There are different types of cheese – hard, soft, and even mouldy – but if it is real cheese and not a cheese product, then for the most part it is quite a healthy food.

If you ask yourself why cheese products are not only less healthy than real cheese, but actually harmful, my answer is very simple: cheese products are like cheese, only they are not natural, but chemical, and they are made not from milk, but from a variety of components from the periodic table. And since this product is very cheap, no one really thinks about its real danger to the body, because the main idea is that it should be, as they say, “cheap and cheerful” — that is, tasty and practically free. So the greedy manufacturer adds various stabilisers, thickeners and flavourings, knowing for sure that the naive buyer will not even look at the back of the package, where the alarming composition is indicated, but will only glance at the price tag and carefully sniff the generously flavoured, cheapest possible ‘flavour enhancers’ in this convenient cheese product.

But real cheese, made not from chemicals but from ordinary milk, is a generous source of calcium and protein, which in turn helps to strengthen our muscles and bones. It also contains plenty of vitamins and minerals, including vitamins A, B, C, E, PP, as well as sodium, chlorine, selenium, copper, potassium, calcium, zinc, phosphorus, iron and iodine.

First of all, I would like to warn you that cheese is not the best choice when trying to lose weight, but there are several types that can – and sometimes even should – be consumed while dieting. For example, ricotta is an excellent choice for weight loss, and the fatty acids it contains help increase brain activity. In addition, this type of cheese strengthens blood vessels and activates the heart muscle.

To be honest, ricotta is more of a type of cream cheese, which is produced by reheating whey not only from cow’s milk, but often from goat’s and sheep’s milk as well. This delicate natural product is rich not only in B vitamins, but also in selenium, manganese, potassium, phosphorus and copper.

Mozzarella cheese (which, incidentally, is not a cream cheese but a brined cheese) can also be safely included in the diet. Although it is made from whole cow’s milk, this cheese is low in calories but rich in omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids, as well as thiamine, iron, iodine and selenium. It contains very little saturated fat and salt and, accordingly, significantly fewer calories than other cheeses.

So, that was our short but sweet journey into the spicy and aromatic world of cheese, and I hope you all got something useful out of it. Even if not everyone did, as long as at least one person did, that would still make me really happy.