>>76386580 (OP)This is the thing op, asking if cheese is good for you is like asking if pasta is good for you. Normal pasta is an alright crab source. Deep fried breaded ziti is a death sentence.
Back in the day cheese was a way to preserve milk before refrigeration and such. Cheese was a common, fat and protein dense food. It was seen as simple, stoic, and therefore good for you. Same as low abv beers. Benjamin Franklin talks about this.
However, since we donโt use so many calories, drinking pure carbs and eating a shit ton of fat might not be a good idea just because of the excess calories. Also, in these days the higher sodium, more aged, higher protein cheeses were more common because they took longer to go bad.
There are plenty of types of cheeses. Iโll break them down into 4 categories:
FRESH CHEESES:
These are cheese like mozzarella, cottage cheese, and farmers cheese. They generally take the macros of the milk used. Mozzarella uses whole milk, the macros are close to that. Goodculture cottage cheese uses skim milk, macros are way higher in protein. I eat a lot of good culture just because they donโt have the terrible flavor and texture most low fat cottage cheese has. Look at the labels for these, theyโre not a monolith.
SOFT CHEESES:
These are cheeses like brie and Camembert. Basically a step above eating butter macro wise. Lots of fat, little protein. If you need dairy fat, great. If not, stay away. Super high calorie foot.
SEMI SOFT CHEESES:
Cheeses like gouda and cheddar. Generally these are middle of the road, though there are some low fat options that taste worse but are much more protein dense.
HARD CHEESES:
These cheese have been aged for much longer so leaked more water and fat. Higher protein, higher sodium. A good protein source if you can handle the sodium content and the price. In the US these get pretty expensive.
Basically the conclusion is that they are a good source of dairy fat and protein (nutrient dense) but vary wildly.