Conditions/Gut + microbiome/Food sensitivities
— CONDITION · IGG · DELAYED REACTION

Food sensitivities.

Not allergies. Not intolerances. A delayed immune response that drives a remarkable list of symptoms most people don't connect to food.

Book a consult How we treat it
01 — WHAT IT IS

A reaction. Hours to days later.

Food sensitivities are real, measurable, and treatable — and they are not the same as allergies. An allergy is an immediate, IgE-mediated reaction. A sensitivity is a delayed, IgG-mediated immune response that can show up hours or even days after you eat the trigger food. That lag is exactly why they are so hard to catch: by the time you feel bloated, foggy, or achy, the meal that caused it is long forgotten.

We see this pattern constantly. A patient eats 'clean' — whole foods, lean protein, vegetables — but is bloated every day, breaking out, and battling headaches nobody can explain. Their allergist says there are no food allergies. Their primary doctor says it's stress. Then a sensitivity panel tells the real story: staples of their 'healthy' diet were triggering a constant, low-grade immune response.

The symptoms are not confined to the gut. Food sensitivities can present as GI distress, headaches and migraines, stubborn skin conditions, joint pain, fatigue, and even mood swings and anxiety. Because the reaction is diffuse and delayed, most people blame age, stress, or 'just life' before they ever suspect the food on their plate.

Here's the important part: you weren't born sensitive to these foods. Something changed — usually in the gut. Food sensitivities won't kill you the way an allergy can, but left unaddressed they quietly erode your quality of life. The good news is that with the right testing and a plan to heal the gut, they can be reversed.

02 — SYMPTOMS

Does this sound familiar?

Bloating hours after eating
Delayed GI discomfort — gas, bloating, and bowel changes that surface 6 to 24 hours after a meal, making the culprit hard to pinpoint.
Chronic headaches or migraines
Recurring headaches that resist medications and trigger diaries because no one tested your food — gluten and dairy are common inflammatory triggers.
Skin issues that won't clear up
Eczema, acne, rosacea, or psoriasis that keeps returning despite topical treatment, because the inflammation is coming from inside the gut.
Fatigue after meals
A bone-deep tiredness after eating — not a normal post-meal dip — as your immune system burns energy reacting to a perceived threat in your food.
Joint pain and stiffness
Achy, migrating joints and morning stiffness with no clear injury, driven by systemic inflammation when food particles cross a compromised gut lining.
Mood swings and anxiety
Irritability, brain fog, and anxiety spikes that feel random but track with inflammatory cytokines from food reactions crossing the blood-brain barrier.
03 — HOW WE TREAT IT

Identify. Eliminate. Reintroduce.

01
Food sensitivity testing
We use validated IgG testing to identify the delayed immune reactions standard allergy tests miss completely. This isn't an allergy test — it's a sensitivity panel that shows which foods are triggering your immune system at a low but constant level.
02
Guided elimination protocol
Based on your results we build a targeted elimination plan — not a generic 'cut out gluten and dairy' approach. Your specific triggers come out for a defined period, then get strategically reintroduced to see what your body can and can't handle.
03
Gut lining repair
Food sensitivities are usually a symptom of leaky gut, not the root cause. While we remove trigger foods, we simultaneously repair the intestinal lining with targeted support like L-glutamine, zinc carnosine, and probiotics. The goal is tolerance restoration, not lifelong restriction.
04
Microbiome rebuilding
A diverse, healthy gut microbiome is your best defense against food sensitivities. We rebuild bacterial diversity with strain-specific probiotics, prebiotic fiber, and dietary strategy. As your microbiome strengthens, your tolerance to foods often improves dramatically.
04 — GOOD TO KNOW

Why your body turned on your food

You weren't born sensitive to eggs or almonds — something changed, and it usually starts in the gut. When the intestinal lining breaks down, undigested food proteins slip into the bloodstream, and the immune system learns to attack them. This is the leaky-gut mechanism behind most food sensitivities.

Several factors drive it: a compromised gut barrier letting food proteins through, IgG-mediated delayed immune reactions (distinct from IgE allergies), and an imbalanced microbiome that loses its ability to tolerate foods. Chronic stress suppresses digestive enzyme production, eating the same foods every day removes helpful rotation, and a history of antibiotics can disrupt the diversity of your gut flora.

Because the root cause is the gut barrier and the microbiome, testing alone isn't the answer. Removing trigger foods gives you relief, but healing the gut is what restores tolerance so you're not stuck avoiding foods forever.

What testing actually reveals

Standard allergy testing looks for IgE reactions — the immediate, sometimes dangerous responses. It says nothing about the slow, delayed IgG reactions behind chronic bloating, headaches, and skin flares. That's why so many people are told their food is 'fine' while they continue to feel awful.

An IgG sensitivity panel measures your immune system's delayed response across a wide range of foods, revealing the low-grade triggers you'd never connect on your own. From there we build a plan around your specific results rather than a one-size-fits-all elimination diet.

The path back to eating normally

The goal is never to put you on a restrictive diet forever. It's to identify your triggers, heal the gut, and restore your body's ability to tolerate food normally. We remove your triggers for a defined window while repairing the intestinal lining and rebuilding the microbiome underneath.

Most patients can reintroduce many of their trigger foods after 3 to 6 months of gut healing. Some foods may need to stay limited, but the destination is freedom, not restriction. We retest to confirm the immune response has calmed and then guide reintroduction one food at a time so you know exactly where you stand.

05 — COMMON QUESTIONS

Questions, answered.

What is the difference between a food allergy and a food sensitivity?
A food allergy is an immediate, IgE-mediated reaction that can be severe and even life-threatening. A food sensitivity is a delayed, IgG-mediated immune response that shows up hours or days after eating. Sensitivities won't send you to the ER, but they quietly drive chronic bloating, headaches, skin issues, fatigue, and joint pain. Standard allergy tests miss them completely.
Why are food sensitivities so hard to identify on my own?
Because the reaction is delayed. You might eat a trigger food at lunch and not feel bloated, foggy, or achy until dinner or the next morning. That lag makes it nearly impossible to connect a symptom to a specific food without testing. Many people react to 'healthy' staples they eat every day, which hides the pattern even further.
How does food sensitivity testing work?
We use a validated IgG sensitivity panel that measures your immune system's delayed response to a wide range of foods. This is not an allergy test. It reveals which foods are triggering low-grade, constant inflammation so we can build a targeted plan instead of guessing or cutting out everything.
Do I have to give up my favorite foods forever?
Usually not. The goal is tolerance, not lifelong restriction. We remove your specific triggers for a defined period while we heal the gut, then strategically reintroduce foods to see what your body can handle. Most patients can bring many trigger foods back after the gut lining repairs.
How long before I feel better?
Many patients notice less bloating, clearer thinking, and steadier energy within the first few weeks of removing their triggers. Deeper changes — skin clearing, joint aches easing, resilient digestion — track with gut healing, which typically takes 3 to 6 months.
Will I ever be able to eat normally again?
Most patients can reintroduce many of their trigger foods after 3 to 6 months of gut healing. Some foods may need to stay limited, but the aim is freedom, not permanent restriction. We retest to confirm the immune response has calmed and guide the timing of reintroduction.
Do you help with food sensitivities in Orange Park too?
Yes. We see patients from across Jacksonville and Orange Park for food sensitivity testing and gut-healing protocols, with virtual follow-up available so you can stay on plan between visits.
— IF YOU'RE READY

Stop guessing at meals.

A 30-minute consult to plan testing, identify your specific triggers, and build the elimination and reintroduction map. Jacksonville and Orange Park — or virtual.

Book a sensitivity consult