Services
Gut Health Support
Dr. Fred Harvey and his team consider the impact of lifestyle and diet on gut health. Optimizing gut health requires a comprehensive approach, and it can have a significant impact on total body wellness.
Normal Labs, Still Struggling? A Gut Health Doctor Who Looks Deeper
If you’ve been told your labs look normal but you still struggle with bloating, reflux, food sensitivities, or other digestive issues, there may be a deeper cause.
Gut problems rarely travel alone. Toxic exposure, inflammation, gut dysfunction, immune imbalance, stress, and metabolic disruption can create a cycle that keeps the body from functioning at its best. That cycle is what Toxiflammation™ describes, and Gut & Microbiome is the first of its seven domains.
Dr. Fred Harvey provides extensive, specialized one-on-one care starting with the microbiome, so the plan addresses why your gut is struggling, not just the symptom in front of you.
Gut health
Causes of illness
Gut health is connected to the five root causes of illness:
- 01
Stress
Stressors (both physical and psychological) impact GI function in several ways. Living in a state of chronic stress, or sympathetic nervous system activation (“fight or flight” mode), impairs digestion. Poorly digested food damages the intestinal lining and causes inflammation. Damage to the intestinal lining allows poorly digested food particles and toxins to cross the intestinal barrier into the bloodstream (this is called “leaky gut”).
- 02
Toxins
A poorly functioning GI tract leads to compromised detoxification processes in the body. This allows the body’s toxic burden to build and directly compromise other systems. Toxins are also a physical stressor on the body, which can trigger the aforementioned mechanisms.
- 03
Allergens
Allergens cause damage to the intestinal lining and promote GI inflammation, which activates the immune system and leads to systemic inflammation. They are also physical stressors on the body, exacerbating intestinal lining permeability and GI inflammation further.
- 04
Microbes
An overgrowth of bacteria and yeast can occur in the intestines due to stress, poor diet, toxins, food intolerances, some medications, and infections. An imbalance in the GI microbiome can lead to inflammation and leaky gut. Parasites and hidden infections can also reside in the gut, contributing to chronic immune system activation.
- 05
Poor Diet and Movement
Nutrient deficiencies from a poor diet can impair the function of the GI tract, as well as all other bodily functions. A poor diet may also contribute to stress on the body, toxin exposures, an imbalanced microbiome, and leaky gut. An inactive lifestyle contributes to an imbalanced microbiome and promotes inflammatory pathways in the body.
How We Look at Your Gut
A standard workup can come back normal while digestion is still clearly not right. Functional lab testing takes a deeper dive into your health, observing the current state of your body through metabolism, hormones, immune system, genetics, and more. It provides data you won’t normally find with conventional medicine, so the plan rests on data rather than guesswork.
For the gut, that can include:
- Comprehensive stool analysis: how your digestion, metabolism, microbiome, and immune health are doing. Stool testing here is GIFx or GI360.
- SIBO testing: breath testing for small intestinal bacterial overgrowth, poor fat absorption, or other problems that may be causing or contributing to your symptoms.
- Intestinal permeability testing: whether the intestinal lining is letting poorly digested food particles and toxins through.
- Food sensitivity testing: which foods or chemicals you may be sensitive to, so you can reduce the inflammation they cause.
See the full list of functional lab tests.
Because the gut is tied to the body’s detoxification, the plan often reaches past digestion into your environment: toxicity reduction starts with the basics to help you reduce your exposure to toxicants.
Getting started
What Your First Visit Involves
You see Dr. Harvey himself at every consultation. Every consultation is one-on-one with the physician.
A discovery call
We connect by secure video. In about 15 minutes we discuss your goals and review your health history.
Intake and labs
You complete an online intake, and we arrange labs you can complete locally, remotely or with a home kit.
A one-to-two hour consultation
Dr. Harvey listens intently and provides thorough consultation, diagnosis, testing and treatment within appointments that run one to two hours.
A plan you can follow
You receive a personalized plan, delivered digitally, then continue with virtual check-ins, coaching and digital resources.
Who This Is For, and Who It Isn’t
This is for you if digestive symptoms keep coming back, if you’ve been told your labs are normal but you still don’t feel right, or if you want a physician to find why your gut is struggling rather than quiet one symptom at a time.
It also fits if you live anywhere in Florida. Care is now fully virtual, and in-person visits are available at our Sarasota office by appointment only. If you prefer in-person labs or imaging, we’ll coordinate locally.
This is not the right fit if you need visits billed to insurance or Medicare. Functional Medicine Florida does not accept insurance or Medicare, and we do not file insurance paperwork on your behalf. We do provide a detailed superbill you can submit to your carrier.
It is also not a supplement-stack shortcut. Dr. Harvey’s approach is simpler than what the biohackers are trying to sell you, and sometimes the right call is restraint: watching a borderline result over time rather than medicating someone who feels well.
Gut health
Gut Health Questions
Will I see Dr. Harvey, or someone else?
Dr. Harvey. Every consultation is one-on-one with Dr. Harvey himself, in appointments that run one to two hours, so there is time to find the root cause rather than match symptoms to a code.
Can I do this without coming to Sarasota?
Yes. Care is fully virtual for patients across Florida. Labs can be completed locally, remotely or with a home kit, and in-person visits at the Sarasota office are available by appointment.
Which gut tests do you use?
Comprehensive stool analysis (GIFx or GI360), SIBO breath testing, intestinal permeability testing and food sensitivity testing. More on functional lab testing.
Will insurance cover it?
We don’t accept insurance or Medicare, but we provide a detailed superbill you can submit to your carrier. Insurance companies may cover a portion of laboratory tests based on your own agreement with them; when labs are drawn, insurance information is sent with the specimens so the labs may bill for their services.
Where should I start?
With the free Toxiflammation Assessment. It scores seven domains, starting with Gut & Microbiome, so you can see which systems may be carrying the greatest burden before your first visit.
Free
Get Your Free Toxiflammation Assessment
See whether your gut is where the cycle is running hardest.
Testimonials
What People Say
— Chris Vercelli, 5 out of 5 starsI’m a health practitioner who has worked with many of Dr. Harvey’s patients, and the feedback I’ve gotten from them about his care is wonderful. He is very well educated and very good at developing treatment plans for a variety of health problems. His approach to healthcare is SO needed in this world of cookie cutter “medicine”, and even if you only went to him for a second opinion, it’d be well worth it. Thanks for all you do Doc! God bless!
— Kenn R., 5 out of 5 starsDr. Harvey is head-and-shoulders above any other medical practitioner we have encountered. When we first came to Sarasota, he gave my wife and me the most thorough physical exams we had ever had, ordering very different sets of blood tests for each of us based on his extensive initial questioning. From the blood tests, he figured out right away what had baffled my previous family doctor, and a high-dollar hematologist, and corrected my problem using simple dietary changes. With his help, my wife got off medications she had needed for decades. …Dr. Harvey is just a delightful, open person and a pleasure to work with.
— Judith Harding, 5 out of 5 starsI’ve been a patient of Dr. Harvey’s for several years, something like seven years. He always has a very knowledgeable and supportive staff. Recently, I had a very quick and hard fall that changed my life drastically. Dr. Harvey and his staff, especially Haylee, Kerry, and Tracy have helped me through some dark days. I am so grateful for their support. I can see there is hope for me to have continued good health and quality of life.
— Susan Miller, 5 out of 5 starsBest people in the world! Sweetest people! Doing the best job anyone can do on the planet present or future. Everyone here is an angel
Results are individual and not guaranteed. Ask Dr. Harvey whether this approach is right for you.
Your healing begins with a phone call
Schedule Your Appointment
Take control of your health journey today by scheduling a consultation with our team.
What we do
Services we offer
Functional Medicine
We focus on finding and dealing with the root cause of illness.
Preventative Diagnostics
Diagnostic testing and evaluation is an important component to understand how your body's processes are functioning.
Functional Lab Testing
Functional laboratory evaluation is an important component to understanding how your body's processes are functioning.
Brain Health
This form of medicine focuses on detecting, dealing with, and preventing conditions that come with aging.
Nutritional Counseling
Personalized education including the evaluation of your current dietary intake and how that impacts your current health conditions.
Toxicity Reduction
Toxicity is the byproduct of industrial society — we're subjected to exposures of many toxic substances daily, if not minute by minute.
Gut Health Support
We address GI complaints first, as they often indicate the point of weakness and breakdown in the integrity of this most important system — the platform for vibrant health.
Health Coaching
Personalized counseling to understand your needs and the tools required to change behavior in specific areas of lifestyle in order to shift function and achieve vital wellness.