The Pizza Myth: Healthy Eating

I love pizza. I grew up eating some of the best pizza that is made in the United States. World renowned Pepe's Pizza of New Haven, Ct was an establishment I frequented often... yes, I waited in line some times for 2 hours in order to enjoy one of Pepe's freshly made to order, crackling crusted pies... but no matter, the truth is pizza is not good for you.

Try as you might to rationalize it to yourself... pizza is junk food. Yeah, it's healthier than McDonalds, but it is still a white flour pie covered in fatty cheese and usually even fattier toppings... I would say pepperoni is one of America's favorite toppings next to sausage.

A single slice, not a giant slice of plain cheese pizza has about 272 calories and about 22% of your saturated fat for the day. Let's be honest, no one eat's one slice of pizza. Even if I try to fill up on a large salad I still usually have 2 pieces. And if you have a large regular soda with your 2 to 3 slices of plain cheese pizza you've eaten between 784 - 1056 calories with more than half your intake of fat and very little nutrition other than a little calcium from the cheese.

If you so dare to venture into the topping zone, your calorie in take can skyrocket. I'm not talking about multiple toppings... just one piece of Costco's pepperoni pizza is about 620 calories and about 55% of your daily saturated fat for the day....ONE SLICE.

Adults are not supposed to be eating more than about 500 calories per meal. A teenage boy only needs at most about 733 calories per meal. (Both are considering that snacks will be eaten between meals.)

I know it's quick.
I know it's cheap.

But please give up your weekly pizza night and change it to a special occasion pizza night out or ... a really tightly scheduled day... once in blue moon.