Fueling a Passion for Naturopathic Foods
BY SARAH KITTLE
Naked Fuel is more than a juice bar, it’s the idea that through taste, sight and sound we can align mind, body and soul to harness inner power and heal ourselves naturally. Using only organic materials—food from the earth—is a passion for Natasha Hamama and her mother Gloria Simaan, founders and proprietors of Naked Fuel in West Bloomfield.
Hamama remembers her grandfather using natural ingredients along with spiritual practices to heal humans and animals (mostly animals). The patriarch ate from the earth. His regular meal was boiled carrots, boiled potatoes and chicken. It’s no wonder that his daughter and granddaughter have made a living out of creating food from nature.
Hamama and Simaan launched Naked Fuel five years ago. Growing up in the restaurant business they were familiar with food service and even had a smoothie area in the family restaurant. Serving smoothies was not enough.
The restaurant business was not her first passion; Hamama went to Los Angeles as a young woman to enter the fashion scene. While she loved the business, she found herself getting very sick. Far from home and family, she felt she had no other option than to heal herself. She did research on healing foods and learned a lot about food as medicine.
Did you know that geography and heritage affect how your body handles food? Hamama learned that many people of African descent are lactose-intolerant, and people from the Middle East are prone to Crohn’s disease. Not only that, but our bodies and our systems are constantly changing and evolving. In some cases allergies go away. If there’s one thing Naked Fuel wants people to know, it’s that they need to know themselves.
Both Hamama and Simaan are certified health coaches. Hamama studied at the Institute of Integrative Nutrition in New York. “Naked Fuel is my mother’s dream,” she says, “It’s a manifestation of our skills and knowledge. I’ve always believed that women are so strong—giving birth and running the household are not easy tasks.” So why not run a business?
The restaurant’s philosophy is “conscious eating.” They want you to know what you are eating and display the menu ingredients (mostly simple, 4-5 components) on the wall. “If you can’t pronounce an ingredient, you shouldn’t put it in your mouth,” says Hamama. Where else can you get homemade granola crafted by a genuine Buddhist monk?
Living décor is also on display at the West Bloomfield location, designed in partnership with the interior landscaping company Planterra. “Avatar-style floating trees,” is how owner Shane Pliska describes the design concept. Online reviewers love the space, which was inspired by Kreation, Hamama’s favorite juice bar in LA.
For Hamama, Naked Fuel is a lifestyle choice more than simply a case of doing a “cleanse.” Sure, cleansing (cutting back on sugar, detoxing, etc.) is good, and they even offer a new “Soup and Juice” cleanse package, but their mission remains to educate the community. “You are what you eat,” and “One man’s food is another man’s poison,” are mantras that they live by.
Hamama and Simaan ask their clients to “focus on the feeling” and listen to what their bodies tell them. Bio-individuality is the watchword of the industry. More simply, everyone is different and our bodies are always changing, so we should pay attention to how what we eat affects us in every way.
Naked Fuel is focused on health, with popular items such as bone broth and wheatgrass shots driving customers to return. For those battling cold and flu, they offer the “Terminator” shot with lemon juice and the “Flu Fighter” with garlic, a natural antioxidant. The main herbs and spices used are known for their healing properties—ginger, turmeric, cayenne. Seasonal cleanses aim to rid the body of toxins and reset one’s system.
When asked if they feel supported by the Chaldean community, the answer was, “100 percent! There’s no support like that of our Chaldean community—they are extremely knowledgeable about food health.” If the names on the “reviews” section are any indication (Jabero, Sesi, Yono…), Chaldeans are definitely supporting the business, and the owners couldn’t be more grateful.
Asked to identify her favorites on the menu, Hamama recommends the Cabbage Coconut Soup and Kale Cilantro Salad. “It’s all good – healthy and delicious,” she said. Her favorite smoothie? “The Nudie Nut Smoothie, hands down.”