Mild Gluten Sensitivities – How much Gluten is Safe to eat?

I am frequently asked how ‘careful’ someone has to be if they have gluten sensitivity. Those individuals suffering from celiac disease know, or should, that ANY gluten is too much. Their immune systems are highly sensitive and reactive, and dangerous contamination can literally be in the form of a crumb.

Those with gluten sensitivity are in a better condition. Gluten sensitivity is not considered an autoimmune disease; celiac, of course, is. Those with gluten sensitivity are often not reactive to small amounts of contamination… or are they?

In my opinion, there is no such thing as a ‘mild’ gluten sensitivity. You either are or you are not. And if you are sensitive, gluten in any form can be very deleterious to your health. The slightly insidious thing with gluten sensitivity, and sometimes for celiac sufferers as well, is that the reaction to gluten can be ‘silent’. But just because you can’t feel it, doesn't mean it isn't still having its evil way with you.

Sadly, irritation and inflammation to the nervous system and major organs of the body (yes, there is no organ spared according to research) can be free of obvious symptoms…initially. Once the damage progresses beyond a certain point, however you will then develop symptoms, but at the beginning you can be ignorant and by the time symptoms develop some major damage has occurred – meaning you can be formally diagnosed with a disease.

Obviously no one wants insidious, silent damage to be occurring to their body. That’s why it’s so critical to discover if you are really celiac or gluten sensitive. If you are, then there is no middle ground – you are and that means zero gluten.

What about individuals who aren't suffering from either condition but just notice they ‘feel better’ when they don’t eat gluten? In this case they either do have one of the conditions and it just hasn't been properly diagnosed, or the refined carbohydrate aspect of the grain is bothering them.

Do realize that:

1.       Gluten is a protein that no human properly digests, even if they don’t have celiac or gluten sensitivity. This is complete fact, not my opinion.

2.       The quality of gluten we tend to eat in this country is highly refined, processed and often laden with chemicals. It’s just not good quality food for anyone.

While in a perfect world I would love to have you tested while you are still eating gluten, I would never recommend a reintroduction if you have already stopped and notice that you feel better. My favorite test is a blood test from Cyrex Labs (I have no personal affiliation with this lab) because it is the most comprehensive one on the market.

If you have already stopped eating gluten, EnteroLab (I have no personal affiliation with this lab either) offers an online test that is easy to do and you don’t need to be eating gluten in order to achieve accurate results.

EnteroLab also offers a genetic test so you can find out if you carry the genes associated with celiac or gluten sensitivity.

Testing is my first choice, but if that’s not possible then conduct your own test – it’s free. Avoid gluten completely (100%) for 30 days. Make sure you know all the places gluten can hide such that your 30 day trial contains no slip-ups. Feel free to visit my website where I delineate the most common places gluten can hide.

Once your 30 days is complete, see how you feel. If you’ve noticed no change, then likely you aren’t sensitive. If you have noticed improvement in your symptoms, consider that you likely have one of these conditions. Remember, you can use the tests that don’t require you to eat gluten to be sure your analysis is correct – if that’s affordable for you. When you’re considering a permanent lifestyle change, saving a bit of money for the test that might provide you with the validation you need to continue your gluten-free life, could be worth it.

I hope this helps to answer this very common question. Gluten is just not something to play around with. If you’re sensitive and you eat a small amount even once per month, that’s too much. I’m sorry, but it’s true. Please realize that you aren’t doing yourself any favors being 80 or 90% gluten-free – at least not if you’re sensitive to it.

Honestly, I think it’s easier to completely stay away from it than continuing to torment yourself with occasional cheating.

Let me know if you have any questions. This is an important area to understand and I hope this post clears some things up. Remember that we are here to help. Regardless of where you live, we can offer you assistance. HealthNOW is a destination clinic and we treat patients from across the country and internationally.

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If you felt as if I was describing you above, you are not alone. As I mentioned earlier, adrenal fatigue/exhaustion is almost epidemic. If you would like assistance and don’t have a clinician whom you feel can assist you, consider contacting us for a FREE Health Analysis. We are a Destination Clinic and treat patients from across the country and internationally. We would be delighted to help you as we have been doing so for over two decades.

Visit us at www.RootCauseMedicalClinic.com. If you have questions or need any help, I’m here for you! Call 408-733-0400.

I look forward to hearing from you.

To your good health,

Dr Vikki Petersen, DC, CCN, CFMP


IFM Certified Practitioner

Founder of Root Cause Medical Clinic
Co-author of “The Gluten Effect”

Author of the eBook: “Gluten Intolerance – What You Don’t Know May Be Killing You!”

Gluten Intolerant? Domino’s ‘Gluten free’ Pizza is NOT Safe

Americans love pizza. Actually, American’s love a lot of foods they would be better off without, but that’s a subject for a different blog. The point is, that for those of us who refrain from eating gluten, having a national food chain publicize that they are offering a gluten-free alternative of their food is a validation. We feel that we’ve been heard and that enough of us are out there that we are making a difference in the food that is being offered to us.

That’s the good news. The bad news is that sometimes there is a ‘disconnect’ between the idea of offering a truly gluten-free product and the practicality of that product remaining gluten-free when the consumer ingests it.

What do I mean? I’m talking about cross-contamination.

Dominos has made a gluten-free crust – fact. However, Dominos did not delve into the problem of cross-contamination. As soon as that gluten-free crust is unwrapped, it is at the mercy of any wheat flour that may be floating around in the environment. And if you think about pizza crust being thrown up in the air, you quickly realize that unless every Dominos has a delegated room for their gluten-free pizza, we are in trouble.

And just a short time after their launch on May 7^th, Dominos stated that store operations are such that they cannot guarantee that the crust is free from cross contamination when it reaches the customer.

This is a huge problem! What it means is that this ‘gluten-free’ pizza is not safe to consume for anyone with celiac disease, gluten sensitivity or a wheat allergy.

I am not alone in my opinion, but the Celiac Research Center out of the University of Maryland and the Gluten Intolerance Group concur. They too have stated that this product is not safe to consume.

On a more positive pizza note, the Chuck E. Cheese food chain has found a way to eliminate cross contamination in their gluten-free pizza. While currently only available in the state of Minnesota, Chuck E Cheese is offering a personal size pizza that is made in a dedicated gluten-free facility where it is wrapped and then delivered to the restaurant frozen. There it is cooked in the packaging and when it is delivered to the customer, it comes with its own pizza cutter.

See? That doesn’t sound too hard. Let’s tell Domino’s.

I recently had a similar experience when a local bakery contacted me asking for my endorsement of their gluten-free products while urging me to recommend them to my patients. A short discussion revealed that they were taking no precautions to prevent cross contamination and we making gluten-containing products in the same area and at the same time as those that had gluten-free ingredients.

When I pointed out this issue as a serious one, the owner stated that perhaps his food wasn’t for the ‘hypersensitive people’. Well, you can imagine my response, even AFTER taking a deep breath to contain my upset!

I asked him to really get educated on the subject and made recommendations on how he could do that. I never heard back from him.

Here’s the cautionary take-home. Personally I was not that surprised that a little ‘mom and pop’ bakery was not up to speed on cross contamination issues. However, I was extremely surprised that a huge food chain such as Dominos was ignorant. Being gluten intolerant requires a vigilance that is demanding. Therefore if you find yourself in a restaurant or bakery, I strongly urge you to ask questions before consuming their gluten-free products.

Questions you should ask:

1.      What are the ingredients?

2.      Where is the product prepared?

3.      Is the company manufacturing the product a designated gluten-free facility?

4.      What precautions does the restaurant or bakery utilize to prevent cross contamination?

I hope this was helpful. I’d like to hear back from you regarding any experiences you’ve had in this area.

Would you help me out and let others know these warnings? We work hard enough to maintain our gluten-free status, we certainly don’t need to be given a false sense of security from supposedly gluten free food options that are in fact contaminated.

Do you need help improving your health? Do you know someone who does? We are here to help! Our destination clinic sees patients from across the country and internationally, so even if you don’t live locally you can receive assistance.

Visit us at www.RootCauseMedicalClinic.com. If you have questions or need any help, I’m here for you! Call 408-733-0400.

I look forward to hearing from you.

To your good health,

Dr Vikki Petersen, DC, CCN, CFMP


IFM Certified Practitioner

Founder of Root Cause Medical Clinic
Co-author of “The Gluten Effect”

Author of the eBook: “Gluten Intolerance – What You Don’t Know May Be Killing You!”

Permission is granted to re-post this article in its entirety with credit to Dr Vikki Petersen & HealthNOW Medical Center and a clickable link back to this page. Dr Vikki Petersen, DC, CCN is founder of HealthNOW Medical Center and the author of “The Gluten Effect”.  She has been featured in national magazines, international medical journals and is a frequent headlined speaker.