# Are Ya Eatin' Yer Cheese?



## imp (Oct 27, 2015)

Interesting stats about cheese consumption, chart from my latest "Dairy" magazine.   imp


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## Butterfly (Oct 27, 2015)

Isn't there a lot of saturated fat in cheese?


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## imp (Oct 27, 2015)

Butterfly said:


> Isn't there a lot of saturated fat in cheese?



Yes, there is, if made with whole milk. Reduced fat, or non-fat milk used to make cheeses lower the fat content markedly, especially the saturated fat to combined fat ratio. However, non-fat cheeses lack the "mouth-feel" that makes products containing fat so tasty and thus appealing.

Non-fat cottage cheese for example, tastes (to me anyway) as good as the whole-milk variety, with similar nutrition benefits, but not the fat, and therefore, less calories. Considering the "nutritional bang" it's an excellent choice for protein and calcium, without getting those from meat, fish, or poultry. 100 grams of tuna fish gives you about 20 grams protein with 100 calories and NO calcium, while the same amount of non-fat cottage cheese has *36 *gramsof protein, nearly twice as much, 168 calories and 1.1 grams of calcium. Both have 20 mg. of cholesterol, that's 6% or recommended daily adult max.

I still love fish!    imp


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## Warrigal (Oct 28, 2015)

Deleted - botched edit


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## Warrigal (Oct 28, 2015)

All of the flavour elements are found in the milk fat. 
Low fat cheese isn't worth eating.

I love the soft cheeses - brie and camembert - and fancy cream cheeses with fruit and nuts in them.
Mozzarella doesn't appeal to me except as a pizza topping but a good hard cheddar would be what I buy most.

By the way, cheese should not be orange.


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## chic (Oct 28, 2015)

I enjoy cheese but find it binding. I have to eat a bowlful of bran cereal to pass the cheese. And, as you pointed out, it is high in sat fat and the low fat / nonfat varieties taste awful.


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## Ameriscot (Oct 28, 2015)

I eat an Irish low fat cheddar but melted like grilled cheese or nuked in a wrap. I'd rather have full fat but I only have that as a treat. Calories.


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## Pappy (Oct 28, 2015)

I enjoy any sharp cheese. The sharper, the better. We also buy those little round cheeses the have the red wax coating. Baby bells or something like that.


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## QuickSilver (Oct 28, 2015)

I love cheese, particularly the creamy kind.   Mozzarella is for pizza... EXCEPT fresh mozzarella..  We love that with sliced tomato and fresh basil sprinkled with a good olive oil and balsamic vinegar.   I don't skimp on the balsamic.. I pay $17 for a 16 oz bottle.   However, this is only a summertime treat when I have home grown tomatoes.


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## RadishRose (Oct 28, 2015)

I love cheese!
I know its fatty but once in awhile I need it. Mozzarella is a favorite especially fresh with basil and tomato

Hard to name favorites but gruyere, brie, Roquefort and parmigiàno reggiano are way up there. I don't tend to think of cottage cheese and cream cheese as "cheese" but more as some other kind of dairy product, how silly!


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## QuickSilver (Oct 28, 2015)

I even like Limburger cheese..  It's surprisingly tasty... but stinky...


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## Son_of_Perdition (Oct 28, 2015)

It's also a good food for diabetics, dairy products - whole milk dairy products slow down the absorption rate of glucose into your blood stream,  hence no spikes.  Cheese is very, very low in the GI table.  It's the calories that get ya.  I have a little mild cheese on and in my omletes.  But like 'chic' said I find it to be a little binding.  All things in moderation.


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## Ameriscot (Oct 28, 2015)

I love sharp cheddar. All by itself.


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## Bobw235 (Oct 28, 2015)

Love cheese, but with the family history of nasty heart disease, have to eat it in moderation.  Every once in a while I'll make a mac & cheese and throw in three or four tasty varieties.  Then I freeze small portions for later dinners so I don't plow through it in the days afterwards.


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## Bobw235 (Oct 28, 2015)

Ameriscot said:


> I love sharp cheddar. All by itself.



Oh yes!  Love sharp cheddar!


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## Cookie (Oct 28, 2015)

Love cheese, but with the high fat and salt content, I am careful not to overindulge.  Use mozz in pasta/tomato sauce recipes.


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## QuickSilver (Oct 28, 2015)

I wish I could sit every night and shovel cheese and crackers in my mouth.. but I can't.    however, it's not the constipation I worry about.. but  my cholesterol levels would suffer horribly..


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## Cookie (Oct 28, 2015)

I love broccoli with cheese sauce, also cauliflower with cheese sauce, but have to be careful not to eat the whole darn potful.  I'm pretty crackered out, so no more cheese on crackers for awhile.  Cheddar with apples is good and celery stalks with cream cheese quite yummy.


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## QuickSilver (Oct 28, 2015)

Cookie said:


> I love broccoli with cheese sauce, also cauliflower with cheese sauce, but have to be careful not to eat the whole darn potful.  I'm pretty crackered out, so no more cheese on crackers for awhile.  Cheddar with apples is good and celery stalks with cream cheese quite yummy.



Have you tried the Campbell's Healthy choice cheddar cheese soup over veggies?   It's pretty good, although as with all canned soups.. you have to watch the sodium.  If it ain't one thing it's another..


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## Cookie (Oct 28, 2015)

Sounds good, QS, and I'll give is a try, if I can find it here.  I usually just grate cheddar into a light white sauce and mix in cooked veggies, maybe a splash of sherry. Nice over brown rice.  I think I'm making myself hungry so it might be time for a late lunch.


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## Cookie (Oct 28, 2015)

Just snarfed back a plate of rice with broccoli & cheese sauce, a fav comfort food on this bleak and rainy day.  Naptime!


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## imp (Oct 28, 2015)

Warrigal said:


> *All of the flavour elements are found in the milk fat. *
> Low fat cheese isn't worth eating.
> 
> I love the soft cheeses - brie and camembert - and fancy cream cheeses with fruit and nuts in them.
> ...



This is undoubtedly true. In my case, however, having limited "tasting" ability remaining, non-fat cheeses taste the same to me, so I go no-fat. "Low-Fat" is a misnomer, and is most often propaganda. Ditto "Reduced-Fat". Cheese is always orange when mushed carrots are included in the mix.

An interesting aside was our entry into indigence back during the Reagan Recession, when we lived out of an old school bus up in the woods of Northern Arizona. We got a big Nubian milk goat, which gave a half-gallon + of milk daily. My wife was into the Rodale self-sufficiency thing and used a rectangular metallic International Flavored Coffee tin with holes pierced around the bottom sides, and a weighted tin lid "piston" to compress the milk curd and squeeze the whey out, thus making a nice loaf of goat-cheese. The rest of the milk provided small loaves of delicious bread, baked in our wood-fired cookstove. Probably the best yearof my life!   imp


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## imp (Oct 28, 2015)

QuickSilver said:


> I even like Limburger cheese..  It's surprisingly tasty... but stinky...



When my Dad was a teen, his Pa, my Grandpa, living in Cicero, loved Limburger too. Once, upon opening the wrapper, he found it to be "moving" with worms! A window was thrown open, the cheese tossed out with vigor, to hit the brick wall adjacent, which left the squirming mass stuck there. My Dad never forgot that, nor have I, the story.

Wonder why I remember mainly the unimportant things?  imp


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## imp (Oct 28, 2015)

Bobw235 said:


> Love cheese, but *with the family history of nasty heart disease,* have to eat it in moderation.  Every once in a while I'll make a mac & cheese and throw in three or four tasty varieties.  Then I freeze small portions for later dinners so I don't plow through it in the days afterwards.



This must be hitting it "on the head". Only my Mother's mother had a heart attack, no one else, my folks and I ate the particularly "heavy with fat and grease" Slavic Czech foods all our lives, and no heart disease. At 73, I have never had any chest pain, inexplicably cholesterol hangs around 200, and blood pressure is very moderately elevated. As my Mormon friend in Utah say's, I'm a pretty lucky guy-- he's a Pharmacist, with whom I occasionally discuss things related to meds, so I know better here on the forum to not stick a foot in my mouth as often!    

imp


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## imp (Oct 28, 2015)

QuickSilver said:


> Have you tried the Campbell's Healthy choice cheddar cheese soup over veggies?   It's pretty good, although as with all canned soups.. you have to watch the sodium.  If it ain't one thing it's another..



Found here an alternative canned soup, comparatively better than any other in the store:  Safeway house-brand Cream of Mushroom and Cream of Chicken, "Reduced Sodium". These have also much lower fat content, though that is not part of the "selling point", and also, considerably lower calories. Tastes good, use it as a "sauce" for my "daily soup". A big bucket of this concoction almost daily has kept my belly full enough, that over 6 months or so, I lost 12 pounds without an effort.   imp


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## fureverywhere (Oct 28, 2015)

I could easily give up meat for the most part but gotta have my cheese and fish. Virtually any cheese except processed American and even that if I'm starving. Three favorites are blue, gorgonzola and Swiss. Swiss is one of natures perfect foods, right out of the package.


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## imp (Oct 28, 2015)

*"Swiss is one of natures perfect foods, right out of the package.Swiss is one of natures perfect foods, right out of the package."

*Agreed! Hate to admit, though, that one other food contains even more "bang for the nutritional buck":  liver.   Ugh.    imp


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## Bobw235 (Oct 28, 2015)

imp said:


> *"Swiss is one of natures perfect foods, right out of the package.Swiss is one of natures perfect foods, right out of the package."
> 
> *Agreed! Hate to admit, though, that one other food contains even more "bang for the nutritional buck":  liver.   Ugh.    imp



Liver!  "Ugh" is right.  Haven't touched it since I was a kid and my parents forced me to eat it.  Even smothered in cheese, that stuff would still be NASTY in my book.  My wife fries it up for herself every now and then and I have to leave the room.


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## Cookie (Oct 28, 2015)

Wasn't it raw chicken liver that Mia Farrow had to eat in Rosemary's Baby - who turned out to be 'The Devil'.

My mom sometimes served up cooked fried liver to us, it stank like hell.


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## IKE (Oct 28, 2015)

I like extra sharp cheddar and a good strong Swiss.

I also like beef or pork liver and onions and fried chicken livers.......mama won't eat liver but she will fix it for me anytime I ask for it.


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## Pookie (Oct 28, 2015)

Wooooo! I'm a cheeseaholic!

I have the most amazing way of making blue cheese burgers, too. If cheese were banned, I'd starve.


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## QuickSilver (Oct 28, 2015)

Liver may contain iron... however it is the garbage collector of the body... do you really want to eat it?   I like liver, BUT knowing what a liver is and what it does stops me from indulging.


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## fureverywhere (Oct 28, 2015)

My liver is probably well on the way to being cooked...that said the thought of eating liver BLEEEEECH. But to each their own...me, hubby and my youngest will go to a sushi bar and gobble it like candy. I imagine for a lot of people liver and onions is quite a treat.


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## imp (Oct 28, 2015)

Bobw235 said:


> Liver!  "Ugh" is right.  Haven't touched it since I was a kid and my parents forced me to eat it.  Even smothered in cheese, that stuff would still be NASTY in my book. * My wife fries it up for herself every now and then and I have to leave the room*.



I sincerely thank you for that, it made me laugh like hell! Something I need more of, according to my wife.    imp


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## imp (Oct 28, 2015)

IKE said:


> I like extra sharp cheddar and a good strong Swiss.
> 
> I also like beef or pork liver and onions and fried chicken livers.......mama won't eat liver but she will fix it for me anytime I ask for it.



Calves' liver is best according to my Dad, procured before the calf started eating grass, most tasty and sweet. Never ate pork or chicken directly, but my Grandma made to the most delicious dumplings using chicken livers, one could not tell it was liver, given the flour and seasonings, boiled in water.    imp


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## chic (Oct 29, 2015)

No liver for me either. It's job is to collect toxins, pass them on to the kidneys and expel them from the body. I don't care if it is delicious. I want to live as long as I can and as healthily as I can.


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## chic (Oct 29, 2015)

Son_of_Perdition said:


> It's also a good food for diabetics, dairy products - whole milk dairy products slow down the absorption rate of glucose into your blood stream, hence no spikes. Cheese is very, very low in the GI table. It's the calories that get ya. I have a little mild cheese on and in my omletes. But like 'chic' said I find it to be a little binding. All things in moderation.



To clarify, I find the soft and moldy cheeses okay as far as constipation issues are concerned and I sprinkle bleu cheese crumbles on my salads daily. 

It's the sharp hard (delicious) cheeses that plug me up. Sorry TMI. :sentimental:


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## Warrigal (Oct 29, 2015)

Pate is good to eat. Don't think of it as liver.


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## Shalimar (Oct 29, 2015)

I love cheese, particularly extra old white cheddar, and Romano, asiago also. Mmmmmm.


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## Pappy (Oct 29, 2015)

Liver lover here.....:eeew:   mg:


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## Ameriscot (Oct 29, 2015)

Warrigal said:


> Pate is good to eat. Don't think of it as liver.



I love pate!


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## QuickSilver (Oct 29, 2015)

As I said...  I love liver... my mom breaded and fried it and served it with bacon and onion...  it was tender and delish.... BUT I later in my medical training learned what it was and what it did...  it's dirty...  full of toxins and extremely high in cholesterol.    I will eat some pate... My Jewish boss sometimes brings in chopped liver.. but I partake lightly.


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## Cookie (Oct 29, 2015)

One can make nice pate with ground potatoes, broccoli, carrots, sunflower seeds,onions, etc. bake it and add some herbs.  More delicious than any liver or meat pate and very economical.

African desert tribe survives on cattle blood, will punch a hole in cattle's neck and suck drink the blood.  Not my cup of tea.  In this day and age, do we really need to eat blood?


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## Ameriscot (Oct 29, 2015)

Cookie said:


> One can make nice pate with ground potatoes, broccoli, carrots, sunflower seeds,onions, etc. bake it and add some herbs.  More delicious than any liver or meat pate and very economical.
> 
> African desert tribe survives on cattle blood, will punch a hole in cattle's neck and suck drink the blood.  Not my cup of tea.  In this day and age, do we really need to eat blood?



Black pudding is traditional in Scotland, as is haggis.  Doubt they'll ever stop eating either one. 

That pate sounds yummy, but we have friends who almost always serve liver pate as part of the appetizer when they have dinner parties.


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## Cookie (Oct 29, 2015)

When I go out, I make sure friends know I don't eat meat, and they usually respect that, and accommodate my dietary restrictions, although I've run into a few situations where the hostess 'forgot' and I ended up eating potatoes and lettuce.  I don't expect anyone to change their diets or stop eating something to please me, and it works both ways. Sometimes its hard to resist things you've loved in the past and at those times I have 'fallen off the wagon' and partaken in some of my childhood favorites that my mom made.


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## Karen99 (Oct 29, 2015)

I love cheese and fruit for dessert..apple slices with a sharp cheddar is perfect.


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## Ameriscot (Oct 29, 2015)

Cookie said:


> When I go out, I make sure friends know I don't eat meat, and they usually respect that, and accommodate my dietary restrictions, although I've run into a few situations where the hostess 'forgot' and I ended up eating potatoes and lettuce.  I don't expect anyone to change their diets or stop eating something to please me, and it works both ways. Sometimes its hard to resist things you've loved in the past and at those times I have 'fallen off the wagon' and partaken in some of my childhood favorites that my mom made.



I found most people fairly accomodating when I was vegetarian.  I did go to a bridal shower once and the bride did not tell the hostess I was vegetarain.  Dinner was a meat lasagna, salad and bread.  I had salad and bread.


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