What Foods Are Lactose Free?

Discovering that you are lactose intolerant may not be the easiest thing to digest. Deciphering which foods you can and can’t eat can be even tougher. You may opt for a food that you think is lactose free but results in you feeling bloated, experience cramping, nausea or diarrhea. Once you have the hang of it, you are able to determine which foods are the best for you.


The inability to be able to digest lactose is considered being lactose intolerant. Lactose is found both in milk and milk products. This condition is due to a lack of an enzyme called lactase which is produced by the small intestine. 


This fascinating enzyme, lactase, is designed to break down the lactose into simple sugars so that the bloodstream can absorb them easier. When the break down process is interrupted, the digestion process is also interrupted and uncomfortable symptoms arise. Symptoms, noted earlier, can be felt anywhere from half an hour to about two hours after the milk or milk product has been consumed.


It’s obvious that milk has lactose in it and there a many other foods that use milk or a milk derivative in it such as cheese and yogurt. Not always is it easy to know if the food does or doesn’t, so how does one know what foods are lactose free? This is when you must spend a little time reading the labels of your favorite foods. Some manufacturers will label their products accordingly but some do not.


Foods such as instant mashed potatoes, mayonnaise, chocolate, sponge cakes and even boiled sweets and salad cream should be avoided. It can be difficult to determine with some foods if they contain milk so reading and understanding what the label shows is very important. It is also important to know that many processed foods (i.e. doughnuts, cereals, corn chips), sweets and mixes contain lactose.


It doesn’t matter the amount of lactose the food contains, what matters is your health and knowing what foods are lactose free is important to know. Plan to spend more time at the store the first couple of times after you have been diagnosed as lactose intolerant. You will want to read as many labels as possible. Look for the words or terminology of: lactose, milk, dry milk solids, curds, whey, or even milk by-products will be noted within the ingredients list. 


Breads and baked goods, protein bars and powders, soups and salad dressings, bacon and sausage, hot dogs and even lunch meat packages should all be checked to determine if they contain a lactose substance. Reading labels should be carried over into the pharmacy section as well. Some prescriptions such as certain birth control pills, gas and stomach acid medicines contain a lactose product. As you can see, if you don’t know what foods are lactose free you can very easily cause unnecessary harm to your digestive system.


Everyone has a different intolerance level and experience different symptoms from consuming lactose. Having the knowledge of what foods are lactose free will ensure a healthy digestive system.