Cheese, except for cottage cheese, often is a high-fat food. However, you can lose weight eating cheese because there are several low-fat and fat-free cheeses, according to the National Nutrient Database of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, or USDA. In addition, several diet experts such as the late Robert Atkins believe that you lose weight by skimping on carbohydrates, not fat, and many cheeses are low in carbohydrates.
Significance
Eating many foods can help you lose weight, but cheese has more calcium than most low-fat foods. Calcium keeps your bones and teeth strong and is crucial for normal heart rhythm, muscle function and nerve transmission, according to The Merck Manual of Medical Information. The mineral is very important for older women because they are at high risk of osteoporosis if they have a calcium shortage. The Merck Manual recommends eating about 800 mg. of calcium every day.
Expert Insight
Approximately half of American adults eat too little calcium, partly because many high-calcium foods are also very fatty, according to "Nutripoints: A New Guide to Simple, Healthy Eating." However, the University of Illinois' McKinley Health Center reports that "many good sources of calcium fit quite well into a healthy, low-fat diet," and recommends fat-free and low-fat cheeses as well as cheese pizza with reduced-fat cheese. One serving of low-fat cottage cheese has 211 mg. of calcium.
Fat-Free Identification
A food is classified as fat-free by the U.S. government when a serving has less than half a gram of fat. Slices of fat-free American and cheddar cheese have 0.2g of fat each, according to the USDA National Nutrient Database. Dry curd cottage cheese and cheese with 1 percent butterfat have 0.2g and 0.3g of fat respectively, according to "Dr. Ornish's Program for Reversing Heart Disease."
Low-Fat Identification
A food is low-fat when it has 3 or fewer grams of fat per serving, according to the U.S. government. The USDA lists low-fat cheddar, colby, cream and Swiss cheese as low-fat; the Ornish book lists cottage cheese with 2 percent to 4 percent fat and cheese with 4 percent to 8 percent fat as low-fat.
Theory
A food's carbohydrates, not its fat, are converted into body fat, according to "Dr. Atkins' New Diet Revolution" and "The South Beach Diet." The two diets use the glycemic index to measure how fast carbs cause the sugar in your blood to increase, and they contend that excess blood sugar becomes fat. Most cheeses have few carbs, including American, bleu, cheddar, cream, feta, Monterey Jack, mozzarella, parmesan and Swiss.
Recommendations
"South Beach Diet" author Arthur Agatston is so convinced that carbohydrates are bad and fat is good that he says, "The only low-fat foods I recommend for dieters are cheese and yogurt" because they also are low in carbs. Agatston also recommends using low-fat ricotta cheese on a variety of desserts. Atkins recommends eating cheddar, cream, Gouda, mozzarella, Rocquefort and Swiss cheeses to lose weight during the first and strictest part of his diet, and eating many other cheeses in later stages.
References
- The Merck Manual of Medical Information; 1999
- "Nutripoints: A New Guide To Simple, Healthy Eating"; Dr. Roy E. Vartabedian and Kathy Matthews;
- "Dr. Dean Ornish's Program For Reversing Heart Disease"; Dr. Dean Ornish; 1996
- "Dr. Atkins' New Diet Revolution"; Dr. Robert Atkins; 2002
- "The South Beach Diet"; Dr. Arthur Agatston; 2003
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