Healthy Gut Program

Digestive dysfunction can encompass so many concerns, from constipation to heartburn, from bloating to IBD (inflammatory bowel disease). To really get to the nitty gritty of digestive health concerns we use a combination of good history taking, review of current bloodwork and imaging (if available), and private laboratory testing to determine the underlying cause. The most common digestive complaint that we get seems to be IBS (Irritable Bowel Syndrome), essentially a catch all condition which can be caused by multiple factors. Those factors very commonly either food sensitivities and/or SIBO (small intestinal bacterial overgrowth).

Food Sensitivities

Food sensitivities are a delayed immune reaction to food. Meaning you could eat something on Monday and not get a reaction until Wednesday. This delayed reaction makes it very difficult to make use of diet diaries to determine the food related issue. Thus we provide two methods in which we can determine said food sensitivities.

Potential symptoms from food sensitivities:

  • Fatigue
  • Rashes
  • Mood/Behaviour problems
  • Asthma symptoms
  • Muscle/joint pain
  • Digestive dysfunction (nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, abdominal pain, gas, bloating, constipation)
  • Migraines

Elimination Diet

  • The Elimination Diet is considered the gold standard in determining food sensitivities. The main method is to eliminate the most common food allergens out of ones diet (gluten, dairy, corn, soy, tomatoes, citrus, coffee, sugar, eggs, and peanuts) for 4-6 weeks.

IgG Food Sensitivity Testing

  • IgG Food Sensitivity Testing is a blood test that allows us the measure the amount of IgG (an antibody) to a particular food that you have been eating. The amount of antibodies tell us which food your immune system may be reacting to, thus providing us with a more direct approach to determine your food sensitivities.

SIBO

SIBO is an overgrowth of bacteria in the small intestine. Because these bacteria are in the small intestine, a stool test is not appropriate for diagnosing SIBO. Thus, we use a lactulose breath test to measure the amount of gas that the bacteria produce after the ingestion of a substrate (in this case lactulose). The amount and type of gas produced determines the presence of SIBO in your gut.

Potential symptoms from SIBO:

  • Digestive dysfunction (nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, abdominal pain, gas, bloating, constipation)

Dysbiosis

Dysbiosis or imbalance in the normal flora can lead and contribute to a large number of digestive concerns.  Whether the dysbiosis is caused by a gastrointestinal infection or from improper use of antibiotics and/or probiotics, dysbiosis can wreak havoc on someone's gut.  Luckily we are able to provide comprehensive stool analysis which allows us to determine not only if there are any infectious bacteria/parasites/yeast in the gastrointestinal tract, but it also allows up to determine if there is an imbalance in your normal bacteria (do you have too little or too many of one particular type).  Rebalancing your gut bacteria is a major corner stone of getting your gut health back on track.