We all know someone who is lactose intolerant and while you may think it’s funny that they have trouble digesting the sugar found in dairy products, they don’t find it funny. I unfortunately, am one of the millions of individuals who suffer from this. Ever since I was little I have known that I was lactose intolerant. Luckily, I don’t have it as bad as others probably because I am an extremely picky eater who only eats about five different foods. You would think I would have done more research on what to substitute in recipes or what medicines to take but I haven’t. If I have dairy products I usually ride out the sickness or altogether avoid foods that contain dairy. With that being said though, it is almost impossible to avoid dairy products. I have found eight tips to aid those of you who are just like me.
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Divide your daily lactose intake into four to eight ounce servings throughout the day.
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Get lactase tablets which can be purchased over-the-counter at local stores like CVS, Wal-Mart, Kroger, etc. If taken 30 minutes or so prior to you ingesting dairy products; it should minimise your symptoms.
3) Try yogurt! Yogurt with live and active cultures has a low amount of lactose. The cultures in yogurt pre-digest lactose. This is helpful to know if you eat parfaits or put yogurt in your smoothies!
4) Some people have to eliminate their dairy product intake which means they aren’t getting the proteins found in these foods. If you are one of these people you should add dairy-free foods that are rich in calcium and other nutrients. A few examples are almonds, soy milk, spinach and raw broccoli.
5) If you are lactose you probably think you should avoid all cheeses. However, you don’t! Look for aged cheeses or cheese with sugar under 5 grams. These include: parmesan, cheddar, swiss, cream cheese, ricotta and mozzarella.
6) If you are a breakfast eater which everyone should be because it is the most important meal of the day; try lactose-free eggs or lactose-free french toast!
7) If you like to bake and the recipe contains butter you can use a butter called ‘Ghee.’ It contains no lactose and casein! If that isn’t for you look for butter that contains coconut oil.
8) I know everyone loves ice cream! They now have dairy-free ice cream so us folks don’t have to die every time we consume the delicious dessert. This might not be the healthiest but it definitely will help.
(All gifs courtesy to giphy.com)