If you love cheese, there’s plenty of evidence to suggest real cheese is a boon to your health, and there’s no reason to avoid it for fear of its fat content. The healthy fats found in real cheese will neither pack on pounds nor contribute to heart disease. On the contrary, these fats will actually boost your weight loss success and lower your cardiovascular health risks.

One caveat is to make sure you’re eating real cheese. Natural cheese is a simple fermented dairy product made with just a few basic ingredients — milk, starter culture, salt and an enzyme called rennet. Salt is a crucial ingredient for flavor, ripening and preservation.

You can tell a natural cheese by its label, which will state the name of the cheese variety, such as “cheddar cheese,” “blue cheese” or “Brie.” Real cheese also requires refrigeration. Processed cheeses are typically pasteurized and otherwise adulterated with a variety of additives that detract from their nutritional value. The tipoff on the label is the word “pasteurized.”

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