|
|
(HealthNewsDigest.com) – Cheese made the news recently in the New York Times, which pointed out the discrepancies of The Department of Agriculture’s recommendations to lower food choices high in fat, in this instance cheese. We all love cheese, well a good majority of us Americans do, and the position of the government is for us to lower our intake of total fat, particularly saturated fats. Cheese is added to many American favorite’s including hamburgers, and pizza. To make matters worse, these are among children’s favorites and the obesity rates for children is at an all time high. Where’s the discrepancy that the Department of Agriculture made?
The Department of Agriculture has within it, a department called “Dairy Management”. This department’s role is to promote dairy products, which are healthy for us if we choose wisely and eat in moderation. That is, non-fat and low fat 1% milk and milk products. Children need extra dairy during their growing years to supply their bodies with calcium, which these days has been replaced by other not so healthy beverages. The discrepancy came into play when the Dairy Management department according to the New York Times, helped a large fast food chain known for pizza, market a new line of “cheese-heavy” pies with each slice supplying two-thirds of a day’s worth of saturated fat. Oh my (Someone goofed and should have funded a campaign for a healthy dairy food, like yogurt!)!
I’ve always recommended a diet high in dairy foods not only because this food group will help us meet most of our calcium needs, but in addition, we can meet some of our protein needs from the highest bio-available source. Yes, while most of think that meat supplies us with the most usable source of protein, eggs, milk and milk products are actually the highest quality source of protein. So, if we’re concerned about obesity rates in our country for adults and children alike, let’s look to the dairy group which offers us quality calcium, quality protein, and when we choose low fat sources such as low fat milk, low fat cheese in moderate amounts, and my all time favorite, low fat yogurts, we can aid our weight management efforts healthily.
So, how can we have our cheese and be healthy too?
Choose Substitutes. I love to substitute part skim ricotta for whole milk ricotta cheese in my Italian recipes; goat cheese for blue or gorgonzola in my salads, and lowfat 1% Friendship cottage cheese on a regular basis in my salads instead of goat as well (yes, I said cottage cheese with a teaspoon of non fat blue to mimic the taste). Choose real cheese instead of cream cheese and we get some nutrients such as protein and calcium instead of just “all” fat.
Choose Fresh. I always suggest to my clients to choose fresh cheeses instead of processed packaged cheeses, even if the packaged are lowfat. Why? In general, processed cheeses are higher in fat and even lower fat cheeses are much higher in sodium.
The Comparisons (All per ounce)
Calories Total Fat (g) Sodium (mg)
American Processed 106 9 405
Goat Soft type: 76 6 104
Mozzarella part skim 80 5 150
Feta crumbled 75 6 316
Cream Cheese 99 10 84
Gorgonzola 98 8 284
Brie 95 8 178
Cheddar 114 9 176
1% cottage 22 insignificant 115
So now that we have some comparisons, we can see that most cheeses hover around the 100 calorie mark unless lowfat, which usually reduces the calories in fresh cheeses such as Mozzarella and Cheddar to about 80. We can also see that our processed cheese has the most sodium, while the cream cheese comes in 3rd for calories, but with NO nutrients! I think the biggest thing for us to remember especially this holiday season is that these numbers are per ounce. Oh, and shall we guess how many ounces of whole fat mozzarella are on each slice of pizza? Let’s not give up our pizza yet, let’s just ask for thin crust, extra tomatoes and lot’s of veggies but hold the cheese; I add a teaspoon or two of grated Parmesan, and at 15 calories per teaspoon, I’ve added some cheese taste without the extra fat and calories.
Follow me Junefit on Twitter every Sunday for a new tool taken from my book, and follow my blogs at Voskos Greek Yogurt (Yogurt makes great cheese too)! My latest “Voskos Kicks the Common Cold to the Curb” can be found here http://www.voskos.com/fresh/
Here’s to Our Health!
June M. Lay M.S.
June Fit
Look at my exercise page for Feeding our Muscles Food .
Junefit is included in Google’s top ranked women’s health resources http://directory.google.com/Top/Health/Women’s_Health/Resources/
June is Lifestyle Columnist at www.healthnewsdigest.com/
(C )Junefit 2010
Subscribe to our FREE Ezine and receive current Health News, be eligible for discounted products/services and coupons related to your Health. We publish 24/7.
HealthNewsDigest.com
For advertising/promotion, email: [email protected] Or call toll free: 877- 634-9180