Why You Need an IBS Test

If I can guess, you probably have symptoms like unpredictable or painful bowel movements, bloating, cramping, indigestion, nausea, and even fatigue, anxiety, poor sleep, or body aches.

It's difficult to pinpoint your problem foods, and that might have taken you on a wild goose chase trying to figure out what is causing you to feel this way.

Psst! The best meal plan for IBS is not one you can just “Google”.

Maybe you’ve tried elimination diets like the Low FODMAP diet (check out this post on that here), a paleo-style diet, gluten-free, dairy-free, even Whole 30.

Maybe you’ve tried different supplements…enzymes or probiotics, magnesium, or fiber.

You might have even tried medications that haven't helped as much as you'd like.

Have you tried food sensitivity testing?

> If so, I’ll guess that you’re still left behind with most (if not all) of your symptoms, and you may be wondering why—then you’re in the perfect place!

> If not, you’re still in the perfect place so you can make an educated decision on the next steps for you.

The problem is, there are a lot of food sensitivity tests out there and sadly, they’re mostly inaccurate.

Even if you’re on a tight budget, I would NOT recommend these following IBS Food Sensitivity Tests:

These are often low in cost, but they very rarely lead to meaningful health improvements.

Let’s talk about tests like Everlywell, Pinnertest, or the ALCAT.

These are IgG test (typically blood-spot tests where you prick your finger and put a spot of blood on a piece of paper) because I see this even being recommended by some respected health professionals (they are definitely NOT the best test for IBS).

IgG Tests for IBS

There’s a huge problem with IgG tests…

These tests are kind of like if you were at the mall and you wanted to know how many people were shopping in the mall…

The quick and easy way to get an answer (albeit the wrong answer) is to go in the parking lot and count how many cars there are in the parking lot of the mall to see how many people were shopping inside.

Counting the cars would be a problem because you don’t know a how many people are actually working at the mall who should not be counted as shoppers (because they’re employees).

You also don’t know how many shoppers came in each car.

Maybe you have a big car and only one person came in that car, maybe you have another car where five people fit.

So you see how it’s the improper way to look at the problem.

The best way would be to up to the mall and count every shopper who’s coming in and count the ones leaving.

That’s how I look at these IgG blood tests.

They can identify some components of inflammation, but certainly not all and that leaves us with a spotty picture of what’s going on (which is more confusing than anything else). 

The IgG test is used by a lot of companies (Everlywell, Pinnertest, and ALCAT are just a few of the brand names) but there are many more out there who use the same exact IgG tests with a different brand name and advertising.

I’m not a fan at all of the IgG test because they provide false positives.

Just because you ate avocado yesterday, avocado can show up high on your test.

I like to call it an expensive food diary.

That’s not exactly what we’re looking for when it comes to an IBS test.

DNA Tests for IBS

There are DNA-style tests (genomic tests) like 23andMe which is the cheek swab.

Some of the companies will boast that they can help identify foods that you should be eating according to your DNA.

I absolutely don’t find any benefit in that as far as an IBS test goes.

While I use genomic testing myself for long-term “wellness” clients, I find it useful for disease prevention and optimal wellness.

Hair Test for IBS

Hair samples…saliva samples…a lot of these are the same story…I don’t find the results to be accurate and I also don’t find them to be
very useful in applying them to creating a diet for IBS.

 

Food Allergy Test for IBS

Food allergy tests are completely different.

This is something that your doctor can order for you.

Insurance covers it which is nice, but I don’t find many IBS clients have food allergies which care causing their IBS symptoms.

To be clear, this is an IgE test (not to be confused with IgG).

The IgE is an allergy test and that measures a true allergy—similar to an anaphylactic reaction.

It’s not always that severe, but I don’t find avoiding foods that come up on these tests to correlate with a reduction in IBS symptoms.

Also, there’s a skin prick test for allergies, but  I see a lot of false positives with that one as well.

The Best IBS Test (My Favorite Test) and Why it can also be Useless!

Now, there’s even a problem with the best IBS test  out there.

Even the best test requires an expert to apply the results.

It’s not straightforward.

You would think, “Okay, I got the results…I can’t eat apples, avocados, and chicken…” but there’s so much more to it than that!!

For that reason, it’s deceiving.

A lot of people will take their results and say, “Okay great…I’m on my own now and you know, I’ll figure this out…”

I don’t think I’ve ever heard of a case where someone had a significant improvement in their symptoms implementing the diet on their own.

Why you need an IBS Dietitian

Somebody with experience will take into account your previous diet before the test and wean you into a diet that is going to be calming for your body.

• Food Chemicals:

  Besides just having whichever foods are tested, there are chemicals in these foods… just because a food might not come up as “bad”. Let’s take white potatoes, for example. You might be reactive to solanine in those potatoes.  There’s a lot of wires behind the scenes that can get crossed, or might not stand out to somebody who’s not familiar with them.
  
  

• Timing on adding new foods:

  It’s not as easy as, “Okay take these foods out for a couple weeks and then add them back in and see how you do.” Certain foods might need to stay out of your diet for much longer than others.
  
  

• Combining specific foods:

  There’s an accumulative effect. For example, if you have a lot of foods that are “fair” for you,  maybe
  they’re not the absolute “best” foods, but they’re still okay…if you have too many of those foods in one meal or in one day, it can provoke a symptom as if you were eating a food that was really bad for you.
  
  

• Avoiding “bad” foods that show up on your test may cause harm.

  You might be thinking, “How is that possible?”, but if you take out the foods that come up as “bad” on your food test, then you have to replace those foods with something else and that substitution can strain your digestive system big time.
  
  

• Eating too Much of an IBS Trigger Food

  Have you ever had a time where you had too much fat, or fiber, or even meat? Some people could be sensitive to all those things if they’re in the wrong quantities (or timing). Your digestive system will be overburdened and then you can have IBS symptoms that way. So maybe you’re still eating foods that are “safe”, or avoiding the really bad foods, but you might be eating too much of certain foods that your digestive system is not ready for…more on that in a little bit.
  
  

• Test results are time sensitive:

  YIKES! I’ll have people come to me and say, “Hey, I actually got this test done a year ago and I really want to apply it, but I’m not sure how.”—It’s too late! Ugh, I hate that, but it’s too late because your body shifts and your sensitivities shift over time. If it’s more than one or two months out, it’s possible that the results have changed a little bit. That’s why I’ll only use this test if I know we can start putting a plan together within the first month.
  
  

• Don't let your diet  become overly restrictive

  If you have such a strict diet for a while,  you might be restricting it too much to the point where you’re going to deplete the nutrients in your body and that’s going to stress out your body as well. We want to be sure your diet is well-rounded in all the nutrients to properly support your body. Just creating a diet based off of a test is not enough to be sure that you are getting all the nutrients you need for your other systems in your body to work well.

So even if you did have the best IBS test done, if you don’t have an expert to help you apply the results, it’s likely that you’re going to fall short and not get the results that you truly deserve.

 

The best IBS test is truly just a starting point

It’s just one piece of the puzzle. You need somebody to help you decode it and to help navigate your own body with the symptoms that you’re
experiencing (I hope you’re following me because I know this is a lot of information I’m throwing at you.)

• Let’s say your food sensitivity test said that you’re “safe” with grapes…but grape wine vinegars might trigger you due to having a high tyramine content, or even from high pesticide content.
• Now, carrots might be a safe food also but the fiber content might throw off your bowels (whether you have constipation OR diarrhea) and
  the quantity will make a difference too.
• Chicken might be a safe food for you but if it’s prepared a certain way (cold cuts, cutlets, wings), it can cause bloating and gas, constipation or diarrhea.
• Oats for example, might be a safe food but if you’re also reactive to wheat you’ll need to use gluten-free oats only.
• The green tops of scallions might be fine but the white part on the bottom might make you gassy.
• Frozen mango might be better tolerated than fresh mango.

…All these nuances exist for virtually every “safe” food on a food sensitivity test.

Getting to the root cause is what is going to help you feel better all around. I’m a huge fan of getting to the root cause in order to help support your body.

IBS is a sign that your immune system & digestive system are overworked

Certain triggers weaken your gut over time, and that signals your immune system to be on high alert.

Next, your immune system overreacts to certain foods, causing inflammation.

So if you used to tolerate chicken, now because your gut has been weakened, your immune system is now overreacting to chicken

 and every time you eat chicken, it’s causing inflammation.

Your gut was already in bad shape and now, because of your immune system being overworked, your immune system is causing this inflammation which is, in turn attacking and wearing down your gut even more.

So now, more parts of your digestive system have been affected by this unruly inflammation.

It’s a vicious cycle, and it happens basically at every meal.

Think of all the foods we eat in a day…some of these foods, that I can almost guarantee you’re eating on a daily basis, are ones that your body is not happy with.

Why it's so Hard Guessing your Trigger Foods

It’s hard to pinpoint the problematic food when you feel lousy all of the time and then you feel a little more lousy when you eat chicken.

It’s hard to tell how lousy you actually feel before the chicken.

When you start to feel great, then you can clearly see which foods are bothering you.

Picture the systems in our body: our immune system, our digestive system, our cardiovascular system, our endocrine system…all these need to be working properly for us to wake up and spring out of bed, full of energy, have satisfying bowel movements, and smile at ourselves when we look in the mirror.

These systems work together like the tires on your car.

Let’s say the front left tire is flat. We know we need to replace it, but if we replace the front tire by swapping it with one of the back tires, we’re still going to have a flat tire on the car and the ride is still going to be bumpy and slow.

The same thing often happens with generic elimination diets and food sensitivity tests.

If you change, remove, or add in foods or supplements to fix one system, it’s often at the expense of making another system worse.

By addressing both your immune system and your digestive system– actually taking the time to get your tires replaced–we can see major changes and healing and have a smooth ride.