Say CHEESE!

I happen to be a fan of the low fat, fat free and diet products. I like the taste. Diet soda, fat free yogurt, low calorie juices...I almost always prefer the taste over it's full fat, non diet counterpart. The one thing I did not like, however, was light cheese. Oh sure, I tried it. I bought different brands and flavors just hoping to find one that I liked, but one after the other just failed to tickle my taste buds.

My mom is not like me. Sure, we look alike, share the same sense of humor, enjoy the same movies. But unlike me, she hates diet foods in all forms. In fact, I can't think of a single low fat item that she prefers over the full flavor version. Sure she buys fat free ham and uses a low cal, fat free dressing, but when it comes down to it, she would prefer to have the "real thing". So it was no surprise that she felt as I did: Light cheese was just plain gross.

                                My Momma and I

Then one day, as I was shredding up some cheddar for some tacos for dinner, I looked down at the packaging of the cheese I had bought earlier that day and noticed I had bought LIGHT cheddar from Safeway - one of their "deal" packs they sell, the "this package only $______" cheese. I was not happy. Really not happy. But as it was the only cheese I had and I was not going to run to the store, I served it anyways. And you know what? It tasted like regular cheddar. Honestly! Not only did my husband not notice at all (and he is usually pretty quick to pick up on any diet changes I make to our meals), but on her next trip down to visit us, my mom didn't notice either! In fact, she was giving me her "I Don't Like Light Cheese" speech, AS SHE WAS EATING IT!  Boy was she surprised when I told her.

Moral of the story: Not all light/fat free foods are the same. Just because you may not enjoy one brand does not mean that you will hate them all. If you have something in your everyday diet that you want to switch to a lower fat version, try out a few brands and see what works for you. My family now only uses Safeway brand light cheddar, and our bodies are just a little bit more healthy because of it.