Tips from the Diet Diva

These days, healthy meal delivery services are a dime a dozen. In fact, besides going to the gym, many celebrities now depend on them to get in shape. Diet Diva — a business owned and operated by theater actress Kakki Teodoro — is one such service, and it counts celebrities like singer Morissette Amon among its clients.

Kakki (whose credits include Trumpets’ stagings of Disney’s High School Musical, Peter Pan and PETA’s hit comedy musical Rak of Aegis) started Diet Diva four years ago, in 2012, after recognizing the need for a service that prepares healthy yet affordable meals for those who don’t have time to do so themselves.

“I was really busy with work and I was already having a hard time preparing my own food,” Kakki recalls. “With everything I was doing — events, stage performances, tapings, teaching jobs — the last thing I wanted to do was cook and do meal prep, so I would resort to eating fast food. I ended up gaining 20-lbs.”

Most of her previous theater work required Kakki to be fit, so living a healthy lifestyle was among her top priorities. But as time went on, she had less and less time to stay on top of her diet.

Kakki was aware that she had gained weight, but she didn’t know just how much. She was horrified when one day, she tried on some clothes for a photoshoot and none fit. She then signed up for a healthy meal delivery service that, while effective, proved to be too expensive for her.

“That was when I told myself, ‘I need to fix this,’” she says. “So I went on the South Beach Diet, which cost P800 per day. After two weeks, ubos na yung budget ko.”

Back then, there weren’t any other services Kakki could turn to. She wondered how she could eat properly, lose weight and not burn a hole in her wallet, all at the same time. “I said to myself, ‘Hopefully, there’s a healthy baon that’s affordable.’ But I wasn’t thinking of starting a business yet. I was just thinking at that time that healthy food shouldn’t be expensive.”

?It wasn’t until her retiree mother entered the picture that Diet Diva was born. She offered to prepare Kakki’s baon herself and suggested that her daughter ask her colleagues if they wanted healthy food, too. That was when a lightbulb finally went off in Kakki’s head.

Since then, Diet Diva has become a favorite of many celebrities, beginning with Heart Evangelista. “I think Heart was our first official celebrity client. She mentioned us in an interview she did with Women’s Health before, even if I didn’t ask her to. Honestly, I have no idea how she heard about us. Naloka talaga ako nung tumawag yung assistant niya sa amin!” Kakki laughs.

Saab Magalona-Bacarro was introduced to Diet Diva by her sister Maxene, who used to pay for Saab’s meals as well as her own. When the time of Saab’s wedding to musician Jim Bacarro rolled around, she went to Kakki for help.

“Saab decided that she wanted to lose weight faster because she was going to prepare for her wedding already,” Kakki recalls. “About a month after she got engaged, she asked if we could prepare something. So we adjusted her consumption of carbohydrates. Binaba namin yung number of carbs na kino-consume niya. Yung rice niya, pinalitan namin ng kamote at saba. We still gave her pasta, but we reduced the serving. But we also made sure that her mood wouldn’t be affected because of course, she should be beautiful and happy on her wedding day.”

Saab is still subscribing to Diet Diva, as is her brother, Born for You lead actor Elmo Magalona. Yes, the service caters to men, too! In fact, celebrities currently on Diet Diva include Jerald Napoles, Joanna Ampil, John Arcilla, Kakai Bautista, sisters Kat and Michelle Gumabao, Markki Stroem and Ricky Davao.

Based on personal experience, Kakki believes it’s never too early to watch what you eat.

“Listen to your body because prevention is better than cure,” she advises. “It’s easier to start living a healthy lifestyle than wait to gain weight before you lose it. Dieting isn’t just about losing weight. It’s also about loving your body and supplying it with the food that gives it the best fuel. In the case of celebrities, they really need to do that in order to perform well.” — With reports from Almed Garcia and Julian Mauricio