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Functional Medicine · Tustin, CA

Food Sensitivities Treatment in Tustin, CA

A food sensitivity panel that looks at IgG or IgA is not an allergy test. Allergy, the IgE kind, is a different medical issue, with different risks. This page explains how those antibodies are discussed, and why an elimination trial is a time-limited experiment you help design, not a lifelong ban from one printout. For patients coming from Tustin, the office is about 16 miles away, 25–40 minutes, by the 55 south to the 73 toward Mission Viejo.

IgG and IgA are not an IgE allergy

IgE allergy can involve hives, swelling, wheezing, or anaphylaxis. That is a medical emergency pattern and belongs with a physician or allergist. IgG and IgA panels ask a quieter question about immune reactivity on a blood test. FRI will not call a high IgG result an allergy.

You might feel bloated, foggy, or achy hours after a meal, with no dramatic swelling. That history can justify a conversation. It does not prove a food is unsafe. Dr. Sani Kohen, D.C. and Dr. Tara Kohen, D.C. start with what you actually eat, not with a ban list.

A panel beside the food you already eat

Food sensitivity testing reports IgG or IgA reactivity to specific foods. A high bar next to a food you never eat is easy to overread. A high bar next to a food you eat daily, followed by symptoms you can time, is more interesting. The panel is a prompt, not a verdict.

Celiac disease, true food allergy, and eosinophilic disease are physician diagnoses. Functional Medicine does not replace that workup. If wheat makes you acutely ill, you need medical evaluation before anyone talks about a sensitivity chart. Bring those records if they exist.

Elimination trials are experiments, not life sentences

If a food is removed, the trial has a start, a length, and a planned return. You track symptoms you named in advance, such as bloating or a rash, rather than every mood of the day. One test does not create a permanent forbidden list.

The gut health page explains when a stool test or a breath test should come before another food list. Pulling foods out while an overgrowth or an inflammatory bowel diagnosis goes unaddressed can make you smaller-plated and no clearer. GI-MAP stool testing is one of those earlier questions when the history fits.

How nutrition follows the experiment

Nutrition and supplementation replaces what you removed so the trial does not become a low-protein, low-fiber accident. There is no brand protocol and no supplement dose here. Foods come back unless a physician has told you they cannot.

Functional medicine at FRI does not replace a primary physician, endocrinologist, gastroenterologist, or mental health clinician. Chiropractic Sports Medicine and Neuromuscular Rehabilitation stay available if joint pain, not food, is the reason you came in. A food panel will not be used to explain that pain by default.

What to expect when you are seen for Food Sensitivities

A complimentary 20-minute consultation can decide whether a panel is even useful. FRI is out of network, offers a superbill, and accepts HSA and FSA funds. The schedule is Monday–Thursday, 9–6.

If you test, you review the chart next to a food log. Any elimination is short and planned with a reintroduction. You should not expect a lifelong menu from a single draw.

Fees, referrals, and the doctors

Out of network. Superbill. HSA and FSA. No referral required. We will not change a prescription from your physician. Emergency symptoms, including sudden neurologic loss, go to the ER rather than to La Alameda.

Drs. Sani and Tara Kohen practice at FRI. Their backgrounds are on the about page. The suite and gym are on the office page.

Old Town, the Legacy, and the North Tustin hills

Tustin has three different weeks. Old Town is walkable, with short blocks and a lot of sitting in cafes and small offices. Tustin Legacy, on the old base, is wide, new, and built around a car. North Tustin and the hills toward Foothill are grades, older homes, and a drive down to the 55. A low back from Legacy commuting is not a knee from a North Tustin hill. We ask which one you live in before we guess at a load.

The District and the shopping around the Legacy add standing errands on top of desk jobs. Neck pain and headaches often belong to the screen. Knee pain and hip pain show up when hill residents add steps without a plan. Plantar fasciitis shows up in people whose walking is almost all concrete between the car and a door.

South on the 55

The 55 south to the 73 is the usual path to La Alameda. About 16 miles. Twenty-five minutes is a good day. Forty is a 55 that is not cooperating. Address: 26400 La Alameda, Suite 100, Mission Viejo, CA 92691. Parking at the building. Monday through Thursday, 9 to 6.

Do not book the visit as a gap between school pickup in Old Town and a meeting. The exam needs you present, not halfway back on the freeway in your head. Call (949) 312-1754. A complimentary 20-minute consultation is available if you want to meet the doctors before an evaluation.

Chiropractic, rehab, and labs from Tustin

McKenzie Method work is a strong fit when back or neck pain has a direction that makes it better or worse. Corrective exercise is the homework. Adjustments are used when a specific joint is restricted, after the screen that says a thrust is appropriate.

Functional medicine visits cover thyroid, sleep, and gut health when those are the actual complaint. The Tustin chiropractor page collects the local routes into the three pillars.

Extra context on Food Sensitivities

Keep a three-day food log with times and the symptom you care about, written before you see any panel. Memory after a positive result is unreliable. You will suddenly remember that a food bothered you because the paper says so. A log made first keeps the experiment honest. Note portions, not just food names, and note alcohol, because a drink can mimic a sensitivity. If you already avoid a long list, bring that list and the reason each food left. Some of those reasons may be ready to retire. Bring the log with you.

Reintroduction is the part people skip, and it is the part that teaches you. Add one food back, in a normal portion, and watch the symptom you named. If nothing happens, the food returns. If a clear symptom returns, you and your physician decide what that means. FRI will not turn a single bad day into a permanent rule. Supplements are not required to make a food trial valid. The point is information you can live with, not a smaller and smaller diet. One clear symptom is enough to track.

Questions patients ask

Is a high IgG result a food allergy?

No. IgE allergy is a different medical issue and can be dangerous. IgG and IgA results are not that diagnosis, and FRI will not treat them as one. Hives, swelling, or trouble breathing need urgent medical care, not a sensitivity panel. Bring any allergist records so the two conversations stay separate.

Do I have to avoid every food that flags?

No. A long ban list from one panel is not the plan. FRI looks at what you eat, which symptoms you can time, and which results are noise. An elimination trial, if you choose one, is discussed with you and has an end. Foods are reintroduced unless your physician has a medical reason to keep one out.

Should I do a stool test first?

Sometimes. If bloating, diarrhea, or constipation dominates, a GI-MAP or a breath test may answer a clearer question than another food list. The gut health page lays out that choice. A sensitivity panel is not the default first kit. You should hear why this test was picked over the others.

Can food sensitivity testing explain joint pain?

Maybe as a hypothesis, not as a conclusion. Joint pain has mechanical causes that Chiropractic Sports Medicine and Neuromuscular Rehabilitation are built to examine. A food panel does not replace that exam, and it does not replace rheumatology if you have an autoimmune diagnosis. Functional medicine at FRI does not replace those clinicians.

Related care for Tustin

Food Sensitivities is handled at the Mission Viejo clinic, not in a satellite office in Tustin. The related pages below stay on that same visit and add the methods or neighboring problems that usually come up in the history.

  • Tustin chiropractor

    How people from Tustin reach 26400 La Alameda and what the three pillars cover.

  • Food Sensitivities clinical overview

    The non-geographic condition page, if you want the clinic-wide explanation without the drive.

  • Functional Medicine

    The pillar this problem sits in at Functional Restoration Institute.

  • Gut Health in this city

    Digestion problems rarely arrive as one tidy symptom. Bloating, stool changes, and food reactions can travel together or take turns. This page.

  • Leaky Gut in this city

    People say leaky gut when they mean the gut barrier might be letting more through than it should. The plainer name is.

  • SIBO in this city

    Small intestinal bacterial overgrowth means microbes are fermenting food higher up than they should, which can bring bloating, gas, and stool changes..

  • Chronic Inflammation in this city

    Inflammation is a process your body uses, not a personality and not a mood. It can be useful while you heal and.

  • Food Sensitivity Testing

    Food sensitivity testing at Functional Restoration Institute looks at IgG and IgA antibodies to foods. It is not an allergy test, and.

Talk with the doctors before you commit to care

The complimentary 20-minute consultation is at 26400 La Alameda, Suite 100, Mission Viejo. Call (949) 312-1754.

Functional Restoration Institute serves patients across Orange County from our Mission Viejo clinic, including Tustin and surrounding Orange County communities.