Healthy low-carb diets require you to track your carb intake to ensure you stay in ketosis. Ketosis is a fat-burning state with so many potential health benefits to your body. Your carb allowance on the keto diet ranges between 20-50 grams of carbs per day. These diets are generally low-carb, moderate protein, and high-fat diets.
What does this mean when it comes to the food you eat? Your keto foods should have a low carb count so as not to spike your blood sugar and kick you out of ketosis. High-fat dairy products count as keto foods because of their low carbohydrate content and high-fat content.
We will be looking into cheeses today. How many carbs are in a slice of cheese? Do all types fit into a low-carb and low-calorie diet? You will know the type best suited to eat on the keto diet.
How Many Carbs Are in A Slice of Cheese?
We have different types of cheese in the market today with different nutritional values. They can be classified into the following categories:
- Soft cheese: These are popular cheeses on cheeseboards. They contain the highest fat content. They include cottage cheese, Gorgonzola cheese, brie cheese, Stilton cheese, camembert, and Limburger cheese.
- Fresh cheese: These are white and haven’t been aged at all. They include mozzarella cheese, ricotta, and feta cheese.
- Wash-rind cheeses/ stinky cheese: These are cheeses ripened by bacteria often with an orange, blue, red, or pink due to fermentation. They have a strong pungent odor. Some examples of stinky cheeses include stinky Bishop, Taleggio, and Epoisses.
- Hard cheese: Hard and semi-hard cheese color ranges from white to bright orange. They are solid in structure and the most versatile in preparation. These include goat cheese, parmesan cheese, cheddar cheese, gouda, Swiss cheese, and manchego.
- Blue cheeses: Their name comes from the veiny blue mould that brings about their flavor. Blue cheese’s flavor profile ranges from mild to sharp allowing your palate time to adjust to them.
- American Cheese: This type of bright orange cheese is recognized as uniquely American in its original form. They include Dry Jack, Monterey Jack, and Brick Cheese.
An important point worth mentioning when talking about cheese is the difference between real and processed cheese. Real cheeses are made from natural and simple ingredients including salt, milk, enzymes, and natural colors.
Natural cheeses have whey pressed out of them while processed varieties do not. Processed cheeses have a longer shelf life and are made from complex ingredients including milk fat, extra salt, cheese, calcium phosphate, vitamin D3, saturated vegetable oils, whey, and artificial food colorings.
So before purchasing please read the labels to know the ingredients used to make it. This way you will be able to tell how many carbs are in a slice of cheese you are purchasing and whether it’s the natural or processed variety.
How Many Carbs in Cheddar Cheese?
To know if cheddar is okay on the keto diet, we need to know its nutritional value. According to the USDA, one slice serving of food contributes:
- Energy: 69.5 kcals
- Total carbs: 0.415 grams of carbs
- Dietary fiber: 0 grams of fiber
- Sugar: 0.056 grams of sugar
- Protein: 3.96 grams of protein
- Total fat: 5.78 grams of fat
- Fatty acids: total saturated: 3.26 grams of fat
- Fatty acids, total monounsaturated: 1.26 grams of fat
- Cholesterol: 17 mg
What makes cheddar perfect for the keto diet? Its low carb, moderate protein, and high-fat content. So, this type of cheese is keto-friendly. Cheddar cheese is amazing for your gut health as well because of its bacterial count. You can tell from the sharp cheddar cheese slices’ flavor.
How Many Carbs in Cottage Cheese?
Another cheese to look at is cottage cheese. Does it fit into your low-calorie diet? In 100 gram serving of this variety, you will get:
- Energy: 103 kcals
- Total carbs: 4.6 grams of carbs
- Dietary fiber: 0 grams of fiber
- Sugar: 2.7 grams of sugar
- Protein: 11.6 g of protein
- Total fat: 4.22 g of fat
- Fatty acids, saturated: 2.6 g of fat
- Fatty acids, monounsaturated: 0.916 g of fat
- Cholesterol: 18 mg
Cottage cheese is not a low-carb choice. If you incorporate it in your diet you may exceed your 20-50 grams per day carb limit on keto.
How Many Carbs in Mozzarella Cheese?
Another common addition to your cheese food is mozzarella! How many carbs are in a single serving of this variety? A 100-gram serving size of mozzarella provides you with:
- Energy: 299 kcals
- Total carbs: 2.4 grams of carbohydrates
- Dietary fiber: 0 grams of fiber
- Sugar: 0 grams of sugar
- Protein: 22.2 g of protein
- Total fat: 22.1 g of fat
- Fatty acids, saturated fats: 13.9 g of fat
- Fatty acids, monounsaturated: 6.57 g of fat
- Cholesterol: 79 mg
For someone trying to keep their carb intake to as low as 20 grams per day, mozzarella is a good addition to your daily diet.
Is Mozzarella Cheese Keto-friendly?
Taking a look at the nutritional facts of mozzarella, it would not only be a good addition to a balanced, nutrient-rich diet but the keto diet as well. An ounce (28-gram serving) of this cheese gives you only 0.68 grams of carbohydrates.
Since we’re on the subject of the intake of cheese on the keto diet, let’s check which types to go for on keto and which ones to avoid.
What Cheese is Low in Carbs?
Here’s a list of the best low-carb cheeses on a keto diet and their carb count.
Parmesan Cheese
A good type to add to your intake of cheese is parmesan. How many carbs are in a slice of cheese? One tablespoon of parmesan cheese provides you with 0.7 grams of carbs.
This onebcounts as a low-fat cheese providing you with only 1.4 g of fat in a tbsp. serving. Its flavor makes it the perfect match with non-starchy vegetables.
Cheese is also a good source of protein that promotes satiety and plays a key role in maintaining muscle mass integrity during weight loss.
Feta Cheese
Feta is not your typical cheese! It is made from sheep’s milk or a combination of sheep and goat milk. Is feta cheese keto?
A 100-gram serving of feta provides you with 5.58 grams of carbs and no dietary fiber. Feta cheese can be keto if you exercise portion control.
Why shouldn’t you give up on feta just yet? A 100-gram serving of this cheese provides you with 19.1 grams of fat and 3.09 grams of protein. The protein content of feta accounts for 21% of its calories making it a good source of protein. It also counts as a full-fat cheese making it perfect for keto.
Blue Cheese
Thanks to its bacteria, the flavors in blue cheese give you a run for your money. A slice of this variety gives you 0.5 grams of carbs, 6 grams of fat, and 4.5 grams of protein. A daily intake of blue cheese is a good idea for your gut health.
Cream Cheese
If you have been on keto for a while, then this type is not a stranger to your intake of cheese. It contains 1 gram of carbohydrate, 8 grams of fat, and 2 grams of protein per ounce serving.
Besides being low carb its probiotic health benefits make it one of the sought-after cheeses.
Others that are low-carb include:
- Goat cheese: One ounce serving will give you 9 g of fat, 7 g of protein, and 2 g of net carbs.
- Gouda: One ounce serving of gouda cheese contains 8 g of fat, 7 g of protein, and 1 gram of carbohydrates
Your intake of cheeses is important because it determines your carb and fat intake. We already know cheeses to eat in the keto lifestyle, but which ones should we avoid?
Processed Cheese
A good example of processed cheese is American cheese. How many net carbs will you get in this cheese?
American Cheese Nutrition Facts
A 1-Ounce (28 grams) single slice will provide you with:
- Energy: 102 kcals
- Carbs: 1.3 g
- Protein: 5 g
- Fat: 9 g
- Sodium: 368 mg
This one may be low carb, but it is heavily processed. It has a very high sodium content compared to other varieties, which increases your risk of developing blood pressure. Moreover, it is a high-calorie cheese which doesn’t make it a good fit for a weight-loss diet.
Another example of processed cheese is spray/ canned cheese. This kind doesn’t even count as real cheese. Like American cheese, it also has a high content of calories. Most of its ingredients including fillers lack nutritional benefits. It’s best to keep off from it.
Cottage Cheese
This cheese counts as a low-fat dairy product. Although it has a high protein content, its carb count is still high for it to count as keto-friendly.
Other cheeses to keep off include low-fat dairy cheeses and ricotta cheeses.
What are the Benefits of Eating Cheese?
Is there any benefit of cheese? Considering the nutritional values of cheeses, they boast of the following benefits:
- Improves bone health since they are a dairy product that is high in calcium which is involved in increasing bone strength.
- Good for dental health since they are a good source of calcium.
- Can be great for maintaining a healthy weight since they are low-carb.
- Cheeses can improve heart health since they contain healthy fats and other essential nutrients involved in the circulatory system including phosphorus. potassium and magnesium.
- Can reduce the risk of developing cancer since they are rich in antioxidants.
Bottom Line
How many carbs are in a slice of cheese depends on the type of cheese. Some are low-carb and can be incorporated into your keto diet recipes. Avoid the highly processed or low-fat varieties of keto.
Which cheese is your favorite? We’d love to know!
