What's keeping 'healthy' eaters from losing weight, clearer skin

You've turned down all those extra slices of pizza and cake, but here you are, bloated as ever.

You're halfway through 60 million "what to eat" Google search results, but you're still on the losing side of a war against acne that since puberty.

According to Dr. Julien Kirby of Cambridge Nutritional Sciences (CNS),"eating right" is different for everyone.

Bloating, skin problems and weight gain are unwelcome friends that visit too often when you eat food your body cannot tolerate. It can also be causing your seasonal episode of stress, stomach pain, diarrhea, constipation, anxiety or even depression.

"If you’re under stress, where do you feel it? You feel it in (your gut), don’t you?" Kirby said.

Food intolerance is trickier to discover and track than allergies because its symptoms can surface hours or days after consumption.

Unlike allergies, intolerance is harder to track because its triggers could be any one of the ingredients used to make a single single meal, and they can cause several different symptoms.

Where allergies lead to chronic inflammation, intolerance causes a gradual appearance of symptoms that can last for many days.

What's scary is food universally considered "healthy" could be actually classified as bad for you, making healthy eaters vulnerable candidates, as well.

Almonds and flax seeds, a snacking staple for gym buffs and diet warriors for instance, appeared quite high on the no-eat list of a woman who has fiddled with skin problems and migraines for years.

"I was so surprised...Flax seed was supposed to be good. All these things I was eating that were supposed to be healthy were apparently not good for me . So that's when I understood. There's no good or bad food, there's just good and bad food for you," said Polecats Manila founder Christina Dy, a 41-year-old who now has the metabolism of a 26-year-old.

TV presenter and food blogger Mari Jasmine shared she had to go on a medical odyssey with dermatologists, endocrinologists and gastroenterologists alike before she found out what constantly made her feel unwell for years.

"I grew up in a household where we ate pretty well...It didn't make sense to me. I'm healthy. I'm still fit, I work out, I'm eating well and I still (felt) so bad," Jasmin said.

The food intolerance test (FIT), developed by the CNS in England, can provide a personalized list of what's good, passable, and very bad for the individual's digestive tract.

After filling out an extensive information sheet about her diet and medical history for the FIT, Jasmin's nutritionist found cause in a long-past knee surgery, for which she was injected a heavy amount of antibiotics that may have caused a chemical imbalance in her body.

"It was kind of the first tangible thing that I have had, and very personalized, as well, to me to see what my body was reacting to. It's so hard to know what your body is reacting to when you can have all the 10 ingredients in a meal," Jasmin added.

Functional medicine practitioner Dr. Agnes Galura-Famero said changing your diet based on the FIT results does not necessarily have to compromise your fitness goals. "If you take the same amount of food, let's say 2,000 calories, but if it's more precise to you, you lose weight and even manage other benefits."

Golden ABC specialist Nikki Balboa, who has tried "every form of dieting," also encouraged her co-workers to also take the FIT when she successfully thwarted rhinitis attacks and skin problems, moving down one clothing size in the process.

Group CEO Mitch Genato said the testing fee with the consultancy program was gradually lowered to around P12,000 from over P20,000 as the company aims for to provide accessible medical services to all Filipinos.

Famero added that the research arm of LifeScience Health and Wellness Center, one of the first medical technology groups to offer FIT service in the Philippines, has so far found that 99% of Filipinos could be suffering from food intolerance. — LA, GMA News