“Sydney, this is the second time this week you’ve eaten pizza. That’s so unhealthy for you. This is getting out of hand.” My mom would pound this in my head at least once a month. “Eating all that pizza is going to make you fat.” My mom is so persistent against me eating pizza but that never stopped me. After all, is pizza actually as unhealthy as everyone makes it out to be?
And sure not all pizza is going to be a super healthy, smart choice to eat but that doesn’t mean all pizza isn’t good for you. Pizza can actually be a healthy food option instead of greasy and fatty as most people characterize it as. So, why would we stop eating this delicious dish? Just because people say it’s “unhealthy” for us?
When most people think of pizza they’re referring to chains like Pizza Hut, Little Caesar’s, and Hungry Howie’s. Just imagine opening up that box, the first thing that hits you is the smell of that delicious pizza, and picking up that first slice: juicy cheese oozing and the steam rising. Have I made you hungry yet?
My point is that pizza chain restaurants deliver the most delicious, unhealthy, and greasy pizza options. But there are other delicious alternatives for eating a healthy, wholesome pizza. A homemade choice, where you can choose which ingredients you are putting into your body, can be a tasty yet smart decision for a meal.
The Oxford English Dictionary defines pizza as “a savoury dish of Italian origin, consisting of a flat, usually round base of dough, baked with a topping of tomatoes, cheese, and any of various ingredients, such as meat, anchovies, or olives.” Having been to Italy, I can vouch that, yes, they do have THE best pizza and they make sure to keep it as real and as healthy as possible. The majority of real, Italian pizza is thin crust to avoid the extra carbs us Americans love. Their pizza is also made with fresh, non-processed ingredients making it taste very healthy but also delicious.
However, when this tasty dish was brought to the United States, the Americans put their own little twist to it. And what’s more American than making foods fattier than necessary, getting everyone addicted.
Now let’s get down to business.
Pizza is a great source of nutrients in the American diet (infographic to the right). It provides high percentages of the total daily intake of protein, fat, saturated fat, fiber, calcium, and lycopene. Without adding the typical processed, industrialized, and preservative filled ingredients, high in salt and fat, pizza can be a good source of nutrients.
A BBC article states that pizza also contributes to 6% of the total energy intake for children (two to 19 years old) and 4% for adults. On the day consumed, pizza represents 27% of total energy among all consumers. The mean energy intake obtained from pizza was 538 kilocalories for children and 744 kilocalories for adults. Who would have thought that such an “unhealthy” food could provide us with so much energy. These facts might be quite shocking to some people.
More than 40 million people eat pizza a day. This is 22% of our population. That’s crazy. With pizza popularity on the rise, we need to learn the difference between restaurant pizza and the good, healthy pizza.
Just because a food is popular, doesn’t mean it needs to be unhealthy. So before you start characterizing all pizza as fatty and greasy, think twice. Making a homemade pizza filled with healthy options such as pineapple, chicken, and broccoli is a much better alternative for a healthy diet. Refer to my recipes page.
A Fox News article selected and analyzed the most nutritional toppings to put on your homemade pizza. They believe some of the best ingredients to put on your pizza are garlic, mushrooms, and ham. Although these are mentioned, they believe the best, healthiest topping to add to your pizza would be spinach. Spinach is packed with vitamin K, which is important for making sure our blood clots effectively. Not only is spinach loaded with vitamin K, but it also contains over 13 different flavonoid compounds that work to help prevent the occurrence of cancer.
So instead of picking up that Hot n’ Ready on your way home from work, try cooking. Making pizza at home is easy and doesn’t take much longer than picking up a pizza. Most importantly, a homemade pizza would be so much healthier for your body.
But of course these are merely suggestions and example toppings of how pizza can be healthy. So, stop avoiding pizza like your mother says. Instead start making nutritional pizza topping choices. Pizza doesn’t always have to be the stereotypical, fatty pizza everyone assumes it is.