Cure Lactose Intolerance with These Four Steps

Do you long to enjoy the cold, creamy texture of ice cream on your tongue or a glass of ice cold milk but the fear of the bloating and gassiness which follows prevents your enjoyment of dairy products? Having family members who have suffered with lactose intolerance I can empathize, but your body's rebellion against all things dairy may not be a permanent malady, oftentimes the cure for lactose intolerance is only four steps away.

Start with a Little Feta Cheese

Lactose intolerance and all it's uncomfortable symptoms occurs when the digestive tract produces too little lactase, the enzyme needed to break down milk sugar. Feta cheese, made from the milk of a goat or sheep, contains just enough milk sugar to not cause digestive problems while jump starting your digestive tract into producing lactase. Start curing lactose intolerance by eating two ounces of true Greek feta cheese every day for two weeks.

Add Something Aged

After two weeks of feta cheese, add a little aged cheese to the daily routine. Aged cheeses, like cheddar or Swiss, are made from milk curds and don't contain the whey which has the highest concentration of milk sugars. Whatever lactose intolerant symptoms you may have experienced over the last two weeks will be cut in half by adding two ounces of aged cheese to your diet each day for two weeks.

Try a Little Yogurt

After a month of re-introducing cheese to your digestive tract, start your day with one half cup of quality yogurt. Gradually increase (over a two week time frame) the half cup of yogurt to two cups daily (along with the cheeses). While the yogurt is packed full of milk sugars, it's also loaded with probiotic bacteria which quickly break down the milk sugars in your digestive system.

Add Milk at Six Weeks

The feta cheese, aged cheese and yogurt steps should have brought you safely to the six week mark, and now it's time to add milk. Start sipping two ounces of milk with each meal, according to an article on WebMD regarding the treatment for lactose intolerance, eating or drinking small amounts of dairy throughout the day is the best way to adjust the digestive system to dairy. Increase the amount of milk slowly over the next two weeks until you reach the desired amount. By following these steps for two months, the lactose intolerance should be a thing of the past and you should be able to enjoy any dairy product you desire without bloating, gas or any other painful digestive tract symptom.

Source:

Rodale - How To Cure Lactose Intolerance

LiveStrong - How To Cure Food Intolerances

WebMD