Episode 79: Why Food Sensitivity Tests Don't Fix IBS (And What Actually Works Instead)

If you've taken a food sensitivity test for IBS, IBD, or chronic bloating and followed the avoidance list perfectly — but your symptoms didn't improve — this episode explains why. And if you're in the opposite camp, convinced food has nothing to do with your gut symptoms because "sometimes I eat it and I'm fine," I'm going to challenge that thinking too.

As a Functional Diagnostic Nutrition Practitioner trained to run food sensitivity testing, I rarely use it in my practice — and in this episode I share my own failed experience with food sensitivity testing during my IBS-D journey, why IgG antibody tests only capture one piece of the puzzle, and the approach that actually moves the needle for chronic digestive symptoms.

What you'll learn in this episode:

• Why food sensitivity test results often don't lead to symptom relief — and what that means about your gut
• The gut-immune connection: how leaky gut (mucosal barrier breakdown) drives food reactions, and why 70–80% of your immune system lives in your gut
• The hidden reasons food triggers bloating, gas, and diarrhea that no IgG test can detect: microbiome imbalances, low stomach acid, weak enzyme production, and FODMAP malabsorption
• "Sometimes wheat bothers me, sometimes it doesn't" — why food sensitivities are so hard to detect on your own, and how IgG antibodies (which live 90–100 days) mask the signal
• How long you actually need to eliminate a food before you can trust your body's feedback (hint: it's longer than you think)
• The food sensitivity testing "merry-go-round": why direct-to-consumer tests keep giving you new foods to avoid without ever clearing the old ones
• Signs your symptoms outside the gut — fatigue after meals, brain fog, joint pain, skin issues, anxiety, depression — may be delayed food reactions
• The truth about sourdough and ancient wheat: why "gut-friendly" wheat may still trigger your immune system through protein cross-reactivity
• Why therapeutic elimination diets remain the gold standard over food sensitivity testing — and how to use both strategically

If you've been stuck on the food sensitivity testing merry-go-round — or you've written off diet entirely because elimination "didn't work" — there's likely a root cause driving your symptoms that no food list can fix.

Link to my free training “The Root Cause Approach to Gut Healing”—my step-by-step framework to stop guessing and start healing

Link to a free 30 minute Gut Check Call

Link to my website

Disclaimer: None of the content discussed is meant to be taken as medical advice. All information presented is for educational purposes only and listeners and viewers assume all responsibility around implementing any changes to their health and medical regimen.