You wake up flat-stomached and look six months pregnant by 6pm. You eat the "right" foods and still feel inflamed. You've cut things out — gluten, dairy, FODMAPs — and the bloating found you anyway.
Why does everything I eat upset my stomach?
When food intolerances are getting worse rather than better, the issue is usually upstream — gut barrier function, microbiome diversity, stomach acid, bile flow, or SIBO (small intestinal bacterial overgrowth). Restriction diets manage the symptoms; they don't treat the cause. That's why the list of foods you can't tolerate keeps growing.
What we usually run
An organic acids test (OAT) flags candida, bacterial overgrowth and mitochondrial markers. A comprehensive stool panel can map the microbiome directly. Bloods rule out coeliac, inflammation and the iron deficiency that comes from impaired absorption. A typical reset takes 8–12 weeks, and the trade-off is that the diet usually gets bigger, not smaller, after.