children. With her passion for food and health, Faye shares her top expert tips in The Menopause Diet with the confidence that she can improve the frustrating symptoms women experience through this period.
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My Philosophy
"I’ve never believed in fads. Food restriction has always been a no-no. For me it was always about eating fresh, wholesome foods and cooking from scratch. It’s also about really taking pleasure in cooking and savouring nourishing and delicious food.
I believe too many women see food as their enemy and get obsessive about what they eat. It’s my opinion that this causes an unhealthy relationship with food to develop, which ultimately tampers with our health. Being healthy isn’t about restriction, it’s about making the right choices.
When I was growing up, my parents rarely used processed foods and the main staples in our diet were fresh fruit and vegetables, particularly greens.
If it could be made at home, then we would make it. Rather than reach for a bottled sauce or canned food, we would invest time in making it ourselves. We would bake our own breads, cakes and snacks and rarely ate readymade or packaged food. My school lunchbox would always consist of mainly vegetables, along with homemade bread and a piece of fruit.
For proteins, we’d stick to legumes, chicken and fish and avoid red and processed meat.
When it came to dairy, generally we’d choose food low in lactose and opt for using sheep, goat or a non-dairy milk – whatever seemed least processed.
Traditional grains would be kept to a minimum and replaced with flours such as almond meal or coconut and quinoa.
A lot of our choices were made by listening to our bodies; if a certain food didn’t make us feel good, we just wouldn’t eat it.
Particularly when my mother was ill, the doctor suggested she avoid anything too processed, so at home I generally didn’t consume much of that kind of food.
We also chose to use alkaline ingredients, avoided too much sugar and salt, and used the power of herbs and spices to flavor a dish.
My dad was a keen believer in the power of herbs and spices. At the first sight of a cold or cough, he would be the first one to whip us all up a nourishing curry full of anti-inflammatory ingredients such as turmeric, ginger, chilli and garlic.
Even if we weren’t sick, we’d always have spiced foods on our menu, particularly using these herbs for their strong health benefits.
Along the way, the key was not to be too restrictive. Our philosophy was simply about consuming good, honest, wholesome food and using clean and unprocessed ingredients."