Just how bad is cheese?

[Roundhands]

I am interested in health and diet and aim to eat well - I do think it makes a difference to how I feel. My main criteria is that I eat real food, nothing very processed and very little refined sugar. I enjoy food and pretty much eat what and when I like within that.

I'm very active and my BMI is right in the middle of the healthy range.

I'm also high risk for oseoporosis, in that I'm middleaged and both my parents have it.

I eat a lot of cheese, in the belief that the calcuim may protect me. I know there are other ways to get calcium..... but I like cheese.

Someone has remarked that I'm storing up all sorts of other problems with all the saturated fat, but if I'm a healthy weight with cholesterol in the normal range how much cheese is too much cheese?

There is no such thing as too much cheese. Ever.

Everyone has an opinion… Hard cheeses in particular are very high sources of calcium and protein. If you are conscious of serving sizes and don’t eat an entire block several times a day/week, who cares what they say?

Watching with interest. Same issue, healthy eater and more or less in a healthy range eating more or less what I like…. And I really like cheese. Three broken bones before 65 and bones not great so I eat cheese hoping I’m doing a bit of good. But am I?

This.

It has benefits but it’s high in calories.

Cottage cheese is rarely good.

And I have had some rubbish stilton.

Maybe apart from Vieux-Boulogne

Well my cholesterol is higher than ideal and I've got a phone consultation with my GP next week.
My immediate reaction was to cut down on my cheese and bacon intake. Not that I eat much of either. I rarely eat fried food or even very much meat. My weight is normal, and my general diet is healthy. I'm probably going to be recommended statins. 😒

My diabetic nurse says I'm allowed a match box sized serving of cheese daily (small matchbox, not Cooks ). So I buy the strongest stuff I can and grate it.

It's miserably depressing.

Depends. It’s high in saturated fat and calories. The latter isn’t an issue in the right diet and saturated fat is fine if under 11% of total energy. If above that it can contribute to risk of heart disease. Cheese does contain calcium but so does reduced fat milk and yoghurt.

Calories aren't the enemy though. They're fuel we can't live without. I'm clearly not eating too many calories.

Bacon also contains nitrates which are converted into nitrosamines in the body. They’re a cancer causing toxin.

Are you allergic to it? Is it laced with Crack?

There's no such thing as food that's very bad, every food is taken in context of the person eating it, their overall diet and the quantities/frequency

Your a healthy weight, your cholesterol is fine. Your obviously not coming to harm due to the cheese your eating. Don't worry

Just take a calcium supplement…

Real full fat cotrage cheese is actually really good. It's also difficult to buy, supermarkets seem to think we want tasteless fat free, when full fat is actually low compared to other cheese. Lidl is the place.

They can be and should be moderated. It’s easy to eat something like cheese without thinking and ending up consuming an extra 500 calories.

This.

I bloody love cheese.

Yes, but that in itself is not a problem if you're not eating more than you need.

If you're a healthy weight, and you've been eating the amount of cheese that you like whilst staying at at a healthy weight, then I would say absolutely carry on!

Far worse things to shove down your gob than cheese.

Thank you to @ButterYellowFlowers. I am prescribed Accrete by GP (Vit d with calcium supplement) and this is helpful….. I take vitamin K to to help with the absorption. But if you have further advice and suggestions to increase benefits and absorption I’d be pleased if you would post.

If you are a healthy weight and you don’t have high cholesterol then I really can’t see that you need to be concerned about your cheese intake

Even if you are eating it partly for health it would seem a shame not to eat the type you enjoy most.

If you are concerned about osteoporosis you might be interested to know that some branches of Boots are offering a sort of mini bone density scan for £75. It's not as comprehensive as a full scan, but not bad for screening to give you a general idea of how your bones might be. Specially as it's nigh impossible to get a full scan on the NHS unless you are already presenting with problems.

That's interesting, thank you. I like to think all the exercise puts me in a good place, but as you say, no way of knowing on the NHS until you start breaking things.

Cheese is fine as part of a balanced diet.

If your weight is stable and your diet 80% healthy then have the cheese!