The Sexy Chef, which is the brain child of sisters Barni and Rachel, is now on its sixth year and is continuously growing. (Photo by RUDY LIWANAG)

MANILA, Philippines -- Back in 2005, sisters Rachel and Barni Alejandro established The Sexy Chef, a healthy food delivery service which at that time catered to a niche market.  Their clientele were mostly family and friends with a few referrals. Six years later, the company has become a family corporation under OBC 5Star, the same corporation that runs Chef Mom's D-Lite headed by the sisters' Mom Myrna Demauro.

Nowadays, the company delivers to more than a thousand individuals daily to as far as Alabang.  They've also accepted catering services from companies and groups of individuals who are in search of healthier alternatives from the usual catering menu of Lechon and Fish Fillet with Tartar Sauce.

"Of course, they are still popular but more and more are leaning towards the healthy stuff, and vegetarian also," says Rachel who at press time is settling into married life with journalist husband Carlos Santamaria in Madrid, New York.  This interview was her last before she left the country.

She adds, "You'd be surprised at the number of people out there who prefer a healthy buffet.  Even people from the offices, they'd call in and place their orders.  Sometimes they'd give their orders for the whole week because they really plan their meals."

Barni, on the other hand, couldn't agree more. "As the old adage goes: it's hard to teach old dog new tricks.  For the longest time, people didn't want to eat rice because of the carbs."  It can be recalled that The South Beach diet was the first offering of the company when they started. She continues, "It was so hard to introduce new programs because they believe so much in it.  It was difficult to introduce the concept of weigth loss as a result of having good nutrition.  They didn't know that it wasn't just about the portions of the food but the combination also."

Thankfully, continuous developments about health and nutrition over the years has armed people with the right information when it comes to the food they eat and are slowly beginning to embrace new ideas.

The healthy alternative

Today, The Sexy Chef, consistent with its health and wellness advocacy, have added several diet programs to their list apart from the South Beach Diet, namely: Pounds Away, a nutrient-dense, calorie-controlled diet program; Sugar Buster, inspired by the book "Diabetes Dtour Diet: The Revolutionary New Food Cure", is a diet program that uses foods rich in Omega 3s, fiber, calcium, and vitamin D to trim the waist, melt away pounds, help control blood sugar, and improve insulin response; Health For Two, suited for pregnant mothers who wish to consume a nutritious and well-balanced diet during pregnancy that ensures an adequate intake of nutrients while gaining weight at the right rate; Body After Baby, specifically designed for new moms who want to lose weight while at the same time keep their energy up and get restful sleep; HCG Diet Program, intended for individuals receiving HCG treatments who find it a challenge to prepare their own meals that follow the strict rules of HCG Diet Program; Fight Fat, a 14-day diet specially designed for Sexy Solutions, a new service of non-invasive treatments by Belo Medical Group that provides a mix of complex carbohydrates, lean protein, beneficial fatss and four fat fighting nutrients; and finally, the Lose Big Diet Program that is congruent with ABS-CBN's franchise show "The Biggest Loser Pinoy Edition."  The sisters are joined by U.S. Certified fitness nutritionist and weight-loss specialist Nadine Tengco. The Sexy Chef also offers a Health Bar Menu and Vegetarian Menu.

"We're lucky to have Nadine on our team.  She joined us almost two years ago and she's been helping us a lot in providing original, effective recipes, and cooking techniques to ensure great-tasting meals that adhere to the strict nutritional guidelines of each  of our programs," says Barni.

"Our food may be a bit expensive but you can really see that it's premium ingredients, everything is fresh.  We make our own bread out of low-fat ingredients, we use whole wheat pasta and malunggay pasta - it is these substitutions that makes it slightly expensive.  But if you're to compare us with restaurant spending, I'd say ours is priced competitively," Rachel tells.

Healthier food substitution

While on the topic of malunggay, Barni admits her confidence on the green leafy vegetable.  As a "make over" chef that teaches how to make healthy substitutions, she uses malunggay every chance she can.  In fact, in the show "The Biggest Loser Pinoy Edition, Barni mixes malunggay with almost about everything.

"It's my favorite substitute! Did you know that one serving of whole wheat pasta is 172 calories whereas when you use malunggay, you only get 20 calories.  It's more like pancit canton consistency and it has a very neutral taste," she tells.

She continues, "Malunggay is the most complete food and it has fat fighting properties.  I mix it with meatballs, although the contestants don't see it, it's there. I put it in meatballs, burgers, chili con carne.  They don't know it but there's always an allowance of malunggay serving every single day."

Barni also suggests other substitutions such as coconut sugar for sweetener bcause of its lower glycemic index which doesn't make the blood sugar spike up as fast, tofu for scrambled eggs, and crushed whole wheat crackers over bread crumbs.

With all of Barni's knowledge in healthy food alternatives, it's hard to picture her as a sickly pre-school teacher she was years ago.  "It's one of the reasons why I started to cook.  Rachel used to call me sick woman.  Our mother got worried that she sent me to the States for a proper diagnosis.  When my bloodwork came out normal, the doctors advised me to start eating cooked fresh food.  That's also the time, Rachel started buying cook books for me and then they sent me to the International School of Culinary Arts and Hotel Management.

"I wanted something for her apart from being my personal chef.  Initially, I was just thinkiing of her cooking for some other people, sort of a personal chef.  While she was in school, that's when we thought of putting up The Sexy Chef," Rachel concludes.

(The Sexy Chef is located at the Ground Floor, Tower 4 Xavier Hills Condominium, N. Domingo cor. Granada Sts., Bgy. Valencia, Quezon City with tel. nos. 7217399, 7218881, 0917SXYCHEF.  You may also log on to www.thesexychef.ph.)