Bloating that shows up after every meal, gets worse through the day and leaves you unbuttoning your pants by dinner is a message. It is not a personality trait and it is not something you outgrow.
The three questions worth answering
Instead of guessing at trigger foods forever, we test to answer three specific questions.
1. Are you digesting your food?
Low stomach acid, sluggish bile flow and low pancreatic enzyme output all leave partially broken down food in the small intestine. That food feeds bacteria, bacteria produce gas, and gas produces bloating. A Genova Comprehensive Stool Analysis measures pancreatic elastase, fat and fiber breakdown, and bile markers directly.
2. What is living in there?
The same panel maps commensal bacteria, opportunistic overgrowth, yeast and parasites. Many patients who were told they have IBS have a measurable overgrowth pattern that no one ever looked for.
3. Is the gut lining inflamed or leaking?
Calprotectin, secretory IgA and inflammatory markers show whether the intestinal barrier is irritated. This is the connection point between gut symptoms and everything else: joint pain, skin flares, brain fog, hormone disruption and autoimmune activity.
Where SIBO fits
If bloating starts within 30 to 90 minutes of eating and improves with fasting, small intestinal bacterial overgrowth is on the table. That requires a breath test, not a stool test, because the issue is bacteria in the wrong location rather than the wrong species.
Why food allergy testing is often part of the picture
Foods you eat every day can keep the gut lining inflamed without producing an obvious reaction you can trace. IgE and IgG panels covering more than 100 foods let us remove the actual offenders instead of eliminating everything and living on rice.
What a plan looks like
- Test digestion, bacteria, inflammation and food reactivity.
- Remove the drivers we can identify: overgrowth, parasites, reactive foods.
- Restore digestive capacity with the specific support your results call for.
- Repair the lining and reintroduce foods in a structured order so you end up with a larger diet, not a smaller one.
Most patients notice the bloating change first, then energy, then skin and mood. That order tells you how connected these systems really are.