Imperfectly Natural Woman

Janey Lee Grace has gathered together a fantastic collection of alternative ways of making yourself beautiful, keeping your home clean and ensuring you stay healthy, and put them together in a book called The Imperfectly Natural Woman.

She claims to be no expert but she is already known as Radio 2’s Holistic Ambassador.  A mother of four young children, a wife, a broadcaster, a singer and a writer, Janey doesn’t have time to waste on unrealistic objectives so she has taken the best of what’s on offer holistically, and incorporated it into her life.  She is no eco-warrior and insists that she is an imperfect woman who is always looking at different ways of doing things to enhance the life of her family.  We spoke to her to find out more.

Janey's interest in natural health began back in 1988 when the Edwina Curry egg scare was in the public eye.

"I never used to eat much meat eat chicken but when the salmonella scare happened, I stopped eating it so I became a vegetarian without having to think about it too much.  I noticed how much better I felt, how much energy I had and couldn't believe that all the little problems like IBS, tummy aches and bloating seemed to just disappear.  I realised that for me, a vegetarian diet just worked and that started me thinking; what else am I putting into my system that might change the way I feel, for better or for worse?"

To begin with, Janey looked at nutrition and nutritional testing to decipher which vitamins she might be lacking.

“I also became interested in superfoods and sprouting back in the late 80s when not many people were into it, and read a couple of inspirational books by the fabulous Leslie Kenton.  Around the same time, I also found this fabulous old book literally from the 1950s about naturopathy.  I'd never even heard of it before, and it opened my eyes to the whole concept that we are responsible for our own health and what we put into and around out bodies."

Janey's Three Tips For A More Natural Life

1. Eat as healthy a diet as possible with the least amount of processed foods as you can manage, and as much organic / local food as you can afford

2. Keep your home and skin as chemical free as possible.

3. Keep your life in balance. Remember the connection between your mind, body and health.

Then she examined how your mind affects your health. Reading Louise Hay and some hypnotherapy encouraged her to take a different approach to health, through visualisation.

"I am a very, very stressed person who gets anxious so the visualisation techniques helped me enormously.  At lot of my ill-health - not that it was anything desperate, but my little nuances, were all down to stress because I had no mechanism to cope with it.  The visualisation really helped me and I still use it to this day - even through child birth, and I've had four kids!"

Information galore is divulged in the book, from the wonders of coconut oil as a moisturiser and magnotherpay to alternative cleaning products and one of her favourite therapies, the Bowen technique.

"Bowen is such an incredibly wonderful treatment because it's totally non-invasive.  It doesn’t hurt, it is quick and you usually don't need many treatments, depending on your condition.

“My neighbour is eighty-six, and had an operation on his back.  He was told that he would be able to walk, but wouldn't be able to drive or play golf again.  He is not the sort of person who is interested in alternative health at all, but I had written an article on Bowen, so I popped a copy of it through his door.  I thought, I've got nothing to lose here, and I wanted him to have the Bowen practitioner's number.  He asked her to come and see him because he could not drive himself.  He had two or three treatments, and today he is driving and back on the golf course; it's absolutely amazing.  He now has a regular Bowen treatment as a preventative measure, as does his wife who is 87, and they truly believe it is their life saver."

"Bowen is all about alignment of the body.  Any muscular problems that we all get but in particular as we age are compounded when the body is out of alignment.  You've got to find the right therapist so try and be recommended if you possibly can, but I honestly cannot recommend it highly enough.  I would hugely recommend it over osteopathy or chiropractor any day. For me it’s like a miracle really. It feels like nothing is happening, and you think this is money for old rope, but I assure you, you will just be amazed - and I'm not on any commission!"

It's her down-to-earth approach and chatty tone which make this book a pleasure to read.   She is the first to insist that she is no environmental green goddess, and that makes the concept of an ‘imperfectly natural woman’ so accessible.

"In terms of the title, the imperfect part is so important.  These tree-hugging eco-warriors who tell us what to do drive me absolutely mad.  And these diet doctors we have around at the moment.  It's all about getting it all right and I just cant get it all right.  I think most people can't or else you would just end up exhausted.  We all lead very busy lives, so when we watch a fitness video or a diet programme, we think I must start doing this, but then you become exhausted by all the bits you aren't doing and almost beat yourself up out of guilt."

"The other problem is people often want to start down this route but they might not really know where to look.  I have tried to cover everything and offer an alternative to something you are already doing, and I've hopefully sourced a product that has worked for me or lots my colleagues, so the chances are it should work for you to.  And wherever possible I have found the cheapest and the most easiest to get hold of, so I've really done all the leg work to make it easier to become more natural."

One thing Janey does stress is if you feel guilty about a section in the book, move on. 

"I think we are all at different stages of our journey so you have to do the bits that are right for you now.   I've been into all this stuff for years and years, but when it comes to being green, I am horribly imperfect.  I am not a nice dark shade of green; in fact, I am barely lime. “

“I am ashamed at how long it took me to get round to really basic things like recycling, but I think everyone has to wait until the time is right for them, because fifteen years ago, I wasn't ready to do it."

"I do think, that particularly women, have a very strong conscience, if you like.  You read something, and you might not make any changes straight away but something starts nagging away at the back of your mind.  You might read a report about chemicals in the home giving you headaches, you might see non-toxic cleaning products or hear a feature on the radio, and something will nag away in your conscience until you deal with it.  You can't deal with everything at once but hopefully, if you can find the bits in the book that you want to do now, perhaps there might be something else in six months time that will interest you."

As Janey says, it’s a simple message but a little goes a long way, and if you take it one step at a time, in six months time you will probably be doing at least two ‘green’ things which you didn’t before.

"A little goes a long way, I really believe that.  If everybody did just did one thing, then already the world's already a better place.  And you've probably saved some money, saved on some chemicals, helped your health and a little bit of the environment, so it's all good really." 

This is a work in progress for Janey, supported by a website so anyone can interact, share ideas and which natural products or treatments have worked for them.

"I am not saying this is a definitive guide, because I am finding out about some great new companies I didn't know about before, and the website is a wonderful way for people to tell others about a new product, or brilliant health near them.  And I hope that all these ripples of holistic living will add up to a sea of health, and I really do mean that.” 

Imperfectly Natural Woman costs £12.99 or you can purchase it from Amazonfor £8.57.  Visit the website at http://www.imperfectlynaturalwoman.com/

By Rachael Hannan

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