Take A FIT (Food Intolerance Test) To Be Healthy

Ever since I put my game face on to be fit & healthy, I’ve been more cautious with my body. No, not in the sense of how it physically looks, (although, having toned arms & abs would be great!) more like knowing what works with it. One of the things I’ve been addicted to early on, even before I was married is wheat. In any chance, I would prefer wheat over regular white bread and would have the notion that it’s a healthier alternative so it’s probably good for my body. It wasn’t until a few months ago when I realized my body doesn’t like wheat as much as I thought it would. It’s gives me a bloated feeling, so much so that during the time I consume it, I feel sluggish and heavy on my lower abdominal.

It wasn’t until Hi-Presicision Diagnostics invited me to try their latest service- Food Intolerance Test that I really wanted to know more about what it is that’s causing my immune system to react violently to what I eat. Because I’m the type of person who would eat anything because I feel that life is too darn short to deprive yourself from the food you want. Di ba? Unless you have food allergies, then that’s a whole different thing.

So over the holidays, I went to Hi-Precision Diagnostics in Powerplant Mall for my Food Intolerance Test.

 A little 411 on Hi-Precision Diagnostics. HPD was formed with the mission to provide the highest quality laboratory services by fulfilling customers’ expectations with integrity, innovation, quality, accountability and leadership. With 18 years of quality healthcare, HPD has the largest network of medical diagnostic facilities in the Philippines, with over 20 branches located in Mega Manila, and Metro Cebu, and employs over 1,000 medical professionals and staffs.

If you can’t go to a Hi-Precision Diagnostics clinic don’t fret. They offer conveniece and comfort through their Home Service and Mobile On-site Services both for individuals and organisations such as hospitals, schools, government agencies, insurance companies and corporations from different industries.

Blood extraction was swift and painless. The scaredy cat me didn’t feel any prick and I was in and out of HPD Powerplant in under 20 minutes. Galing!

Usually, it only takes ten days to get your FIT (Food Intolerance Test) result but since I had it done over the holidays, I waited more than a few more days to get my result.

Did I mention you don’t need to go back for you results? You can view them online with HPD app! Just download it on the App Store or Google Play. Register and view your results. Easy peasy right?

But because we want to know more about Food Intolerance, the HPD team invited me and the handful of bloggers who also had their FIT over lunch at Chef Jessie to discuss about our results and how getting a FIT can help one stay healthy & fit.

Melissa Ongsue-Lee, VP for Sales & Marketing of HPD briefly explained how having FIT can help one know what food works for them.

Food Inotlerance is your body’s abnormal reaction to certain foods which can manifest itself in a number of ways. Some people will have one symptom such as a severe headache whilst others will be unfortunate to experience irritable bowel syndrome, migraine and skin or respiratory conditions. Unlike the immediate reactive symptoms of food allergy, food intolerance symptoms often appear hours or even days later.

Dr. Julien Kirby  talked us through the process of digestion & how food intolerance works. Sufferers of food intolerance frequently complain of lethargy or ‘fogginess’ and a general feeling of unwellness, these symptoms often persist for many years. FIT can guide an individual’s nutrition in order to achieve health goals. It determines which food that your body is reactive to or unable to digest.

Food intolerance, in basic terms, is your body’s abnormal reaction to certain foods which can manifest itself in a number of ways. Symptoms can include severe headaches or migraine, irritable bowel syndrome, skin or respiratory conditions, feeling of being bloated, chronic fatigue and even weight control problems.

These are the common food that are oftentimes associated with food intolerance. I kinda figured mine includes wheat and perhaps egg because I’ve developed some skin problems last year and it was during that year when I was doubling up my egg and wheat intake. So I was pretty eager to find out my result because I want to make the change as soon as possible.

What’s the difference between food allergy and food intolerance?

If I remember it right Dr. Julien explained that the immune system is like the clean up system of our body. The garbage truck are the macrophages (produced by our immune systerm )and the trash being the complexes (parts of the food that are not absorbed by our body).

This is the normal response of our immune system to food that we are tolerant of.

The “trash” gets picked up by the garbage trucks.

The food we eat is partially digested and there are certain foods seen as ‘foreign’ by our body. Our body reacts to these ‘foreign food’. Normally , no symptoms occur but sometimes, our body’s defences become overloaded and symptoms occur.

While this is how our immune system works when we digest food we are intolerant of.

If you are intolerant of a food, you cannot properly digest it. And the “trash” which would normally be easier to leave the system will end up hanging out (excess complexes which are deposited in tissues, causing symptoms such as headache, being bloated, irritable bowel, skin) because the clean up system doesn’t have enough garbage truck to pick them up. Gets? 🙂 So even if we eat healthy food but we are intolerant to it, it wouldn’t do anything to help boost our immune system because of how our body reacts to these food intolerants. It’s the harsh reality. So after understanding and knowing what food works for me & my fellow bloggers, it has come for us to know our results. It’s time for the moment of truth, drum roll please….

Ack! I have more than a dozen of food that I am intolerant to! The ones highlighted in RED are the food I am most intolerant to. Shucks. Medyo na-sad ako with milk, wheat, mussel, almond, pistachio and corn. These are the “healthy” food that I try to incorporate in my diet but now I have to break up with them because they don’t help me achieve a healthier state, given my body can’t tolerate them as much as the other food. On the plus side, I can still eat bread, yun lang not wheat. I cannot also have mackerel na! Shucks, I like having sardines with garlic rice pa naman! 🙁 I guess if I really want to be healthy, I should avoid these elevated food. The good news though is that there are healthy alternatives to these food intolerances.

So happy that I can still eat quinoa because it’s been my favorite healthy alternative to rice. As for milk, I guess I’d have to slowly try (operative word: TRY) to transition from cow’s milk to buffalo milk (carabao’s milk) since I’m intolerant to soya bean as well. Ever since I had my FIT, I’ve been really conscious and cautious as to what I put on my plate and what I eat. It’s been almost a month since and I’ve so far eliminated soya bean, corn, mussel and wheat. I can say I feel lighter and have been more eager to stay on track, into my journey to being fit & healthy. Of course there will always be cheat days (thank God I can still eat sweets-dark chocolate though para walang milk) but this’ll be monitored for I really want to feel healthier & fit by the time I’m 30! For those who are interested to take the FIT, keep in mind that the test can only help you eliminate the food that aren’t compatible to you. Proper diet, exercise and a healthy lifestyle are still your best bet in order to be healthy & fit.

It was an insightful lunch and everyone had a sumptuous meal, so much so that we had to savour the pistachio dessert as for some of us who are intolerant to this nut, it was our last pistachio meal. Heehee.

With fellow SoMoms Tina, Michelle and Mish. Medyo coordinated and outfiteys namin! We didn’t plan this, we just think alike. 😉

with the Hi-Precisions Diagnostics team.

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Truly, Titus Lucretius Carus was right, “What food to one man may be a fierce poison to another.”

So go ahead and have your Food Intolerace Test at a Hi-Precision Diagnostics clinic near you.

 

www.hi-precision.com.ph

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