Does Cheese Have Carbs? Best Low-carb Cheeses

Cheese is one of the favourite food items to be used in every other recipe to enhance the flavor. It is made by treating aged milk with multiple enzymes and microbial strainings to maintain a salty product, a rich umami flavor with a cheesy consistency to serve your taste buds with a unique taste. But, the question arises among fitness freaks: does cheese have carbs? 

Carbohydrates play a main role in gaining weight by providing a sufficient quantity of sugars. Cheese products are usually keto-friendly because of the limited content of carbohydrates. Most cheeses are diet-friendly and you can continue using an optimum quantity of cheese in your daily routine. 

Here is a definitive guide about carbohydrate content in cheese and their use in daily routine to maintain ideal body weight. Let us know in detail the answer to does cheese have carb?

How do carbohydrates work to gain body weight?

Carbohydrates are one of the three macronutrients to serve our body’s metabolic needs to provide energy. The other two macronutrients are proteins and fats. Our body metabolizes carbohydrates to provide simple sugars like glucose and fructose. Glucose is the prime source of energy to perform body functions. Every cell requires glucose to perform the body’s function. 

There are four main types of carbohydrates available in food. These are starches, sugars, alcoholic sugars, and dietary fibers. The food label with ‘total carbohydrates’  indicates all four forms of carbohydrates available in that item. Besides all these facts, carbohydrates metabolizing as simple sugars are the main criminal of weight gain. When you take simple forms of sugars, your body doesn’t work enough to break it down further ultimately leading to weight gain. Whereas, complex carbohydrates are optimal to use during a weight loss journey. 

Does cheese have carbs?

Cheese contains a major portion of fats and proteins. Concerning carbs in cheese, some contain high carbohydrate content. The other contains an optimal amount of carbohydrates to help you lose weight. Most cheeses are ideal for a keto diet, containing a very low amount of carbohydrates. Now besides knowing does cheese have carb, let’s know some low-carb cheese.

What is a keto diet?

The Keto diet is a low-carb but high-fat diet to target your weight loss. This diet form usually targets to limit carbohydrates in your daily meal to about less than 50 grams per day. Limiting carbohydrates keeps our body in ketosis. In this, your body keeps utilizing fats to provide energy to your body rather than using carbs. Utilizing fats in our body helps to reduce body weight. For this reason, low-carb but high-fat cheese is the ideal dietary form to continue the keto diet. So you should know some low-carb cheeses besides knowing does cheese have carb.

What are the benefits of consuming cheese? 

Cheese is not a harmful food item. But, it offers a huge list of health benefits to break the myth of cheese being harmful to our bodies. The major health benefits are as follows:

Improves blood pressure:

Low-carb cheese is a good food item but even high-carb cheese can also help to reduce blood pressure. A study in 2018 suggested that eating 30 grams of Grana Padano (high-carb cheese) per day is as efficient to deal with blood pressure as antihypertensive drugs. Though it is a highly salty cheese but still this cheese type offsets the sodium effects to lower blood pressure.

Decreases diabetes risk:

Researchers find an inverse relation between eating cheese and fermented dairy and diabetes prevalence. Interestingly, consuming only 55 grams of cheese or yogurt is associated with a 12% decrease in the incidence of diabetes mellitus. This is an interesting fact to know besides knowing does cheese have carb.

Weight loss:

Low-carb cheese is an ideal option to help in weight loss by putting your body in a ketosis state. Your body will use your body fat to provide energy to perform body functions. Moreover, when you are satiated from eating cheese, you will be less likely to crave any unhealthy snacks to cause weight gain. 

Check out the famous 2 2 2 method metabolism for weight loss in 6 weeks.

Improves heart health:

Studies suggest that using dairy fat like cheese helps to reduce the incidence of heart attacks. Cheese contains vitamin K2 which provides a protective function to the heart. Every 10 micrograms of vitamin K2 daily consumption, heart disease incidence drops by 9%. Softer cheese forms contain more vitamin K2 as compared to others.

If you are from the US, you should know about American cheese nutrition to know in depth about your cheese.

What are the best low-carb cheeses to eat on a keto diet?

Now that you know the answer to does cheese have carb, let’s look at some low-carb cheeses. Low-carb cheeses are the modern concept in the weight loss journey. Targeting the carbohydrate content with increased fat content helps a lot to cause weight loss. Here are some low-carb cheeses to let you know about what’s the most suitable cheese for you.

Blue cheese:

The carbohydrate content of blue cheese is negligible. It contains about 0.2 grams per serving of 100 grams.  So, if you even eat a couple of tablespoons, you can consider it a zero-carb food. It is a specially cultured cheese containing about 2900 and 4700 different bioactive peptides.  These peptides are created by the breaking down of dairy proteins through different enzymes. Moreover, these bioactive peptides are a major source of multiple human benefits. Some of them are as follows:

• Decrease blood cholesterol levels
• Prevent any inflammation source in small arteries
• Decreased blood clotting in veins
• Reduces joint pain in case of arthritis

Blue cheese contains a specific compound, spermidine, in higher concentrations to serve as a cardio-protective and anti-aging property.

Cheddar cheese:

Cheddar cheese is a very popular cheese to be used in multiple food recipes. Cheddar cheese may vary in flavor ranging from sharp to mild. So, people can find the best of the cheese according to their taste. A serving of 28 grams or 1 ounce provides about less than 1 gram of carbohydrates. It contains about 9 grams of fats and 7 grams of protein making it suitable for a keto diet. This is a must know fact besides knowing does cheese have carb.

Goat cheese:

Goat cheese is also known as chevre, specifically made from goat’s milk. It provides a tarry flavor described as a gamy or earthy flavor. A 1-ounce serving of goat cheese provides a minimal amount of carbohydrates. Goat cheese is the earliest type of cheese produced. This cheese type helps to improve heart health and the immune system and also works in losing weight. 

Goat cheese is typically lower in lactose content making it suitable for lactose intolerant or milk protein allergic people. 

Gouda:

Gouda is slightly sweet with a creamy texture made from cow’s milk. It provides only 1 gram of carbohydrates per serving of about 1 ounce. Gouda is of fairly low melting point and can be added on top of burgers to enhance flavor.

Gouda cheese can also be made from goat’s milk. Cheese made with goat’s milk contains a very negligible amount of carbohydrates. However, it contains a high concentration of medium-chain fatty acids to provide an immediate energy source. 

High carb cheeses:

Canned and processed cheeses contain high amounts of carbohydrates and should be eliminated from the diet. If you are following a low-carb diet or keto diet, you should avoid these types of high-carb cheeses. This is also equally important to know besides knowing does cheese have carbs. Some high carb cheeses are as follows:

Cottage cheese:

Cottage cheese is made by separating casein curds and liquid whey. These are two major milk proteins. By separating them from the milk, you get fresh cottage cheese. A half cup or 114 gram serving of cottage cheese provides about 5 grams of carbohydrates. It is not a high carb content but a small amount adds up quickly. Thus, it is not recommended to use cottage cheese when you are following a keto diet.

Parmesan cheese:

A 100 grams serving of parmesan cheese provides about 14 grams of carbohydrates. Per tablespoon serving, it provides about 0.9 grams of carbohydrates. Consuming it in larger amounts will surely add this cheese to a high-carb cheese.

Canned cheese:

A 100 gram serving of canned cheese provides about 7 grams of carbohydrates. Canned cheese must be avoided for several reasons. Canned cheese contains only 51% of actual cheese. The rest of the ingredients contain reconstituted dairy proteins, toxic seed cells, and artificial emulsifiers. These ingredients make this cheese type quite unhealthy. This means you should know these facts well besides knowing does cheese have carbs.

The bottom line:

Does cheese have carbs? The simple answer to this question is some cheese contains a negligible amount of carbohydrates whereas other contains a high amount of carbohydrates. Almost all cheese types contain a moderate quantity of carbohydrates to serve as the energy source. Low-carb cheese can be a healthy snack to be used during weight loss journey. Moreover, cheese contains a high fat content so it is also keto-friendly. 

This article explored the best cheese options for you whether you are in search of low-carb or high-carb cheese. Opt for the best type of cheese for you and serve your taste buds with a rich flavor treat. We hope that you now have the answer to does cheese have carb and some best low-carb cheeses.

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