Today I list 8 low-fat and cholesterol-free cheeses that are not the usual ones you know: they are very low in calories and are perfect if you are on a diet or care about nutrition. And I won’t tell you about poor quality products. Quite the contrary.

In fact, many people give up cheese, especially aged, for two reasons: the first is the calories and the high fat value, so on average a mature or semi-aged cheese provides 360 to 400 calories and has 25 to 35% of fat matter. The second reason is cholesterol: in diets for those with high cholesterol, cheeses are very limited.

This despite the fact that cheeses are the first real superfood of man, whose use dates back to the Neolithic period and which was a basic element of the first civilizations of farmers and shepherds. But the most famous evidence of their use dates back to the time of the Sumerians, with the Frieze of the Dairy of 3000 BC.

Cheese is rich in calcium, and recently two very important studies have shown its importance in the diet. The first is Australian, based on the Md diet, a Mediterranean diet with a higher intake of dairy products and cheeses.
This diet, in people with metabolic syndrome and in particular obesity and type 2 diabetes, has been shown to be more beneficial than the traditional Mediterranean diet for reducing insulin, blood sugar and visceral fat.

In another double-blind study, the researchers showed that the group of older adults who used more cheese and dairy products had a reduction in osteoporosis . This is the first study ever to show that calcium from milk, dairy products and cheeses promotes the maintenance of healthy bones.

In fact, calcium is a key food for having an optimal metabolism: those who consume adequate foods with calcium have less visceral body fat. This is because there is a correlation between strong bones and high metabolism. 

But how do we deal with the two problems I mentioned above?
Or with calories + fat and cholesterol?
Today I will list 8 low-fat cheeses with no or almost cholesterol that you most likely do not know. You can buy them online and partly in large supermarkets.
Read this article because you will learn so many things!

8 LEAN AND CHOLESTEROL-FREE CHEESES YOU DON’T KNOW

Lean aged and semi-aged cheeses

First of all, I will list 3 lean aged cheeses that provide a lot of calcium and that per 100 grams have a maximum of 200 calories (less than mozzarella!) And a maximum of 4 grams of fat.

1. Graukase or gray cheese.
   It is a cheese that you can find both semi-mature and seasoned. The first is more suitable for raw consumption, the second, more floury for soups, quiches, baked pasta, etc. It is a product that is obtained from the waste from the processing of cream, therefore from the very lean whey derived from milk. It has 111 to 129 calories per 100 grams and no, I’m not kidding. It has fewer calories than cottage cheese.
   And it has one to two grams of fat per 100 grams.
   It is a specialty of Northern Italy. You can find it on Amazon or in online stores specializing in typical Tyrolean and Valle d’Aosta products.
   
2. Eat Lean, English cheese.
   I talked about it here . You can also find it in Italy, but only online. Both the classic variant and the smoked variant have only 169 calories per hundred grams and only 3 grams of fat. Compared to gray cheese it is more versatile: you can use it both in this way and in all preparations. You can also freeze it.
   
3. Low-fat Aschbacher cheese. Lean Aschbacher
   is a Trentino cheese with a strong smell, similar to an Asiago as a type of semi-hard cheese. It is produced from partially skimmed milk, has 214 calories and about 8 grams of fat, very good both eaten raw and for some cooked preparations: for example savory pies, stuffed pasta, toast, wraps.

Fresh lean cheeses

1. Fromage frais French.
   It is found in Auchan supermarkets, it is a French product very similar to yogurt (halfway between normal and Greek, for creaminess and firmness). The 0% version has virtually no fat and only has 49 calories per hundred grams. It is often sold in half kilo or one kilo jars. Perfect for making cheesecake or instead of yogurt or as a base for cream cheese, even savory.
2. Zero Santa Lucia cheese.
   
   It is a product of the Galbani company , which can be cut into cubes and used for salads, sandwiches, or eaten for breakfast, with a veil of jam. Very digestible, I recommend it to those who have difficulty digesting Greek yogurt, skyr or other acid products. It has only 64 calories per hundred grams and, as the name implies, has zero fat. You can find it in large supermarkets! 
3. Skimmed Quark.
   It is an excellent cheese, very lean, low in calories and “fluffy”, but it is not often found in supermarkets except at Lidl. With 65 calories per hundred grams, it is ideal for making a salty or sweet cream cheese, then for cakes and quiches, creams, Bavarian creams. Or spread like this on bread. Perfect for the light versions of many desserts, such as tiramisu, instead of mascarpone. There is also the non-skim version, and honestly you can make an exception to the rule: it has just under a hundred calories and 4 grams of fat and is very good as a substitute for preparations that include cream.
   Seeing is believing.
   
4. Skyr.
   Alternative to the skimmed Greek yogurt I am talking about here , it is also excellent for savory quiches or cheesecakes, and is made from low-fat milk. Perfect for breakfast, with a teaspoon of honey and a tablespoon of cereals or seeds or nuts, it can have a maximum of 100 calories per hundred grams depending on the brands, with very little fat and zero cholesterol. It is found in chain supermarkets such as Eurospin, Lidl, etc.
5. Cottage cheese.
   These of course you know them for sure. There are different versions: those with yogurt have fewer calories (more or less, depending on the brand, from 50 to 70) but there are also zero-fat without yogurt. Traditional cottage cheese, on the other hand, has around 100 calories per 100 grams and around 8-9 grams of fat. Many underestimate the versatility of cottage cheese. Instead you can blend them and use them as a base for both sweet and savory consistent creams: by blending the flakes, you will get a compact cream cheese that you can use however you want. To fill sweet rolls, for example, or savory ones.
   See how to make cottage cheese cheesecake. 
   Here I have preferred to list you as you have seen eight unusual low-fat cheeses, some of which you may never have heard of!
   I selected them by choosing those with less than 10 grams of fat per 100 grams, but obviously to the list of fresh ones you can add the traditional ricotta (about 150-160 calories per 100 grams) and the junket (about 189 calories).