• Guest - w'd love to know what you think about the forum! Take the 2025 Survey »

Full fat cheese or Low fat cheese ?

B

Begonia

Well-Known Member
Messages
120
Location
Yorkshire
Type of diabetes
Prediabetes
Treatment type
I do not have diabetes
I understand that when eating LCHF you have to get more calories from fat and protein to replace all the calories you no longer get from carbs. Also I've read that low fat versions of dairy products typically contain more carbs. Hence I've been eating full fat cheese instead of light / low fat cheese.

However when I looked in detail at the composition of some of the popular light / low fat cheeses (eg Cath City) they have exactly the same number of carbs/sugars as the full fat versions.

Is there any reason why it is more beneficial to eat 100g of full fat cheese instead of 130g of low fat cheese (or whatever would give the same calories) ?
 
Low fat cheeses used to be "Godawful". However, they have improved.
I always favour stronger cheddar with the logic that the stronger the cheese, the less I need and found Waitrose lighter extra mature cheddar is pretty good.
The only downside is that it does not melt as well as full fat cheese - fine for sauces but not so great for cheese on toast ... but I guess if you are low carbing, the toast is out of the equation anyway.
 
helensaramay said:
Low fat cheeses used to be "Godawful". However, they have improved.
I always favour stronger cheddar with the logic that the stronger the cheese, the less I need and found Waitrose lighter extra mature cheddar is pretty good.
The only downside is that it does not melt as well as full fat cheese - fine for sauces but not so great for cheese on toast ... but I guess if you are low carbing, the toast is out of the equation anyway.
Click to expand...
I eat flaxbread (made with flaxseeds & ground almonds) so cheese on toast would be OK for carbs so long as the flaxbread toasts well.
 
I've read several articles on the web saying that low fat or no fat dairy is too much processed and the fat molecules are not in the original state anymore. That would make it problematic to digest. It is assumed that low fat dairy might cause leaky gut and even (maybe as a consequence of leaky gut) severe diseases like Parkinsons. For me it sounds pretty logical and I therefore prefer full fat dairy. But you might want to google yourself on this topic if you are interested.
 
Personally, I go for the softer cheeses, particularly blue ones like Gorgonzola, Stilton, Dulcelatte, St Agur, Roquefort. These have a higher fat to protein ratio than hard cheeses and are very low carb. I think they also taste scrummier.
 
Back
Top