Jemma’s ready to raw

We first met Jemma Gawned on Big Brother, now the Byron beauty has a new lease on life she credits to diet

AS a teenager, Jemma Gawned’s diet was far from balanced.

Like most young adults, she neglected her body’s appetite for nourishment and instead opted for the “easy” path to unhealthiness.

But a big health scare in her early 20s changed everything.

It made Jemma realise she needed to treat her body like a temple and start looking after herself.

“I started exploring different diets and ways of eating – raw, vegan,” she says. “But I didn’t want it to be something I had to think about for the rest of my life. I wanted it to be a complete lifestyle change.”

While Jemma’s journey into the world of heath was full of cleanses and detoxes, the bubbly blonde says she never felt “100 per cent on top of things”.

“I felt there was something missing,” she says.

“I was going through stuff with my moods and feelings – I wasn’t energised.”

It was around this time the former Big Brother contestant packed her bags and headed for a raw-food retreat in Thailand. Jemma says it evoked a health epiphany.

“At the retreat everything started to shift – mentally emotionally and spiritually,” she says. “At the end of it I had more energy than I have ever had in my life. I remember them saying to us that while we continue to eat raw food we continue to cleanse.”

For the next year, Jemma’s diet was 100 per cent raw.

The Byron Bay-based foodie says for her, it’s not about being “fanatically” raw.

“Having the odd glass of red wine or coffee is fine,” she says.

“For me, it’s about bringing your body back to a place of balance, becoming in tune with your body and what it needs to be healthy.”

Adjusting to a raw diet was never an issue for Jemma.

“Food starts to taste a lot better,” she says. “What you crave becomes different too. I used to be able to demolish a family block of chocolate but now I could never – it tastes sweet and like chemicals now.”

Jemma’s way at looking at food became an inspiration for her friends and family. She started making raw treats for her nearest and dearest, and it didn’t take long for the demand to spread.

That’s when Jemma decided to turn her talents towards building her food empire Naked Treaties.

Based in Byron Bay, the raw and organic cafe has become a hub for the health-conscious locals. “I call Naked Treaties the ‘accidental business’,” says Jemma.

“It came from love, and from wanting to share this goodness with friends and family.”

The sweet-tooth says she realised raw desserts were the gateway for everyday people to try more raw foods.

“People would come into my shop and say ‘wow, how does this not have any sugar or eggs in it?’,” says Jemma.

“All of a sudden it was appealing for them.” Serving up everything from green juices and smoothies to raw nachos, savoury crepes, tacos and pizza, Jemma says Naked Treaties is full of integrity.

“It’s all happened organically – when we first opened we quickly outgrew the kitchen space, and relocated to a shop that had a takeaway licence,” she says. “After 10 months we couldn’t move in that space.

“We had to find somewhere else again. There’s never been a plan – we are just responding to what people want.”