by Bridget N. Watts

Created on: July 31, 2008   Last Updated: September 16, 2008

If you are honest with yourself you already know the answer to this question. Of course pizza is not healthy. If pizza was really that healthy we would eat it every day. Moreover, the question whether or not pizza is healthy would not even have to be asked. We all like to think pizza is not that bad for us mainly because it tastes so good. We like to fool ourselves that way, just like we fool ourselves with so many other things every single day. Have you ever wondered why pizza tastes as good as it does?

The main problem with pizza is that it contains a very high amount of salt and fat. This differs between pizzas, but some pizzas have been found to contain more than twice the daily recommended amount of salt you should eat. The fat in pizzas mainly comes from the cheese that is used on them as well as from meat toppings like pepperoni or sausage. For most pizzas the amount of fat it contains is way more than a person should eat per day. Besides this there are also a lot of carbs in the pizza crust that add up to the calorie count of pizza.

Eating pizza would not be so unhealthy if we did not eat so much of it. Because of the high calorie count of most pizzas (about 300 calories per slice), you really should not eat more than two slices. Two slices amounts to the same amount of calories as can be found in a normal healthy meal. The problem of course is that most people tend to eat half a pizza, or worse, even an entire one. That is not only way more calories than a person needs a day, it also means huge levels of salt and fat intake.

Besides eating less pizza you could also try to make a healthier pizza. The most crucial thing to do is to cut back on the amount of cheese that you use. Either just sprinkle a little bit on the pizza or use a low fat cheese instead. You should also avoid greasy meat toppings like pepperoni or sausage, and instead you could use fish, grilled chicken or vegetables. You could even use a whole grain crust, which is a much healthier alternative than the traditional pizza crust.

The question remains whether making all these healthy improvements to your pizza will still make your pizza taste as good. The answer is probably not, because what we really love about pizza is the taste of grease. What you could try instead is to just heat up a regular unhealthy pizza, but blot the grease on top with a napkin before you eat it. Do not forget to stick to those two slices!

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