RDs: Are You Stringing Consumers Along?

I truly love when we, as Registered Dietitians, recommend pre-portioned snacks for consumers. Whether portioned at home or purchased at the store, snack-size eats are one smart tool toward keeping calories in check (a key tenet of the new Dietary Guidelines for Americans). In my experience listening to consumers while working at Weight Watchers Magazine, I learned what a big difference this small step could make in successful attempts to lose weight.  

But one of my food pet peeves is the recommendation for "string cheese" as a snack. Don't get me wrong, I like string cheese. It was one of the first pre-portioned cheese choices available and is typically made from part-skim mozzarella, making it a lower calorie and less fat choice than some comparable snack choices.  

But the term "string cheese" is so... well, I don't know... 2000-ish? (Actually, I'm not sure when string cheese was first introduced... but I think you get my point.) Having worked with dairy council for a number of years, I have been guilty myself of using this term as catch-all for everything snack-related in the cheese case. 

But it's 2011, folks. Saying "string cheese" is like saying "cell phones." We're way past that point today and cheese lovers should celebrate!

There are SO many other snack-size cheese choices on the market today. Using this term doesn't really paint the picture for the average consumer of what all exists. Many people, especially moms, think "string cheese" and think "kids." And can you blame them? It's a product that has, primarily, been developed and marketed as a healthy kids snack (which I don't dispute... as I said, I'm a fan.)

I would just challenge us as RDs and nutrition educators to expand our nutrition venacular to find better ways to convey the exciting and tasty array of "snack-size cheeses" that are now available. These choices meet not only the nutritional attributes of snacking on a reduced-fat cheese, but also the reality that many people (talking to you, Moms) prefer their own grown up snack taste.

My work with Cabot Creamery Cooperative puts me clearly in a position to be most familiar with their offerings, and I've listed those below. I hope you'll check them out (I may be partial, but I clearly think they're the best around. Plus, Cabot is the only cheesemaker to make a snack-size cheese from 1% low-fat milk... a key recommendation as the milk of choice in the Dietary Guidelines).

Regardless of your brand preference, at least consider the advice you're giving consumers when you turn them toward just "string cheese"... you may in fact, be turning them off altogether. 

Cabot's 3/4-ounce 75% Reduced-fat Habanero Cheddar snack size bars

Cabot's 3/4-ounce 50% Reduced-fat Sharp Cheddar snack size bars

Cabot's 3/4-ounce 50% Reduced-fat Garlic & Herb Cheddar snack size bars

Cabot's 3/4-ounce 50% Reduced-fat Pepper Jack snack size bars