When you drink a glass of milk do you suffer from feeling bloated and are full of wind? If you swallow ice cream do you hear high-pitch rumblings in your stomach? After a night out do you decide to call for a cheese pizza and then find out over the next few days that you have develop diarrhea in abundant quantities.
If you do, you are most likely lactose intolerance.
This means that your small intestine does not supply enough lactose.
This is the enzyme you need to absorb natural sugar found in dairy products.
Except for those of northern European origin, most of the population gets some form of lactose intolerance by the time they reach twenty.
It is calculated that as many as 30 million adult Americans have a certain form of intolerance to lactose.
The first thing you need to do is find out how intolerant you are to lactose.
You need to reduce your intake of dairy produce until the symptoms disappear.
This can be worked out by drinking milk until you find what your intolerance is.
Some feel the effect after drinking a couple of pints of milk others after a glass.
You need a daily intake of calcium equivalent to 2 glass of milk and dairy products are a major source.
If milk is having a bad effect you will have to look to other alternatives to get your daily supply.
Good resources for calcium are sardines with bones and spinach or broccoli.
Another way of obtaining your requirement is calcium supplements.
Lactase enzymes pills and lactase treated milk are other ways of your body getting what it needs.
If you eat food while drinking milk it may lead to you finding a cure to your lactose intolerance.
Another way that might give you an answer to your intolerance is to feed yourself small amounts of milk products, increasing your daily amount gradually to build up your resistance to lactose.
The organisms that produce yogurt also contain lactase to digest lactose.
Most people with lactose intolerance are not acute sufferers and the bacteria in yogurt will help to break down the lactose so that you can tolerate yogurt without any adverse results.
Yogurt has three quarters less lactose content to an equal amount of milk.
This difference may be all you need to tolerate lactose.
Tips on eating yogurt: 1.
Choose regular not frozen 2.
Choose non-fat over fat 3.
Eat it every day 4.
Eat it before you eat ice cream Another way of getting you daily intake of calcium is to add a liquid lactase enzyme to your milk.
The only problem with this is adding the right amount you require.
This will be a case of experimenting to acquire your required daily need.
If you like it, buttermilk should be tolerable to most people, it also has less fat and cholesterol than you get in semi-skimmed milk.
Alternatively cheese is another way of you getting you calcium requirement.
Extra matured cheeses like cheddar cheese have only a trace of lactose and are less liable to cause digestive upset.