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Pizza Popularity
- Americans order three million pizza pies a year;
- There are more than 60,000 pizzerias;
- One out of every six restaurants in the U. S. is a pizzeria;
- Annual sales reach $30 millions;
No doubt that pizza is one of the most popular food items. But how healthy is it for you? Have you given it a thought, ever, while ordering your pizza?
A Few Pizza Facts
- Pizzas are encumbered with salt, more than what you need for a whole day.
- Pizza is a hidden treasure of saturated fat.
- Only the largest pizza sellers like Domino's, Pizza Hut, Little Caesars, Papa John's inform you about the amount of saturated fat, sodium and other nutrients used in a pizza, others do not.
So, what you get from pizza depends upon how much you eat, and the serving size depends upon the chain and the type of crust. Normally, one serving equals to nine ounces. Here is what you get from your pizza;
Cheese
- 12 grams of saturated fats in one serving of Pan or Personal Pan at Pizza Hut
- 14 grams of saturated fats in Thin n Crispy or Hand Tossed
- 18 grams of saturated fats in The Big New Yorker
- 20 grams of saturated fats in the Stuffed Crust, which is your quota for fat per day.
- The Big New Yorker and the Stuffed Crust has 750+ calories and close to a day's worth of Sodium.
Veggie
- Pizza Hut or Papa John pizzas offer fiber, phytochemical, and less fat
- Dominos Veg. pizza has extra cheese
Chicken
- Chicken on pizza is less fatty than red meat toppings.
- California 's Pizza Chicken's most popular pizzas are The Original BBQ Chicken and the Thai Chicken. The BBQ has only 170 calories and 2 gram saturated fat per slice.
- An entire California 's Pizza Chicken's pizza contains 1000 calorie, 2060 mg sodium, 32 grams of fat and 14 of them are saturated.
Ham
- It is the leanest of the red meat toppings.
- Pizza Hut offers less saturated fat in Personal Pan Ham, Thin n' Crispy Ham, Big New Yorker Ham and Pan Ham Pizza compared to Plain Cheese Pizza with each of crusts.
- Domino's Ham has less than 50 calories compared to two-slices serving of Hand Tossed Cheese Pizza.
Pepperoni
- Pepperoni toppings add 2 gram of saturated fat, 420 milligrams of sodium to two slices of Domino's Hand Tossed Cheese Pizza. Every slice of Domino's Hand Tossed Cheese Pizza is equivalent to McDonald's Egg McMuffin.
- At Pizza Hut, three-slice serving of Pan Pepperoni Pizza gives you 690 calories, 1,620 mg of sodium, 33 grams of fat out of which 13 are saturated.
- Three-slice servings of Pan Pepperoni Lover pizza have 19 grams saturated fat.
- Two-slice serving of Stuffed Crust Pepperoni Lover pizza have 25 grams of saturated fat.
Sausage
- Pizza Hut's Pan Italian Sausage Pizza has more fat than the Pan Pepperoni.
- Three slices of Hand Tossed Italian Sausage has 1000 calories and 22 grams of saturated fat, 2,480 mg sodium.
- Two slices of The Big New Yorker Sausage Pizza has 1140 calories, 3240 mg of sodium, and 66 grams of fat of which 28 of them saturated.
Beef
- Domino's beef pizzas: Two slices of Hand Tossed pizzas has 11 grams of saturated fats. Five squares of Thin Crust have 18 grams of saturated fat.
- Pizza Hut's beef pizza: Three slices Hand Tossed and two slices of The Big New Yorker Beef have 22 grams of saturated fat. Three slices of Pan Beef Pizza have 120 extra calories with 500 mg of sodium.
Bacon or Pork
- Two slices of Domino's Hand Tossed Bacon pizza has 660 calories, 28 gram total fat, 11 gram saturated fat, 1,500 milligram sodium.
- One Pizza Hut's Personal Pan Pork has 700 calories, 34 grams total fat, 13 grams saturated fat, and 1670 milligram sodium.
- Three slices of Pizza Hut Thin n Crispy Pork have 720 calories, 39 grams total fat, 16 grams saturated fat, and 2220 milligram sodium.
- Three slices of Pizza Hut's Hand Tossed Pork have 870 calories, 44 grams total fat, 19 grams saturated fat, and 2260 milligram sodium.
- Two slices of Pizza Hut's The Big New Yorker's Pork have 940 calories, 50 grams total fat, 20 grams saturated fat, and 2940 milligram sodium.
Combos
Meat-and-veggie combos
- Two slices of Domino's Hand Tossed Extravaganzza have 700 calories, 30 grams total fat, 12 grams saturated fat, and 1780 milligram sodium.
- Two slices of Papa John's Original Crust the Works have 680 calories, 30 grams total fat, 12 grams saturated fat, and 1880 milligram sodium.
- Three slices of Pizza Hut Thin n' Crispy Supreme have 690 calories, 36 grams total fat, 16 grams saturated fat, and 1920 milligram sodium.
- Three slices of Pizza Hut Hand Tossed Super Supreme have 790 calories, 38 grams total fat, 16 grams saturated fat, and 2310 milligram sodium.
- Five squares of Domino's Thin Crust Extravaganzza have 950 calories, 52 grams total fat, 21 grams saturated fat, and 3120 milligram sodium.
- Half Pizzeria Uno Chicago Classic pizza has 1500 calories, 74 grams total fat, 30 grams saturated fat, and 2940 milligram sodium.
Meat Combos
- Three slices of Pizza Hut Pan Meat Lover's have 990 calories, 57 grams total fat, 19 grams saturated fat, and 2280 milligram sodium.
- Two slices of Pizza Hut Stuffed Crust Meat Lover's have 830 calories, 42 grams total fat, 19 grams saturated fat, and 2670 milligram sodium.
- Three slices of Pizza Hut Hand Tossed Meat Lover's have 870 calories, 46 grams total fat, 19 grams saturated fat, and 2450 milligram sodium.
- Two slices of Domino's Deep Dish Meatzza have 910 calories, 49 grams total fat, 19 grams saturated fat, and 2440 milligram sodium.
Pick Pizza in a Healthy Way
Choose the Right Toppings
- Vegetables are the best when you are choosing the toppings because they have the lowest calories and richest nutrients.
- Chicken and ham are second best.
- Prefer pepperoni, because it is leaner than pork, sausage, and beef.
Ask for a Half-the-cheese or No-cheese pizza
- Order ‘half the cheese' for any type of pizza.
- You can also order ‘no-cheese' with innovative toppings like California Pizza Kitchen's Tricoloré Salad Pizza.
- Some of the pizzeria offers Parmesan; there you can go for a no-cheese veggie or chicken pizza.
Miss out the Hidden Cheese
- A few pizza chains add extra cheese to normal vegetable pizza, so make sure to avoid the extra cheese.
- Stuffed crust pizzas also have added cheese.
Just Say NO to Multi-meat Pizzas
- Meat Lover's, Meatzza, All the Meats, and Super Supreme are excessively unhealthy pizzas.
Order Pizza with a Salad
- To avoid more calorie intake, order a salad with your pizza. This way you will be able to cut down the number of slices you eat.
- There is no salad item on the menu of Pizza Hut, in such situations you can go for baby carrots, sliced red or green peppers, cucumbers with light ranch dressing.
- Slice up some honeydew, cantaloupe, or watermelon to go with your pizza
Avoid Side dishes
- Pizzeria side dishes are full of fat and sodium most of the times.
- In exceptional cases, such as in the land of Buffalo wings , bread sticks, and cheesy bread, bread sticks aren't as fatty, but have more than 100 calories per piece.
- Wings are 50 calories per pop. But that's for less than an ounce of chicken, so the calorie count goes up with number of the wings.
- Prefer fruits and vegetables than bread or fried chicken for your pizza devour
Reference: Nutrition Action |
