American cheese

(Jan) #1

Keto or not? I heard not.

(Joey) #2

Read the ingredients … but first, ask yourself whether the product is actually cheese.

Many “American Cheese” manufacturers are required to call their pre-sliced yellow insulation sheets: “American Cheese Food.” That tells you it doesn’t even qualify as cheese. Whether it qualifies as food is another matter.

(I recall seeing the same product up in Canada where it’s called Canadian Cheese … which also tells you that, at best, this product should be called North American Cheese.)

BTW: The harder the cheese, the better it is for you - assuming you’re a cheese eater to begin with. :cheese:

(Bob M) #3

You can get some nicer “American” cheese that’s not bad. We used some this past weekend on some of our burgers. I liked it. One teen liked it, the other teen liked the normal cheese better. I’d probably stick with our normal cheese, but American does melt nicely.

(Joey) #4

:slight_smile: … it melts in your hand.

We’ve migrated over from Kraft “Deluxe” American Cheese (supposedly real cheese) to Extra Sharp Cheddar slices - which seems to melt just fine, too.

(Bob M) #5

That’s what we use too (cheddar), and if you get the thin ones, they melt pretty well. The thicker ones take more time.

We usually use the thinner because my youngest has a burger with thin cheese and she has the exact time necessary to put the cheese on, heat in a microwave. That’s her breakfast. (With raw milk and fake chocolate syrup.)

We just use the same cheese on the grill too. Makes it easier to buy.

So, I don’t think you NEED American cheese.

(KM) #6

Again, this isn’t a matter of :-1: :+1: for any particular product. Whether we like it or whether it’s “clean” has nothing to do with whether it’s keto. Google is your friend, the number of carbs in a serving of food is not a rumor. You need to read the label, and decide if the number of carbs you’ll be ingesting fits with the carb limit you’ve set for yourself. Whether or not American cheese is horrible or glorious (or food) is an opinion. Whether or not it fits your keto diet has a legitimate and simple answer.

A slice of American cheese has one carb. Unless you’ve already topped out your carbs for the day, it can be part of a keto diet if you want to eat it.

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(Joey) #7

…Ah, but just because there’s no fiber in Am Cheese, perhaps now is the appropriate time for us to delve into that rabbit hole of gross vs net carbs. :wink:

#8

I will admit that I used American Cheese on my eggs when I started on keto. :sweat_smile:

(KM) #9

I suppose you could say in this case the net carbs are gross. :laughing:

(Doug) #10

This. There is a hierarchy - “American Cheese,” then " American Pasteurized Prepared Cheese Product," then “Pasteurized Process American Slices” - note that the last one does not say “cheese” at all.

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Above is "American Cheese."

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Above is "American Cheese Product."

I don’t see much difference between those two. There are requirements - “American Cheese” has to have at least 47% fat, and no more than 43% moisture. It can be also called other things, like “Pasteurized Process Cheese.”

“American Cheese Product” - also called “Pasteurized Process Cheese Food” - has to have at least 51% actual cheese. Fat content 23% or more, moisture 44% or less.

When we get to "“Pasteurized Process American Slices” - these are vegetable oil products, and (in my opinion) we’ve fallen off the quality cliff into a truly nasty realm. The ingredients will be something like this: Water, Interesterified Soybean Oil, Food Starch…

These are the cheapest, but they’re not all that much cheaper. Again, my opinion - if you see vegetable oil, stay away.

There is also “Pasteurized Process Cheese Spread” - this is like Velveeta, Cheese Whiz, Easy Cheese… Has to have at least 51% real cheese, at least 20% milkfat, Moisture between 44% and 60%.

I think they are below the 2nd-best option above, and may or may not be better than the vegetable oil stuff. Some varieties of Velveeta, for example, have canola oil in them.

(Megan) #11

Once upon a time there was milk…then all hell broke loose!

(Bob M) #12

I’ll have to see if we have any of the ones we used. I looked at the label and it seemed to be pretty “clean”.

#13

Depends, there’s (Actual) American Cheese which is as Keto as any other real cheese, then there’s that other American “cheese”, which is that Hybrid flexible rubber / plastic garbage, that probably isn’t.

Also, if you notice that plastic crap is always has “product” at the end, not that you need that to tell the difference, real American cheese is sliced at the deli like everything else, individually wrapped and spray-painted yellow is a pretty good giveaway to stay away!

(Kirk Wolak) #14

I don’t care if they call it cheese.
I refuse to call it FOOD.
Worth EATING or NOT? NOT…

It’s way overly processed. Probably laden with seed oils.

There are such better questions. I Find “is this keto” questions hard.
Ask if it is healthy. If it is good for you.
Also, the dose makes the poison.

Some “non-keto” foods can be used as seasonings…
I will have some cooked onions sometimes (now that I can tolerate them,
as I continue to heal).

#15

I feel a bit confused but in the end, it’s easy for me: everything and anything is keto if the one in question manages to eat in a way that it fits into their keto definition. Well I only know one proper definition: low-carb enough to keep us in ketosis… (Frozen) banana was one of the 3 perfectly keto fruit for me (lemon and raspberries were the other two) and VITAL for my early keto, I would have quit without it. Cauliflower was most definitely not keto as I couldn’t eat less than 1000g at once. Gluten is very much keto for me but apparently most people avoids it (I understand gluten isn’t good for the majority of people but still. it’s so very useful for me sometimes).

Most of it consider things not right for proper keto where health matters too, that’s one reason people say certain not even super carby things “aren’t keto”…

I fail to understand why people eat American “cheese”. Seriously, why? Is it so super cheap? Not like it is a good reason, I am poor and still eat proper cheese (of course, we have no American cheese here) or nothing (but I do eat cheese, I can do tiny amounts most of the time) . But I am health-conscious and a hedonist so of course I want tasty, good things.

(Bob M) #16

The one I have is from Cabot: American Cheese, water, cream, whey, tricalcium phosphate, sodium citrate, salt, sorbic acid, lactic acid. Everyone prefers other cheese though.

(Pete A) #17

Boo. It’s crap.

(Joey) #18

But it’s individually wrapped crap, for safety and convenience.

(KM) #19

Don’t forget sliced. How could we possibly get by without cheese sliced ahead of time.

(Joey) #20

Slicing I can handle on my own. But the pre-chewed advantage is hard to beat.