With all of the contradictory information that has flooded the scientific community and the marketplace about what foods are healthy and what foods aren't, it can sometimes be difficult to know what a nutritious meal consists of these days. This is particularly true of those who are dieting, or attempting to lose weight. One food that bears a closer examination for its simple, upfront properties, though, is string cheese.
Calcium
The chief benefit of string cheese, and of many cheeses in general, is that it is a good source of calcium. A single serving of string cheese provides anywhere from 10 to 20 percent of the calcium that is recommended on a daily basis by the USDA. Calcium is important for general health, as it's a vitamin that greatly contributes to the body's maintenance of teeth and bones.
Vitamin A
While not as good a source of vitamin A as it is of calcium, string cheese does contain a noticeable portion of this vitamin as well. Vitamin A is a contributor to skin health, and in some women it has also been shown to be important to breast firmness.
Calories
As snack foods go, string cheese is extremely low on calories. It averages 100, though there are varieties with lower calories than that. To put this number in perspective, string cheese contains less than half the calories in a single can of soda, and even less than a serving of many snack crackers, such as Wheat Thins, which weigh in at 140 calories per serving.
Carbohydrates
For those individuals who are watching their carbohydrate intake, string cheese is also a highly appealing food. A single serving of string cheese contains less than a gram of carbohydrates. This can be particularly useful for those people who are on low-carb diets, such as the famous Atkins Diet.
Other Benefits
String cheese is a fairly straightforward food, but not all of its benefits are strictly nutritional. String cheese is an excellent food for children for instance, because they enjoy pulling it apart to eat it, and it makes it easier to get them to eat healthy. Additionally, for those who want to eat a food low in sodium, string cheese can first be soaked in water to leech out some of the salt content in it.
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