How hard can it be? My Story so far...

I've always been fascinated by herbal remedies, and natural alternatives to medicines, cosmetics, cleaners and other chemical products, but for most of my life, I rarely or never found any that worked very well.

Is it just me, I asked myself? Have I been looking in the wrong places, or are there just not any good, viable alternatives to chemical cleaners, skin and beauty products?

I loved the idea of "going natural", but the chemical products just seemed to win every time.

I remember giving up after my first attempt of  making a "simple moisturiser" with lemon juice, honey and oil. I found the instructions in a book I'd bought on natural home remedies. I found myself with a pot of disappointing, sticky, un-useable mess, that went straight in the bin after the first try. I washed it off, and decided that natural home-made products just weren't any good. If they were, surely we'd all be using them?

Being raised as an eco-conscious woman in a modern era, trying to avoid pollution, waste, reducing my carbon footprint etc, I've carried a lot of guilt during my life about my own conflicting personal views on the subject.

I recently decided to make it my mission to answer that question, and look at how natural diet,  alternative and traditional remedies, natural and plant based skin care and cleaning products could enhance, rather than inhibit, our sophisticated modern lifestyle.

My life has seen more than it's fair share of changes already this year, so as change seems to be the theme for 2012, I thought, why not?

In January I felt it was the right time for me to stop eating meat, and switched my diet to vegetarian. Shortly afterwards,  upon researching vegetarian and vegan website, I stumbled upon some information that indicated that I have likely had an allergy to dairy products my entire life.

This came as a huge shock, as I've always loved milk, cream and cheeses, and an adjustment to my diet to exclude them entirely seemed rather daunting. I was horrified at the thought of eating soya instead - the word soya just sounds nasty doesn't it?

It did however, explain the various "childhood" ailments that  have plagued my entire life & that I never seemed to grow out of, despite doctors saying I would.

I've suffered with two notable conditions for as long as I can remember. The  well known, but often misunderstood skin condition Eczema, and the lesser known problem of Otitis Media with Effusion, more commonly called Glue Ear.

These two rather unpleasant conditions have made my life awkward and at times extremely uncomfortable.

I'll go into more detail about these ailments and the link to consuming dairy products, and the health benefits I have enjoyed as a result of eating soya in coming articles, but for now, suffice to say, I'm in much better shape.

Being a person of a spiritual persuasion, I will also be exploring complimentary therapies, and alternative lifestyles to look at their merits and how easy it would be to implement them into what most of us think of as "real" life!

So please join me on this journey of discovery of how to live in a more natural way, in a technological age. I'll be sharing my own personal experience, experimenting, making and testing remedies and products on myself, in the interests of furthering my own knowledge of what works and what doesn't, and hopefully sharing some useful insights and tips that you can try.

I am your guinea pig, so please feel free to contact me with ideas you'd like me to try, or challenges for me to solve.

Here goes - wish me luck!