Yes, an ounce of real cheddar has 65 more calories and 7.5 more grams of fat per ounce compared to reduced-fat cheddar. But if you still haven't gotten the memo: Fat is not the enemy! Cheese is about equal parts protein and fat, the perfect hunger-fighting combo, says Rania Batayneh, M.P.H., a certified nutritionist and owner of Essential Nutrition for You. Have a low-fat string cheese with grapes, and chances are you'll be pressing E4 on the vending machine a few hours later; have an ounce of the real stuff with your fruit instead, and your stomach won't make any noise. But what about the saturated fat, you say? A Danish study found no change in the LDL (bad) cholesterol of men who ate 10 ounces of full-fat cheese daily for three weeks. Though more research needs to be done, it's likely women would be fine, too—though we don't recommend eating 10 servings of cheese a day!
