Rhian Ramos Launched Healthy Appetite to Make Plant-Based Meals Accessible

“My relationship with food has changed a lot throughout the years,” Rhian Ramos tells Metro.Style.

“In the earlier days, when I didn’t know too much about nutrition, my diets would be more about the amounts of food. It felt like food was my enemy.”

“But now I know food is my friend,” she continues. “I love preparing my veggies in bulk so I always have something healthy ready whenever I need it.”

This love for food—and this shift in understanding that food is life-giving, rather than something to avoid—is exactly what brought Rhian Ramos to launch Healthy Appetite, in partnership with CloudEats. 

Healthy Appetite is a 24/7 online brand for high quality and affordable healthy food, available on GrabFood, making it so much easier to find plant-based or healthier alternatives to our favorite food and dishes. 

Economical, but nutritious

“Healthy eating is something I value extremely highly and I think many people can relate as people want to eat healthy food but don’t know where to find convenient and affordable options,” Rhian explains. 

“I felt that the market lacked food options that were economical but provided good nutrition, especially in the awkward times of the day and night. Our 24-hour virtual restaurant, Healthy Appetite, was an answer to that problem.”

Rhian’s own story in food began with the influence of her best friend, Bianca King-Wintle. “I used to not even eat my veggies but she’d always serve the tastiest salads and plant-based dishes during our hangouts and sleepovers,” Rhian shares. 

“Just having those experiences with food that satisfies both my taste cravings and nutritional needs made me want those kinds of options on a daily basis.”

Until now, Rhian continues to learn more and more when it comes to food serving her body, helping her to get the necessary work done for the day. 

“I learned about the huge effect of what I eat can have on my day,” she says. “I eat very differently on days that require more physical activity compared to the more stationary ones. I’ve learned to use the macros in my food to fuel my activities.”

What’s on the menu

“Most of our menu is plant-based,” Rhian tells me, “but we do have some dishes with real chicken, egg, and dairy. We wanted to offer healthy and sustainable food options.” 

 “In fact,” she continues, “despite being a healthy restaurant, there is one menu item that was purely a mental health decision: the Three Cheese Mac & Cheese. The last thing I want after a full meal is to feel deprived. My message is not to suddenly become a different person overnight. Building healthy eating habits is a gradual process and it will fail if you feel you are depriving yourself of food. Food is one of the great things in life!”

Healthy Appetite offers a wide variety of dishes, from quinoa and cauliflower rice bowls to salads, sides, and snacks. Rhian personally recommends their Classic Humus, being a snack-lover herself, as it leaves her cravings satisfied while still maintaining a healthy diet, she says.

Something unique to Healthy Appetite, too, is their full-day meal bundles that give consumers and foodies the option to have a healthy meal plan for the day. 

A business and an advocacy

Rhian knows that many perceive healthy or organic ingredients to be expensive—which, often, they are. But Rhian also knows how important and essential it is to eat healthily, which is why there is nothing above Php 300 on the menu—barring the meal bundles, of course—and that it is easily accessible, since it’s available on GrabFood. 

“I think some people tend to believe that healthy or organic ingredients are expensive therefore healthy choices are sometimes a lot harder to make,” Rhian says. “I want to help people put into mind that eating healthy doesn’t have to be so costly.”

“I think when you easily have access to healthy items,” she continues, “it motivates people to purchase because it’s easy and convenient. I want to provide that, especially for those who are wanting to be healthy or have a clean diet, so it’s really important to me that healthy food can be enjoyed by everyone.”

“I have always felt that deciding [what] to eat should be inspired by what our bodies need. The idea of healthy eating differs from person to person, depending on what their goals are. Having different options in the menu such as plant-based options and other options such as adlai and quinoa helps cater to the needs of different people [without] breaking the bank!”

And so to Rhian, Healthy Appetite isn’t just a business—it’s an advocacy.

“Healthy eating, especially having a good balance—vegetables are a must!—is important for us to be the best versions of ourselves,” she ends.

To learn more about Healthy Appetite, visit their Instagram or find them on GrabFood. 

Lead photos courtesy of Healthy Appetite