Cherry Pie Picache is an advocate for good health, but how about her heart?
Cherry Pie Pichache advocates healthy lifestyle.
Unbeknown to many, versatile actress Cherry Pie Picache is an advocate of good health. Ever since her bout with COVID-19 during the pandemic, she has always taken care to make healthy choices.
At 55 years old, Picache was obviously looking more fit and was a head-turner in red when she graced the Advocacy Hour of the 55th Annual Convention and Scientific Meeting of the Philippine Heart Association (PHA)-Philippine College of Cardiology (PCC).
If Batang Quaipo’s Marites is all pain and misfortune, Picache was all smiles and gregarious during her PHA guesting “as a mother, a woman, an artist, and a fellow Filipino who believes in the importance of taking care of the most important muscle in our body: the heart.
According to the PHA, a group of 2500+ cardiologists from all over the country, heart diseases remain the number one cause of death in the Philippines and even globally. Sadly, many people don’t even know they’re at risk—until it’s too late. That’s why the group has come up with the Advocacy Hour to inform people about heart illness and to encourage preventive and promotive heart care.
Picache said it is never too late to start embracing lifestyle modification at forty- or 50-something which she did through the influence of her son, Nio Tria, who has been an athlete since he was 6 years old.
“Nio [now 23] is a student-athlete who’s active in tennis. He trains regularly, eats well, and takes his health seriously. And seeing that kind of discipline from him—at such a young age—truly humbled me. I realized, if he can be that committed to his well-being, then I owe it to him, and to myself, to do the same,” she narrated.
So little by little, she said, she made better choices by drinking more water instead of reaching for coffee number four and swapping some snacks on the set with fruits and nuts.
And while waiting for her scene, she would do light exercises like stretching backstage. “More than that—I started treating my medical checkups as sacred. Hindi pwedeng isingit lang kung kailan libre. They became part of my routine, just like putting on makeup or reading a script.”
Today, the actress is proud of her small victories in her wellness journey: “I get my labs checked regularly. I keep track of my blood pressure, my sugar levels, my cholesterol. I want to know my numbers before they become a problem. And thank God, everything has been within the normal range so far.”
And her small, practical tips that make a big difference? “Drink more water. Move more—kahit konting lakad lang. Get enough sleep. Manage stress. Say yes to check-ups. And say yes to listening to your doctors.”
Single, ready to mingle?
But if her health is A-okay, how about the status of her heart? Ever since her breakup with actor Edu Manzano in 2023, Picache has been silent about her love life.
Picache said that while she has moved on from their split, her outlook on love has not soured.
“Ako po ay 55 ngayon, marunong magluto, marunong maglaba. Napakagaling ko po mag-alaga ng puso,” she said when she was cornered by the media.
She said that she is not closer her heart for a new love. In fact, she is ready to fall in love again, when the right time — and man — comes along. In the meantime, she will focus on her son, her career, and her health.
“I can say I am blessed. It can be happier to have someone who can take care of your heart and someone to take care of,” she said.
Celebrities and their fitness goals
Among the younger set, these celebrities are known as fitspiration to many. Nadine Lustre, for one, has been reported to have made fitness a key part of her lifestyle and working out regularly. In some interviews, she also spoke on the benefits of her plant-based diet, sharing that she feels stronger than ever before.
The Pambansang Dyosa, Anne Curtis, always reminds her followers, on social media: “We are all a work in progress. Form and strength improve over time. I, myself am still working on it!” She also emphasized the importance of listening to your coach for the best results.
Janine Gutierrez impressed everyone with her fit and lean body lately, saying that small lifestyle changes can make a big difference. She pointed out that improving eating habits helps boost overall health and to stay in shape and burn extra calories, Janine keeps an active routine.
And look who’s been hooked on workout and jogging lately? No less than Alden Richards and Barbie Forteza, along with running enthusiasts Julia Barretto, Jameson Blake, and Kristoffer Martin. Before becoming busy with their respective projects, these actors were habitual running buddies circling the BGC area and joining various marathon events.
Of crash dieting, medical procedures
But there are actors who don’t want to burn fats the hard way and yet they wish to maintain their desired body features. Many of them go for shortcuts such as crash diet or medical procedure — either through simple liposuction or a much-needed surgery — or both. So, for those having the yo-yo diet, one moment we see them bulky, then suddenly we see them lean and seeming to be at their fittest, and then bulky again.
This actress, many showbiz insiders believed, did some crash diet along with several procedures.
After many years of battling the bulge, she finally made it and she was ecstatic to be back to her size during her younger years. But her die-hard followers worry about her because she’s been sickly on and off “maybe because of the procedures” she’d undergone. Some reasoned out, however, that age is simply catching up on her just like most of her contemporaries who are having ailments related to aging, such as arthritis, high blood pressure, vertigo, depression, even asthma, to name a few.
In an industry that good looks and health matter, we hope that our actors embark on preventive care just like what Cherry Pie is doing. As she mentioned in her speech, there were many times she faltered but she “continues to work on it because staying healthy is not a one-time decision. It’s a lifestyle and a commitment.”
