22 Home Remedies for Lactose Intolerance
Being lactose intolerant means that you’re allergic to, or at least unable to fully digest the sugar called lactose in, dairy products. Most lactose intolerant people can manage their intolerance enough that they don’t have to give up dairy completely.
Symptoms
Lactose intolerance is hardly ever fatal, though the allergic reactions can be annoying and sometimes painful. The reactions can include the following: abdominal cramps, gas, bloating, nausea. These symptoms can happen between half an hour and two hours after consuming dairy.
Home Remedies for Lactose Intolerance
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Lemons
Lemon juice is good for calming an upset stomach. Half an hour to an hour before eating or drinking something with dairy in it, try mixing some lemon juice and honey into a glass of water and drinking it to see if it stops abdominal cramps.
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Fennel Seeds
Fennel is a herb that’s been used for various issues for centuries. In this case, fennel seeds can help with most of the reactions or pains your body gives off in response to the lactose. Fennel is easy to use here for a lactose intolerant problem.
Chew the seeds after a meal. If you would prefer, you can make tea with the seeds. Instead of chewing the teaspoon of fennel seeds, place the seeds in boiling water, let them steep for ten minutes and drink the tea three times a day.
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Cocoa Powder
Cocoa powder has been known to help with digestion. You can eat a bit of dark chocolate with a high cocoa content or simply mix some cocoa powder with sugar and eat it before each meal.
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Chamomile
This is herb and flower is fantastic for balancing stomach acids. Have chamomile tea a couple times a day and see if that helps any.
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Peppermint Tea
Peppermint tea is incredible for setting upset stomachs. If you suffer from gas, bloating, or abdominal cramps after eating dairy, try enjoying a cup of peppermint tea to help you.
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Don’t Hold it in
If you get gas after eating dairy, don’t try to hold it in because it might be embarrassing. The built-up gas can make abdominal cramps even worse, so holding it in doesn’t seem worth the pain.
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Pumpkin
Pumpkin is high in fiber and it’s rather good at lessening the amount of gas created. Whenever you eat dairy, try eating roughly a cup of pumpkin before the meal. There are many different ways to prepare the squash and almost countless spices that you can add to it. Even homemade pumpkin pie filling would be good.
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Mush it Up
One of the easiest ways to stave off-gas is to chew more thoroughly. Sometimes, gas is caused because the stomach is having a hard time digesting things. If you chew the food you’re eating more thoroughly, then it’ll be easier for your body to digest and you shouldn’t have nearly as hard of a problem with gas.
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Sauerkraut
This German cabbage has a good bacteria that helps with digesting. Incorporating this thinly sliced and fermented cabbage into your meals might help with bloating, abdominal cramps, and gas.
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Eat Less More Often
Part of the trouble, as aforementioned, is the stomach having trouble digesting after encountering lactose. Overall, if you eat smaller amounts more often, it might make it easier on your stomach since it’s smaller amounts to digest rather three big amounts spread throughout the day.
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Baking Soda
Baking soda, when a teaspoon is mixed in a glass of warm water and drunk, can function as an antacid that can calm an upset stomach to relieve bloating.
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Ginger Tea
Ginger has what is called carminative, which helps with bloating and indigestion. If you take an inch of ginger root and boil it in a cup water then let it simmer for three or five minutes, and drink this a couple times a day, it might be able to help you.
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Bananas
Bananas are gold mines for fiber and potassium. Both of these together promote better digestion and can therefore fight against bloating. Eating two bananas a day could help you.
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Coconut Oil
Coconut oil is good for anti-inflammatory uses. Consuming a tablespoon of the white oil or mixing it into a cup of juice or putting it in a salad could help things in your intestines get moving in a slightly slower fashion with less cramping.
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Pineapples
Pineapples drip with an enzyme that breaks down proteins in your intestines. What better way could you think of for relieving the effects of lactose intolerance than eating a serving of pineapple or drinking a cup pineapple juice mixed with a cup of water?
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Rice Water
This sounds odd but is easy to do. Rice, when boiled in water, leaves a compound that can coat your stomach. If you’re making rice, simply use more water than you usually would and cook the rice like you normally would. Once the rice is soft enough to eat, drain the rice and drink the water left before enjoying some dairy. You can consider adding some lemon juice and/or honey to the water to add more/better flavor.
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Apple Cider Vinegar
Apple cider vinegar is an amazing liquid that can be used for a great multitude of varying things. If you mix two tablespoons of apple cider vinegar and two tablespoons of honey in a glass of warm water, the concoction can break through nasal congestion as well as stomach indigestion.
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Seltzer Water
Seltzer water, club soda, tonic water, call it what you will, but know that this flavorless carbonated water can do wonders for your aching stomach. The excited bubbles in this water can help you to digest by popping through the lactose and making it easier for your body to deal with. You can get this fizzy water in different flavors or you can add your own natural fruit juices. As an added bonus, seltzer water is much healthier to drink than carbonated sodas.
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Burnt Toast
This is another one that sounds gross but works. When you’re stomach is feeling uneasy, it’s normal to eat toast right? Burn the toast just a little bit and then eat it. The charred beard is better for absorbing toxins and henceforth gives your body a better way of breaking down the lactose.
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Yoga
Stretching out your stomach muscles with gentle yoga after eating could help to pop some air bubbles from the lack of digestion of lactose that can result in cramping, gas, and bloating.
Which of these home remedies are you most likely to try? Comment below!
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References
https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/lactose-intolerance/symptoms-causes/syc-20374232
https://everydayroots.com/gas-remedies
https://www.everydayhealth.com/excessive-gas/home-remedies-for-gas/
https://www.stylecraze.com/articles/effective-home-remedies-for-curing-stomach-bloating/#gref