PHOTO CREDIT: EATLEAN based products, which ones will put the brakes on fat loss, and which ones are welcome additions to your diet?
CHEESE Many of us like cheese and eat it in one form or another, but does cheese make you fat? Well, it’ s pretty simple! A 100g serving of cheddar cheese packs a whopping 34g of fat and over 400 calories. So full-fat cheddar is out, but there are a number of low-fat and high protein options available for cheese lovers.
For cheddar cheese lovers, EatLean protein cheese contains just 3 % fat and 37g protein per 100g. It’ s widely available and melts just like any other cheddar despite its low fat content.
Cottage cheese is also a great way to pack in the protein without consuming a ton of unwanted saturated fat calories.
Cottage cheese is also very versatile, and makes a great addition to green salads, fruit snacks, meat-based recipes and desserts. There’ s quality in its protein profile too. When considering the biological value, a value between 0 and 100 which is determined by the amino-acid composition of a protein food, cottage cheese ranks highly at 85-90. This means your body can digest it easily and it contains all of the amino acids you require to build lean muscle. In fact, cottage cheese is known as a‘ complete protein’.
YOGHURT This is a tricky one. Yoghurt can do wonders for your body, but can also be a dietary disaster if you allow yourself to fall foul of sales jargon. There are dozens of so-called‘ healthy’ yoghurts on the market just waiting to jump off the chiller cabinet and into our shopping bags. As a rule of thumb, it’ s the fat-free yoghurts you need to be wary of, as these often contain more sugar than traditional yoghurt. Just remember: read before you feed!
Eating the right yoghurt does have its benefits. Greek yoghurt or plain yoghurt with no added sugar makes a great high protein snack. The best yoghurts are those containing live bacteria which offer a whole host of health benefits. To begin with, the lactose is converted by the bacteria into lactic acid, which helps your body digest it and may mean that even if you’ re lactose intolerant you can eat it without experiencing discomfort. Not only this, the calcium in yoghurt can be absorbed by the body much more effectively than other milk products, because calcium needs to enter the body in an acid matrix. Because yoghurt converts lactose into lactic acid, this makes it the perfect candidate to maximise calcium absorption.
The advantages of eating yoghurt don’ t end there! It is rich in potassium and B vitamins, including B12. It can also help strengthen and stabilise the immune system, provided you choose a brand offering‘ live cultures’. Live cultures are naturally probiotic and help to optimise bowel health and support immune function.
So there you have it, dairy doesn’ t need to die a death, so long as you make educated choices.
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APRIL 2018 / MUSCLE & FITNESS 1 0 3