The sexy chef cooks up ‘fat-fighting’ meals

You wouldn’t know it from her ultra-slim frame, but singer/actress Rachel Alejandro often has food on the brain.

“My desire to eat is very, very strong,” she revealed at the launch of her and sister Barni Alejandro’s new book, 21 Days to a Sexier You.

In the book itself, she writes, “I am very familiar with the feeling of losing control because of my unquenchable desire to eat. Then, after I’ve let the food monster out of its cage and stuffed myself senseless, the feelings of remorse would creep in.”

Who hasn’t let the food monster out of its cage every once in a while? I call such days “wanting to eat the whole world” and, like Rachel, proceed to stuff my face with whatever food is lying around, grabbing handfuls like some ravenous Cookie Monster. All that’s lacking is the crumbs flying.

That was the main reason Rachel and her sister, chef Barni Alejandro, established The Sexy Chef 13 years ago, for people who struggle with food and weight loss. They formulated healthy meal plans with fitness nutritionist Nadine Tengco, and were the first to offer diet meal-delivery service to client’s homes.

“It was actually out of need, because we wanted something that could help us stay in shape and keep it while still enjoying great food,” Rachel says.

Since then, diet delivery services have proliferated, capitalizing on whatever diet is currently trending, from Paleo to Cohen to Keto, but through it all, The Sexy Chef has been a byword for healthy food and wholesome living. The sisters also published two cookbooks — The Sexy Chef Cookbook and Eat, Clean, Love — along the way.

On Dec. 9, Rachel and Barni launched their third book at National Book Store Glorietta 1, the alluringly titled 21 Days to a Sexier You.

Chef Barni demonstrates how to make the Fat-Fighting 4 Smoothie, which can be drunk as a pre- or post-workout snack.

“We wanted to make it different from the first two books,” Rachel says, “so we thought, why not focus on our core business: weight loss?”

People would always ask the sisters how they lost weight, or how they maintained their weight.  “Is it about eating less, skipping meals, or cutting down on calories?” Barni asks. “Is it low-carb? There’s so many ways to lose weight, but which is the right one?”?

The sisters believe that, aside from counting calories and watching your portions, weight loss is not just about exclusion, but inclusion.

“It’s also about nutrients that you can incorporate into your day that will help you lose weight and also get rid of belly fat,” Barni says.

The book contains 60 recipes that feature the Fat-Fighting Four (see sidebar). Since a muffin top is one of the banes of my existence, this is extremely good news.?

Chef Barni proceeded to prepare some of the recipes from the book, like the Fat-Fighting 4 Smoothie, imparting valuable tips like how coconut water is the ultimate sports drink: “It has a lot of electrolytes and more potassium than bananas, so it’s really good for muscle recovery. You don’t even need to drink sports drinks to replenish your body of important electrolytes.”

Want an inexpensive substitute for kale? Try malunggay, a local and much more affordable superfood: “It has seven times more vitamin C than oranges, four times more vitamin A than carrots, three times more potassium than bananas, three times the protein and four times more calcium than milk,” Barni says. “And it has a lot of fiber, which is one of the Fat-Fighting Four.”

Barni also happens to be a superb vegetarian cook, and 21 Days to a Sexier You advocates healthier Meatless Mondays even for diehard carnivores: “Chef Barni’s most delicious recipes are meat-free because — sustainability, nutritional and slimming considerations aside, vegetarian is truly the way both of us like to eat,” Rachel admits.

There’s also a recipe section dedicated to “Flat Belly Meals,” and Rachel ends the book with a chapter on everything she knows about fighting fat, losing weight, and maintaining your best possible shape.

When she first started writing the book, she saw a Netflix TV show starring Naomi Watts called Gypsy: “Her character there says, ‘I used to believe that people determine their own lives. Yet there is a force way more powerful than free will: our desires.’”

The Alejandro sisters believe our desire to be fitter, slimmer, and sexier will inspire us to lead healthier lives.

* * *

21 Days to a Sexier You is available at National Book Store for P295.

* * *

Recipe File: Chocolate Banana Overnight Oats

(441 calories, serves 3)

Ingredients:

1 cup rolled oats

2 tbsps chia seeds

1 cup soymilk or low-fat milk

1 / 2 cup coconut milk

1 tbsp cocoa powder

 1 / 4 tsp ground cinnamon

1 tbsp The Sexy Chef’s Spread the Love cashew butter or peanut butter

3 tbsps coconut nectar or honey

1 banana, mashed

1 / 2 cup strawberries, hulled and sliced

1 tbsp cacao nibs or dark chocolate, chopped

Procedure:

1.       In a mixing bowl, combine the rolled oats and chia seeds.

2.       Pour in the soymilk, coconut milk, cocoa powder, cinnamon, cashew butter, coconut nectar and banana. Stir until well combined.

3.       Cover and store in the refrigerator overnight.

4.       Top with strawberries and cacao nibs.

Individually, each of these four nutrients can contribute to weight loss. But together, they can turn your body into a fat-burning machine.

Let’s take a look at what each of them do, according to Barbara Quinn and the editors of Prevention magazine, Francine R. Kaufman, all authors of Diabetes DTour Diet:

1.     Calcium – Test subjects that ate lots of calcium-rich dairy foods incorporated into a low-calorie meal plan lost 64 percent more body fat than those who didn’t. One theory that explains this is that calcium helps control calcitrol, a hormone that produces fat.

2.     Omega 3s – These healthy fats make you feel fuller for a longer time, so you eat less throughout the day. They also reduce inflammation, which can cause weight gain.

3.     Fiber – This provides the bulk that makes meals more filling, and therefore helps control appetite. It can slow down the absorption of carbs, and keep blood-sugar levels even.

4.     Vitamin D – It reduces cellular inflammation and helps the body absorb calcium. In many studies, obese subjects have been found to suffer vitamin D deficiency. Older women would also benefit from getting adequate amounts of this vitamin to prevent weight gain.

Follow me on Facebook (Therese Jamora-Garceau), Twitter @tjgarceau and Instagram @theresejamoragarceau.