A low-fat cheese contains not more than a gram of saturated fat per serving. It often contains low-fat and nonfat cheese types, such as mozzarella, cottage cheese, and ricotta.

Eating excess saturated fats or cholesterol increases your risk for stroke, high LDL cholesterol, and heart disease. Sure, cheese can be part of your healthy and balanced diet. However, the specific type of cheese you choose and the amount you eat matter.

What’s Low-Fat Cheese?

This is cheese with low amounts of saturated fats. According to the FDA, foods classified as ‘low-saturated fats’ have less than 1 gram of saturated fats for each serving. Note that the American Heart Association recommends no more than 5-6 percent of your daily calorie intake in saturated fats.

That means for a normal individual who needs 2,000 calories per day, he or she shouldn’t eat over 120 calories worth (13 grams) of saturated fats in a day. As for cholesterol, if you have risk factors for heart disease, you must follow a low-cholesterol diet.

That means, you should add no more than 200 mg (milligrams) of cholesterol in a day. Even if you don’t have the risk factors for heart disease, you shouldn’t eat over 300mg of cholesterol in a day.

Low-Fat Cheese Tips

You don’t have to remove cheese entirely from your diet, even when you’re watching your cholesterol and saturated fat intake. However, you can pay attention to the amount of cheese you eat and stay within the recommended daily intake. Here are low-fat cheese tips to help you keep your diet low in cholesterol and saturated fats.

1.    Choose Low-Fat Cheese

Try using ricotta, mozzarella, or cottage cheese instead of the high-fat cheese types in your recipes. These low-fat cheeses also have the recommended protein and calcium nutrients. You’ll be surprised that they taste just as good.

2.    Use Vegan Cheese

You can use a dairy cheese substitute made from nuts, soy, or other plant products. Research shows that vegan cheeses don’t have the unhealthy saturated fats that are common in full-fat dairy products used to make regular cheese.

3.    Limit Your Cheese Portions

Don’t place three or four slices of cheese on a sandwich. Instead, use one. In fact, you should choose a thin, pre-sliced cheese that will allow you to enjoy the taste of cheese without having to worry about eating too much cholesterol or saturated fats.

4.    Maximize the Flavor

Use hard cheeses or stinky cheeses that are considered more flavorful. For example, you can grate a small amount of aged Asiago or Parmesan onto your pasta dish and enjoy the flavor of cheese. That means you can satisfy your cheese craving with just a little amount.

Summary

Limiting the amount of saturated fats and cholesterol you eat is important for your overall body health. If you still want to eat cheese, choose vegan cheese or low-fat cheese types, such as mozzarella, ricotta, or cottage cheese.