Bored of butter, a chef turns to healthy fare. (Weekly Briefing).

WHEN Jackie Keller trained at Le Cordon Bleu in Paris three decades ago, she was taught to cook everything with a big slab of cholesterol-laden butter. While working a series of hotel jobs over the next 15 years -- first in restaurant management and later in human resources -- she became interested in health and fitness education. So in 1987, she opened NutriFit, a Los Angeles health food preparation and delivery service.

"Our business falls into two basic groupings. The one we're placing the most emphasis on is our catering activities, the second one is our education program. We have 1,400 different recipes in our database. On any given day we may cook 85 different items. The basic menu has 80 items that are always available. Then there are 30 specials that change every Thursday. Our meals are low fat, low sodium and low cholesterol.

"For the most part, we select for our clients. We look at their health condition. If they are following a diabetes, cancer, heart disease or hyper-tension diet, then obviously certain foods will need to be emphasized and others may need to be eliminated. We also customize the clients' meals to meet their tastes.

"We serve politicians (such as) City Councilwoman Jan Perry, lawyers, doctors and average people who just want healthy food. Our celebrity clients (include) Uma Thurman, Quentin Tarantino, Daryl Hannah, George Carlin and the cast of the "Gilmore Girls." We have about 100 clients at a given time. It's all by word of mouth. People love things like enchiladas, fresh fish, hearty stews. I make a wonderful double-chocolate fudge cake, which is low fat. We make mahi mahi, veal chops, roast lamb and chicken with wine and herb sauce, ginger shrimp with broccoli. It's $44.95 a day for breakfast, lunch, dinner, two snacks and dessert. If the client pre-pays for four weeks of service, it's $39.95. We receive (orders) by fax, e-mail and phone. We need 48 hours notice because our food is purchased to order."