In this YouTube video, Dr. Priti Nanda Sibal addresses the rising prevalence of lactose intolerance in India—affecting up to 70% of South Indians and over 50% of North Indians—and offers nine practical strategies for managing the condition and thriving on a dairy‑free diet. She begins by emphasizing the importance of monitoring lactose intake (under 50 g per day and spacing consumption) and learning to read food labels to avoid hidden lactose. She recommends incorporating yogurt with added probiotics, carrying lactase enzyme supplements for accidental exposure, and selecting low‑lactose cheeses or alternative milks such as coconut, almond, goat, or camel milk. For dining out, she advises patients to declare a milk allergy to obtain a clear menu. She warns that whey, a by‑product of homemade cheese, contains about 90 % lactose and should be discarded. She then highlights numerous dairy‑free culinary options—dark chocolate with cocoa and coconut milk powder, almond or coconut milk smoothies, and even Starbucks almond‑milk coffee—reassuring viewers that a dairy‑free lifestyle can be enjoyable. Finally, she stresses that fresh, organic milk (if consumed) is less problematic than modern dairy laden with chemicals, hormones, and antibiotics, and clarifies that calcium intake need not suffer because vegetables provide calcium; instead, vitamin D and magnesium are the nutrients to watch for optimal calcium absorption. The video concludes with a call to subscribe and share the channel to promote health across India.
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Welcome to the next episode of Food Medicine and Lies channel. And you know what's motivated me to make this video? A lot of studies which have come up which are showing that about 70% of people in South India and about more than 50% people in North India are becoming lactose intolerant. Imagine, milk is the major food product of our diets, and if We become intolerant to a particular enzyme in milk, which is lactase. What are we gonna do? Don't worry and don't fret. No need to sweat. I'm going to give you 9 important key factors which will help you enjoy going dairy-free. Number 1, know your numbers well. Less than 50 grams of lactose is good for you, and if you can space it during the day, it is amazing because you will have minimal symptoms then. Number 2, learn to read the food labels. The problem happens when you start eating hidden lactose, and that means that you don't know how much is going when, and your guts gets into a problem because gut doesn't know what to do with it because it has lost the art of digesting it. Number 3, love yogurt, and especially when you make yogurt, If you can add probiotics to it, oh, that will be amazing and lovely, and your gut will love you for it because it will enjoy digesting the yummy, healthy, delicious food which you are eating. Number 4, carry lactase enzymes, which are readily available on Amazon, when you are going out, because if by mistake you happen to eat it you will know how to help your gut digest it. Number 5: Choose your cheese well, because the type of cheese you choose will decide how much lactose your gut has to digest and whether it will be able to digest it or not. So what are your options? High-fat, low-carb cream is one. Cream from coconut milk, almond milk, goat milk, camel milk, It's all what you can eat with ease. Point 6: Eating out. I tell my patients whom I put on dairy-free diets is, just go and tell the attendant that you are allergic to milk, so he should get you a menu where it is clearly mentioned which all food products will have milk in the curry or in any form. The moment you say allergic, they become really serious and you do not suffer from their hands. Number 7, do you know that the whey you take out when you make cheese at home from milk has 90% lactose in it? So friends, if you are lactose intolerant or if you are on dairy-free diet and you do not have high fungus in your gut, please note it, you do not have any signs of excessive fungus or fungal infection in your gut, you can have cheese. But throw away the whey because it has everything which is going to cause problem. Lot of us what we do is we use the whey to make our curries or Ned the wheat or the atta, and that is where the problem starts and symptoms happen. Point 8: There are lots and lots of options where you can eat dairy-free food. So don't think in your mind that dairy-free means no life. You can make chocolates, dark chocolates with cocoa and coconut milk powder. You can use almond milk and coconut milk by making it in your homes in any smoothie or drink you want. And do you know Starbucks has started offering almond milk coffee? What more do you want, friends? Just have a smile and enjoy your dairy-free diet. And my last but 9th tip for you So that you actually can take care of your symptoms and live a healthy life is remember, whatever milk you take, the fresher, the organic it is, the lesser problems it will create. Because dairy today has a lot of chemicals and hormones, and that is the reason dairy is now being felt as an unnecessary food item in our routines. The dairy which our ancestors used to eat was healthy, but the dairy we are eating is full of chemicals, pesticides, hormones, antibiotics, and what all. So stay away if you have to. What I want to tell you before I let— say bye to you is, don't think that if you don't take dairy, calcium levels will be lower in your body. Lot of vegetables have calcium and our body can absorb calcium very beautifully. Today calcium is not a problem. Problem is vitamin D deficiency, magnesium deficiency, because these actually help our body absorb, retain calcium properly. Please, if you think you've learned something new in this video, if you think you actually like this video, Do subscribe to my channel Food Medicine and Lies and do share it with your family and friends and be with me on my journey of making India a healthy and a happy country. We, if we stand together, we are gonna win.
