Even Vegetarians Eat Cheese, Don't They? Many people these days have eliminated or cut way back on red meat, some have given up chicken and even a few have stopped eating seafood. But rare is the person who has given up cheese. That is why I usually hear the comment at the top of this article when people learn that I no longer eat cheese.  You see, most people think that cheese is a fairly healthy food, containing lots of protein and calcium but no actual flesh. And these days, it seems like cheese is ubiquitous, showing up at breakfast, lunch and dinner for most of us as well as snacks at ballgames, cocktail parties, wine & cheese receptions, Friday Pizza Night, and let's not forget the great purveyor of nutrition for our children...Chuck E. Cheese. Little did I realize until a few years ago that cheese is one of the most unhealthy foods that one can consume. We all agree that cheese tastes good, so in order to willingly give it up, we must learn the truth about nutrition. Here is what Joel Fuhrman, M.D., has to say about cheese in his book Eat to Live....Jim Hicks. "Cheese is the food that contributes the most saturated fat to the American diet and is one of the most dangerous foods in the world to consume.  Though it tastes good, it should be used very rarely, if at all. Most cheeses are more than 50 percent of calories from fat, and even low-fat cheeses are very high-fat foods.  Cream cheese is 89% fat, cheddar is 74%, and mozzarella is 69%." "Cheese consumption increased 140 percent between 1970 and 1996, and cheese is the primary source of saturated  fat in our diet. Convenience foods have probably been the driving force behind this increase. In fact, two-thirds of our nations's cheese production is for commercially prepared foods such as pizza, tacos, nachos, fast-food meals, spreads, sauces, and packaged snacks." "In this country, we consume an enormous amount of cheese. Our record-high increase in cheese consumption is alarming: a 193 percent increase in the past 25 years. Cheese has more saturated fat and more hormone-containing substances than any other food, and the incidence of our hormonally sensitive cancers has skyrocketed." *************************************** When you read Eat to Live, you will find that the entire focus of Dr. Fuhrman's approach is to maximize the amount of healthy nutrients in your diet.  If you use up your caloires on foods like cheese (with little nutriion and no fiber), that means you will not consume as much of the most healthy foods.  On a scale of zero to 100, Dr. Fuhrman gives cheese a score to 3, ranking ahead of only refined oils at 1 and refined sweets at zero on the nutrition scale.  Raw leafy green vegetables received the top score of 100...even red meat is considered more nutritious than cheese with a score of 8 on Dr. Fuhrman's scale...Jim Hicks.