When starting a new diet, choosing the right foods to eat can be overwhelming. Even maintaining a diet can become complicated if you don’t want to eat the same foods daily. This is true for keto diets, especially because the options are specific enough that straying may throw you out of ketosis, stalling your hard work.
Luckily, there are lots of resources for varying your diet within the keto diet, including keto weight loss recipes. These are great resources because they inspire you to combine the elements of a keto diet while showing what ingredients are keto-friendly.
Is Cheese Good For a Keto Diet?
A keto diet prioritizes high fat and protein meals while limiting carb intake. The fat makes up for the calories lost by limiting carbohydrates.
Most types of cheese are high in fat while moderate in protein and low in carbs, making it a perfect complement to a keto diet.
Integrating Cheese Into Your Goals
When looking at cheese as an addition to your keto lifestyle, it’s vital to remember your individual diet goals. Keto is a diet that gives you much control, allowing you to tailor your diet to your needs.
This general rule of thumb breaks your daily calories into percentages:
- 70-80% fat
- 5-10% carbohydrates
- 10-20% protein
These percentages are represented as ranges to show that as long as the fat is your highest percentage and all three sections add up to 100%, you’re free to determine how much of each you take in, according to your individual needs. Sometimes certain chronic conditions require more protein in our diet, so these ranges leave room for adjustment.
Calculate your personalized macros using my Ketogenic Macro Calculator.
You can choose the best cheese to fit within your diet goals by considering the fat, carbohydrate, and protein content in each kind of cheese and how that works in your daily intake.
The Worst Cheeses for Keto
Our aim in a keto diet is low carb, so high carb and processed cheeses are not in line with keto goals.
Cottage Cheese
Cottage cheese is largely considered healthy, so some are surprised to hear it’s not recommended for keto. But unfortunately, it’s not a good keto cheese for the same reason it’s considered a healthy cheese- it’s low in fat and carbs.
Although it’s relatively low in carbs, being equal to fat means the number of carbs will add together quickly and throw you off. It’s best to avoid it entirely, but if you have to have some, limit your intake.
Low Fat Cheese
The highest percentage of intake in a keto diet is fat, so it’s no surprise that you should avoid low-fat cheeses.
Processed Cheese
Spray-can cheeses, American cheese, and other cheeses that are a mix of cheese and non-cheese ingredients have a lot of ingredients that aren’t good for you whether you follow the keto diet or not. As our goal is to have a fit and healthy body, ingesting ingredients associated with a higher risk of cardiovascular disease is counterintuitive.
The Best Cheeses for Keto
Cheeses with high-fat content and minimal processing will complement your keto diet best. We measured each cheese’s fat, protein, and carbohydrate rate so you can see your ratios and judge how they fit into your goals.
Cheddar Cheese
The popular yellow cheese you can find almost everywhere scores another goal by being keto-friendly. With a vast range of flavors from sharp to mild, anyone can find something suiting their tastes.
The average 1 ounce of mild cheddar cheese has 9 grams of fat, 7 grams of protein, with less than 1 gram of carbs, fitting it perfectly into the rule of thumb for keto. In addition, it makes an excellent topping for burgers or casseroles.
Gouda
Gouda is slightly sweet and creamy, making it an indulgence that fits well into keto. Per 1 ounce, gouda has 8 grams of fat, 7 grams of protein, and 1 gram of carbs. It’s a great topping for burgers or as an addition to mac and cheese.
Goat Cheese
Creamy and tart, goat cheese can be an acquired taste for some. However, 1 ounce of goat cheese has 9 grams of fat, 7 grams of protein, and minimal carbs, making it an excellent choice for lactose intolerant keto followers because of its low lactose content. It’s not a great melting cheese but fits nicely in appetizers or omelets.
Blue Cheese
1-ounce of blue cheese has 8 grams of fat, 6 grams of protein, and 1 gram of carbs, making it a great fresh option to add to salads or blend into a dip.
Say Cheese
When following the keto diet, finding ways to add more fat and protein while minimizing carb intake is crucial. Cheese is a fun and tasty way to add nutritional value to your meals.
If you’re unsure how to integrate this cheesy addition into your keto meal, take a peek at my keto weight loss programs or get started with my free Keto Jumpstart Program to learn how you can add cheese to your diet to help you meet your weight loss goals.
