Eating real – not fat-reduced (ugh, shudder) cheese is the way to go. Not only is it just plain taster, real full fat cheese has been found not to be the villain it was once portrayed. It had fallen victim to the myth of fat being the causative agent of cardiovascular disease, which is coming around to being disproven by much research. It’s hard not to believe something that has been touted as truth for so long – “fat is bad for you!!” But so many articles are coming out to repoint the finger not at fat, but at sugar as the true culprit in cardiovascular disease. In an article from the American Society of Nutrition, delicious full-fat real food cheese is being led back into the light as a food that is not dangerous – if eaten moderately (as with any food). The study where folks ate 2.5 oz of cheese daily compared with reduced fat cheese or a carbohydrate snack, concluded that regular full fat cheese does not change risky blood markers such as LDL cholesterol, and in a few cases actually raised HDL (good) cholesterol. Another study in rats suggests that a diet containing real cheese decreases fat build up in the liver. One more paradoxical fact – It’s an overabundance of carbohydrate in the diet, NOT saturated fat, that causes hormonal insulin upheaval and increased blood lipid levels associated with diseases like Diabetes-2 and Metabolic Syndrome according to a study in Lipid Technology journal.
YAY! So be able to recognize how much an ounce of cheese is (the size of 2 dice) and enjoy a reasonable 2-3 oz a day.