Cream Cheese vs. Neufchatel Cheese

Lately, with the healthy substitutions I have been making, some of you may have been wondering what some of the ingredients are. Today I'm here to solve your confusion on Neufchatel cheese! Before you ask... I have no idea how to say this word, I just know it's French. French speakers, help a girl out.

So Neufchatel cheese is right next to the cream cheese in the grocery store. We all see it, but we usually just buy cream cheese out of habit.... and out of not wanting to possibly ruin whatever we are cooking.

As someone who uses cream cheese almost daily, it was important for me to figure out the difference between my beloved cream cheese and the stranger neufchatel cheese.

As far as look and taste go, there is almost no difference in the two. Seriously, if you do a side-by-side taste test, you won't be able to tell. Technically, neufchatel cheese is not as rich as cream cheese, but I think only the most experienced food critics would even notice.

As far as nutritional content, neufchatel cheese is the way to go for a healthier lifestyle. Really, if you want to be super healthy, you should just eliminate both neufchatel and cream cheese from your diet, but we just aren't there yet in our household. :)

One package of cream cheese has about 800 calories, 72 grams of fat (48 are saturated), & 240 mg of cholesterol. YIKES!!!!

Neufchatel cheese has 560 calories, 48 grams of fat (32 are saturated), & 160 mg of cholesterol.

Now, like I said earlier, it would honestly be better just to remove these products from your diet completely BUT if your like me and can't live without your beloved cream cheese, this is a good substitution to make. Just by switching you save 240 calories, 34 grams of fat (16 saturated), and 80 mg of cholesterol. Saving 240 extra calories a day would cause you to lose 1 pound every two weeks... this translates to 26 pounds a year. That's pretty awesome for not sacrificing any taste!!

Thanks for joining me in my journey to a better me. :) If you have any suggestions for healthy substitutions, leave a comment below or send an email to allthingswalkerblog@gmail.com.

Happy Cooking!!