so i previously posted about eggs and adding protein ... and now im going through a cheese phase as well..i could eat slabs of cheese as snacks..how bad is cheese for you? i usually eat sharp cheddar, provolone, or goat cheese if i have a salad...
is it empty calories and all saturated fats or does it have significant nutritious content?

It is a great source of protein and calcium. Yes, it does have saturated fat (but I don't think good saturated fat is the evil villain many make it out to be). But it is a very calorie dense food. That's the biggest drawback of eating more than a couple of ounces a day. Plus, too much of it can move through the digestive track pretty slowly.

rosebud,
Cheese: I love it to DEATH!
I could eat cheese morning, noon, and night.
I'm rather convinced that without this love I'd have a heart that didn't have a shiny new stent in it.

It is a high fat, high protein food. American "cheese" provides 67% of it's calories as FAT, mostly SATURATED. Cheddar is worse, 74% FAT!

If I had to pick ONE food that I thought was the cause of the heart disease epidemic it would be CHEESE! I eat it now sparingly and guiltily.

i ended up with gallstones and had to have my gallbladder removed at 21 and i believe it was pretty much entirely due to my cheese consumption. i had been vegetarian for a long time- no meat, fish, poultry, or shellfish and negligible traces of eggs. but i ate a lot of cheese. gallstones are a blood cholesterol-related issue, but once i stopped eating cheese and all dairy just before my gb surgery my cholesterol started to go down and has gone down well over 130 points now. i feel a lot healthier now that the cheese monkey's off my back. and also, the dairy industry is a very cruel one- in part because it is the reason the veal industry exists (those baby boy cows are the offspring of moms who are impregnated so they can lactate and we can steal the milk they make for their own babies. baby boy goats in goat dairies are killed, too)- so I'm definitely happy also not to participate in the animal cruelty & slaughter aspect of cheese.

Cheese is not full of empty calories at all! Dairy, protein, fat, calcium, vitamins...it's a wonderful food! I'm not saying you should go eat heaps of cheese for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, but definitely don't swear it off! There are lots of reduced fat cheeses out there that are just as tasty as their full-fat equivalents, and a little cheese goes a long way, so even if you eat the regular kind, it's ok!

Personally, I am not a big cheese fan (although I do like some kinds), but I have enough problems with sweets that I don't need to be obsessed with cheese, too! Haha.

Oh man, what a buzz-kill these posts are because I am a cheese-aholic and now I definately need to change my ways. Here I was thinking the only problems with cheese were a lot of calories and constipation. Now I see I need to worry about my heart and my gall bladder as well? Um, so it's probably not good that I usually have about twelve varieties of cheese in my fridge at any given time? Currently I have in my fridge, American, Asiago, Bleu, Mild Cheddar, Sharp Cheddar, Fontina, Havarti, shredded mozz, fresh mozz, fresh parm, fresh romano, smoked provolone, baby swiss and regular swiss, oh and of course cottage cheese. I usually have Brie among them and actually I was quite irritated earlier that I didn't have any. LOL In my defense though, I don't eat cheese everyday and I am a cook, so I like to have as many ingredients readily available as possible. I won't lie though, I COULD eat cheese everyday and sometimes I have to struggle not to!

I have usually a piece of extra old (the older the better) cheese in my fridge all the time at least a pound or more. This will last me about two weeks. I have it as my snacks about 3 to 4 oz a day for the evening with kelbasa and crackers or by its self. I really enjoy some cheese after a good workout for my protien.

I would say as long as you are not consuming a holw block of cheese everyday don't worry too much.

As for the Fat-Free cheese I find they taste horrible. I will not eat mild or medium cheddar even.