Even if you are lactose intolerant, don't you want to give up dairy products? It is possible, albeit proceeding with caution.
Steps
Step 1. First of all, make sure you are genuinely lactose intolerant. If you have bloating, cramps, gas, dysentery or grumbling in your digestive system in conjunction with your dairy intake, you may be lactose intolerant
However, these symptoms can also indicate various diseases, so talk to your doctor.
Step 2. Understand what lactose intolerance is
It is the inability to digest lactose (a milk sugar) due to insufficient production of the enzyme lactase. The undigested sugar remains in the digestive system, where the bacteria present produce gas as a by-product of its fermentation.
Step 3. Learn that lactose intolerance is a common condition
In fact, the ability to digest lactose in adulthood is a genetic mutation completely absent in entire populations.
Step 4. Keep a food diary
Write down everything you eat and any perceived symptoms or effects. It will help both you and your doctor to highlight any connections.
Step 5. Try eliminating dairy products from your diet for a few days, or even a couple of weeks, and see if the symptoms go away
Step 6. Go to your doctor and undergo a specific test
Symptoms of lactose intolerance can be related to different diseases, so make sure what your real problems are.
Step 7. Do not believe those who tell you that, as lactose intolerant, you cannot take dairy products. You can, albeit with caution
Step 8. Limit the amount of dairy you eat
Know the amounts allowed to keep you healthy.
Step 9. Replace dairy products with alternatives, such as soy or rice milk
Step 10. Read the labels, even for those products that you don't think may contain milk
There are many ready-made foods that contain lactose, milk or whey among their ingredients.
Step 11. Find out if you are allowed yogurt
It may contain less lactose than many other dairy products, which is why many people tolerate it better than other dairy products. When they die, the active bacteria in yogurt also 'give up' their lactase enzyme, which aids in the digestion of lactose in the intestine.
Step 12. You will need to adapt or overcome your lactose intolerance
Start with small steps, and try to only gradually increase the amount of milk taken daily.
Step 13. Try lactase-enriched milk
Step 14. When you want to eat dairy, try taking a lactase-based dietary supplement
Advice
- Lactose intolerance is not curable, but its symptoms can be kept under control.
- In case you intend to take dairy products, be conscientious about taking your medications.
- Many hard yellow cheeses contain very little lactose. The longer the aging period, the less lactose it contains. Avoid cheeses similar to cottage cheese and cottage cheese.
- Experiment with caution and on the advice of your doctor to find the most suitable solutions for you.
- It especially looks for the presence of 'whey proteins' in processed products.
- The lactase enzyme is used in ice cream making to prevent lactose from crystallizing when milk freezes, giving the product a grainy texture. Therefore most ice creams should be tolerated easily.
Warnings
- Talk to your doctor and get tested to make sure your symptoms are really related to lactose intolerance and not other conditions.
- Talk to your doctor before taking any medications.
- Make sure you are getting the necessary amounts of calcium, whatever its source.
