Nutritional moment-cheese!

I recently read this post on a friends blog-Amy at Putting Down Roots-who lives in northern Maine and who I went to college with at Kansas State-ummmm...about 10 years ago! She has a bunch of information on her blog about healthy living, farming and family stuff. Feel free to scoot over there if you want. But as I was reading a recent post it caused me once again to consider what I am feeding my family.

Cheese...love it...and even with Katie being dairy intolerant we have still strived to find a good cheese that she can tolerate. (We are thankful for places like Trader Joes and Whole Foods to carry goat and sheep cheese-with smaller proteins for easier digestion- and to carry varieties that are yummy!) But nonetheless we eat less cheese then we used to since working through this issue. And that's not bad! I have been more creative, tried new things and found that we can live with less dairy then I thought.

One thing that we still have and I haven't changed much is our beloved pizza. And to have pizza one MUST have delicious cheese SMOTHERED ALL OVER THE TOP. I searched for different choices for the kids (some were horrible) and finally settled on a goat mozzarella. It really isn't bad and the kids don't mind at all! But since it is bought in a block I have gone back to shredding my own cheese. I keep a bag of it frozen in the freezer and pull it out when needed. Sometimes it does clump, but I get out the hammer and simple break it apart. :)

Yesterday we had pizza and we had some pre shredded in the freezer that I added to the top for Justin and I's section. I then pulled the pizza out of the oven and what Amy wrote about on her blog was so true. The cheese I shredded looked and tasted much creamier, more like normal melted cheese should look. It was well worth my time of shredding! The pre shredded stuff, though tasty, didn't compare. And now I know why...here is what Amy had to write...

Pre-shredded cheese contains cellulose (yes, wood shavings) as an anti-caking agent. Cellulose is in lots of processed foods, especially low-fat and no-fat foods, as it increases the fiber (I guess it appears to be healthier?) and reduces the need for fats (again appearing healthier). Cellulose gives foods with little fat a more creamy texture somehow, which is what consumers of those product want, something that tastes as close as possible to the higher fat food they really crave.

I’m sure I have lots of cellulose in my body because I used to eat lots of these so-called low fat foods! Humans can’t digest cellulose because our bodies don’t have the correct enzymes to do it.

Anyway take a peek at her blog and read her interesting post about shredding your own cheese. Then leave a comment telling her I sent you so she keep posting interesting facts like this one! Thanks Amy!