Super Cheese? Super is Right!

Maybe it's because I'm part Italian, or maybe because it's some of the greatest stuff ever invented, but the truth of the matter is that I love cheese.  Muenster, cheddar, feta, Stilton, Colby, cottage, cream, and asiago - it doesn't much matter, I love them all (well, except for Swiss, but that's a story for another day).  The problem is, cheese isn't really that good for you.  Sure, it has calcium which shouldn't be discounted, but the fat content makes the amount of cheese that is acceptable to eat not nearly enough to satisfy a cheese lover like me.  So I do my best to avoid it, considering it a treat for every now and again.  You can imagine my surprise then when my Dad told me yesterday that ricotta cheese is a superfood.  

"Super delicious, " I thought to myself, imagining the smooth creamy deliciousness of fresh ricotta.  Mixed with fresh vegetables, sandwiched between pasta, or just spread on toast, ricotta is as tasty as it is versatile.  Could it be possible that something so delectable could also be good for me?

"What do you mean by superfood?" I skeptically asked my Dad.  

Well, according to Women's Day (my Dad's source), "ricotta boasts three times the calcium of cottage cheese and is made from whey protein, a nutrient that may help you lose weight by preserving muscle."  Wow!  It has calcium and can help me lose weight.  This is fantastic!  But why?

So I did a little more research (emphasis on little) and found out from www.livestrong.com that the whey protein in ricotta cheese sets it apart from other cheeses that are made from milk curd.  This means that a half of a cup of fat free ricotta has about 14 grams of protein, which is considered a high quality protein good for building muscles.  That's not all - ricotta also contains cysteine which is an amino acid used to produce glutathione.  I can't spell it or pronounce it, for that matter, but I learned that studies have shown it to have cancer-fighting properties.

Ricotta cheese - muscle builder, calcium supplier, and cancer fighter.  It doesn't get more super than that!