Green the new black in the health world The Raw Kitchen, Fremantle serves up a variety of healthy food options. Pictured is Perth model Emma Smyth from Vivien's Model Management, who is a regular Raw Kitchen customer. GREEN, fashionably speaking, is the new black. Um, make that the new long black. Thanks to the kiss of approval from Miranda Kerr, Megan Gale and our guest editor, Jessica Gomes, green - or green sludge, to be precise - is also the new espresso martini, the new mango lassi, the new apple cider vinegar and the new wheat grass. It might look like stagnant pond water but the mixture of kale, ginger, apple, kiwi fruit and cucumber - blitzed in a blender - is now the kickass kickstart to the day for any runway beauty worth her fighting weight. As health-obsessed models and starlets join the holistic raw food movement sweeping the world, they are singing the benefits. Not only are they getting an energy boost, they are shedding kilos while looking at life through crystal-clear peepers. Following the stars" "healthy selfies"" posts on social media are thousands of young wannabe models who are also taking to the juices and smoothies.There are two schools of thought on trying the green - to juice or blend. Both have benefits. Miranda Kerr's a smoothie girl. She swears by the energy and fibre she gets from her jaw-droppingly expensive morning shake, a blend of leafy greens and goji berry powder, chia seeds, kale and coconut milk whizzed up in an $800 blender. Jessica Gomes often tweets the benefits of her perfect green juice breakfast drink to her 54,000-plus Twitter followers. For Megan Gale, who takes liquid chlorophyll for her skin, well, she's a regular Instagram poster of pictures extolling the benefits of kale and beetroot juice. And when you have Lara Bingle opting to pack her blender rather than an extra pair of heels, you know there's something going down. Sound like a fad? Pictured is owners Emma Gilbert and Heath Daly. It's anything but that, according to the Perth couple putting their life's earnings on the line to prove that the raw food movement, which inspired these green drinks, is here to stay. Naturopath Heath Daly and former medical student Emma Gilbert are flat-out meeting the popular local demand for raw food - which is defined as food prepared below 46C to preserve the life force and nutritional content. Next month the couple will open the doors on a giant 160-seat warehouse-turned-eatery devoted to a totally holistic approach to dining. What started more than five years ago as a tiny Subiaco Farmer's Markets stall serving up nachos made from dehydrated corn and flax seed, and cheese¬cake created from cashews, coconut oil and raw chocolate, has grown. And then grown some more. "It was so popular that we moved to Fremantle Markets,"" says Daly. "And then more and more people came and it was hard to keep up with things so we opened The Raw Kitchen cafe."" The Raw Kitchen in Fremantle's Piazza arcade has 80 seats constantly turned over by a glamorous clientele including models such as Perth's Emma Smythe, West Coast Eagles stars, bodybuilders and martial arts champs. On top of their must-try list is the $8.50 green smoothie made from organic spinach, frozen banana and filtered water which offers a flavour as well as nutrient hit while filling the gap. "The benefit of the green smoothie or juice is that it is the most nutrient-dense, low-carb meal you can get on the planet,"" Daly says. It has the most amino acids, minerals and vitamins per calorie in the drink. You're getting the most nutrients from the green leafy vegies with the least amount of calories. "It's breakfast in a glass, so easily digestible, which gives you extra energy because your body is not using the energy to digest the food."" There is no oven in the Raw Kitchen cafe but, using blending, freezing and dehydrating techniques, the pair compiled a menu featuring a pizza base made from buckwheat, topped with basil and capsicum salsa and club sandwiches made from flax cracker "bread"" topped with avocado. Honey, agave nectar or stevia (a herb) is used instead of sugar or sweeteners. The Raw Kitchen, Fremantle serves up a variety of healthy food options like their Raw Pasta. "Pasta"" is made from hand-spiralled zucchini noodles, and raw soups - made from spinach, basil, avocado and nut milk - are served only slightly warmed with dehydrated flat onion bread on the side. Sandwiches, at $18.50, are not cheap and the food takes much longer to prepare, overnight if you factor in the dehydrating. But it's all about healthier living and reaping the benefits of more energy. Weight loss is a side bonus. The raw food diet is a holistic approach. It's not a religion," Daly says. It's basically the minimal manipulation of food. Our food is free from dairy, sugar, wheat and gluten. "We are not asking people to eat like this all the time, but what we are finding is that after you start eating this way you want to keep doing it because it gives you so much energy."" The inventor of muesli, Maximilian Bircher-Benner, was the first champion of raw food, arguing that valuable natural enzymes - responsible for building proteins - in food are destroyed by heating, leaving the toxins behind. That was back in 1897 and since then the movement has gathered momentum with several best-selling books such as Leslie and Susannah Kenton's Raw Energy - Eat Your Way to Radiant Health, advocating a diet of 75 per cent raw food to prevent degenerative diseases and slow down ageing. Fremantle has embraced the concept. With half The Raw Kitchen's demographic made up of young hipsters between 18 and 24, Daly and Gilbert are using the pared-back approach they have with food to fit out a cavernous 1920s warehouse along nearby High St. "We take the food back to basics, really,"" Daly says. Things in their original state are beautiful. It's all about getting the community connected, getting people to connect to beauty and aesthetics. They are taking the concept a few steps further. Along with daily breakfast, lunch and dinner, they will also offer yoga classes, naturopathy, cooking schools, fashion shows, live music and open-mic political discussion nights. "There will be a lot of vintage fashion as well, a lot of "upcycling," reusing things."" The point of difference in the new cafe is an oven which will churn out cooked vegan foods. A top Australian chef, Dan Greco, has been recruited to drive the kitchen. Emma's sister Leah Gilbert, one of Australia's leading raw chefs, will take care of the raw food and preside over a lineup of Vitamix blenders. And while there is no meat on the menu, there will be alcohol. "We're not wowsers, by any means,"" says Daly. We will be serving cocktails using super foods like acai berries and goji berries with Kahlua-based drinks made with pure chocolate bean. "When these superfoods release dopamines (neurotransmitters that help govern the brain's pleasure responses) the drink becomes like a super food elixir for adults."" Judging by the Perth-based sites and Facebook pages devoted to raw food, there will be no shortage of customers. Perth Raw Foodies - a Facebook page set up by Clinton Smith and his wife, Kira, a former model - offers recipes and reviews of blenders to around 1100 followers. They, too, are about to set up a cafe, in Belmont, aimed largely at models. Called Gaia Detox and Wellness Centre, it will offer colonic irrigation as well as vegetarian food and preparation classes on raw food. They will also consult on a raw diet's benefits. "There are huge beauty benefits as well as health benefits,"" Smith says. Ninety per cent of our clients will be models. They need to learn that it is not about just losing weight. They need to be healthy as well as looking good."" Another business about to launch, Pure Glow Cleanse, promises to deliver "delicious, fresh, raw, vegan juices right to your door for your three-day cleanse."" Already it has 800 followers. However, dieticians warn raw food proponents not to cut out major food groups in their diet plan. "Meat, dairy and so on should not be excluded from the diet just because it's not raw," says Perth nutritionist Andrea Gilbey. And some of the ingredients used in a raw food diet can still be high in calories, such as coconut oil. Among vegetable oils, coconut oil is one of the richest in saturated fat - about 86-87 per cent of all its fatty acids are saturated. Saturated fats raise blood cholesterol. Gilbey says going green is not the only way of getting a good nutrient-and-fibre hit. "You could probably get a similar effect to the green juice by eating a wholegrain cereal with fruit on top and milk," she says. "But it is a good way to get your five daily serves of fruit and veg in one hit."" Jessica Gomes' juice recipe Kale, apple, celery, a little bit of parsley, plus a bit of mint and spinach. The apple gives it a touch of sweetness. You can add a dash of ginger if you want - it makes it a bit spicy, which is good. It's really alkalising. I try to have it every morning. Raw Pasta Serves 4 Ingredients Pasta: 4 large fresh zucchini Marinana Sauce 4 large tomatoes 1 cup sundried tomatoes 1 clove garlic 1/2 bunch fresh basil 2 TBS dried oregano Freshly ground black pepper, to taste 1/2 cup cold-pressed olive oil 6 dates, pitted 1 tsp sea salt Method Spiralise zucchini and place into a mixing bowl. Blend sauce ingrediemts in a food processor until desired consistency. Stir the sauce through the zucchini noodles and serve in four separate bowls with a generous amount of Nutritional Yeast sprinkled on top. Add cubed avocado for a creamy addition. Carrot, Ginger & Coriander Soup Serves 2 Ingredients 2 large carrots 1/2 red capsicum 1 celery stick 1/2 large avocado 1/2 bunch coriander 2-3cm cube of ginger 1 clove garlic Pinch chilli 3 dates, pitted 2 cups water Salt & pepper, to taste 2TBS chia seeds (optional - for added nutrition) Method Blend all ingredients in a high speed blender / Thermomix until smooth and slightly warm. Green Garden Salad Ingredients Kale, de-stemmed and torn into bite- size pieces Baby spinach 1/3 white onion, sliced 1 cup cherry tomatoes, halved 1/3 cucumber, sliced 1/2 avocado, sliced 1/2 pear, sliced 2-3 sprigs of mint, leaves only, roughly chopped Sprinkle of pumpkin and sunflower seeds Dressing 1/3 cup cashews 1/4 cup water 1 clove garlic Juice of 1/2 lemon 1/2-1 TBS Braggs / tamari (depending on how salty you like it) 1/3 bunch of coriander Pepper, to taste Method Soak the cashews for an hour, then drain and rinse. Blend all ingredients together until smooth.