ALL ABOUT FOOD: Back to basics with raw food at Naked Apples

How many of you have driven by the new Naked Apples boutique on Coast Highway and wondered if it was a lingerie shop or maybe a strip club?

Did anyone guess that it’s a raw-food emporium featuring entrees, salads and desserts to go as well as a place for supplements, books and equipment (like juicers) for preparing raw food?

In addition, there are organic hair and skin care products, organic clothing and fitness accessories, including hula-hoops.

Naked Apples is the brainchild of the charismatic Jenny Ross, Laguna’s onlysole purveyor of the Omega Omelet, a flax and coconut wrap filled with soaked pine nut cheese, spinach, agave nectar and Himalayan salt.

She is a former model who began gluten-free baking when a friend was diagnosed with celiac disease (serious wheat intolerance). Eventually, this led to baking gluten-free products commercially. She did some private catering as well as planning for and working at events.

This gave her the opportunity to study with raw-food chefs, and she was delighted to discover the world of gourmet raw foods. Jenny was a vegetarian for two years before becoming a raw-food vegan five years ago.

With a partner, she took the brave step of opening a vegan raw-food cafe called Taste of the Goddess in West Hollywood. Even though the business was successful, she found herself longing to return to Laguna, her former home.

She sold the business to her partner and found a kitchen in Santa Ana for catering, wholesaling and food preparation. From there, freshly prepared food is delivered to Laguna twice a day.

Naked Apples has breakfast, lunch, dinner and dessert items. The small storefront in Laguna is already proving inadequate, although Jenny has miraculously created a lovely roof terrace and garden upstairs for classes and events.

She is hoping to open a raw-foods café in the canyon next to the Culinary Institute, creating a veritable monopoly of female restaurant owners in this small center.

For those of you who have never heard of the raw-food movement and those who have but are not sure what it’s about other than the fact that Woody Harrelson and Demi Moore are devotees, here is an overview of a controversial issue.

There are differences within the movement as to what x constitutes a raw-food diet. Historically, the term was used to describe a raw vegan diet consisting of raw fruits and vegetables, nuts and seeds.

Others have expanded this to include raw (unpasteurized) dairy products, raw meat, raw fish and raw eggs.

This is called the primal diet. No food may be heated to a temperature over 118°, thereby preserving its natural chemical structure. Dehydration and freezing are acceptable.

On the one hand, Some proponents believe a raw-food diet pre-dates history and assume humans were largely vegetarian, with a digestive system configured to digest this food.On the other hand, there are those who Others believe our primitive ancestors were chiefly hunters who ate mostly raw meat.

In general, they all believe that raw foods contain enzymes that act as a catalyst to digest food. Heating food degrades or destroys these enzymes.

Food without enzymes, in the long term, leads to toxicity and disease. Living foods are thought to have a higher nutrient value than those that are cooked.

Finally, raw foods contain bacteria and other microorganisms that stimulate the immune system and populate the digestive tract with beneficial flora.

The benefits include clear skin, higher energy levels, fewer illnesses and less obesity with its related problems.

Some advocates speak of this diet with an almost religious fervor.

Jenny says, “This is a powerful way to eat.” She can work 18- hour days without getting tired.

The raw food movement has been criticized because its proponents cannot support their claims with much scientific evidence.

Their primary information sources are personal and anecdotal. The medical community feels that these diets are too harsh and restrictive, and may result in vitamin B12, iron and protein deficiencies, as well as a loss of bone density, amenorrhea and excessive weight loss.

When asked about these issues, Jenny was well aware of them, and her responses were reasonable and informed. She didn’t deny the potential for these problems but felt that most of them arose from peoples’ lack of knowledge about how to eat a well-balanced raw diet.

Her goal is to teach them, as well as to recommend supplements when indicated. She is also well aware that everybody’s body is different and that a 100% raw diet is not appropriate for everyone.

Even her husband eats an 80/20 diet. The cooked foods she suggests are steamed vegetables, brown rice and quinoa (for its high-protein content).

When counseling her clients, she is highly attuned to their personal tastes and needs, both emotional and physical. Her one prohibition is cooking foods in oil.

A lot has been written lately about the harmful effects of frying due to the release of free radicals. For those of you who are interested in pursuing this subject further, Jenny teaches classes and does individual consultations, including a two-week detox program, which provides all your meals delivered and lessons on shopping and preparing raw food.

Naked Apples will also do home-meal delivery even if you are not in the program. Jenny feels that her mission has been accomplished even if you only eat one raw meal or snack a day.

So stop by the shop and try a trio of enchiladas or a pizza Laguna. If it’s dessert you’re craving, how about chocolate almond turtles or apple pie? Everything is organic and everything is raw.

Naked Apples is located at 784 So. Coast Highway. The phone number is (949) 715-5410.

ELLE HARROW and TERRY MARKOWITZ owned a la Carte for 20 years and can be reached at themarkos755@yahoo.com.