Enjoying pizza with a healthy pizzazz is easier than you might imagine when you think outside of the proverbial pizza box. Whether or not a pizza perpetuates good health can be determined by the toppings, which puts you in control of utilizing a variety of ways to make pizza a healthy meal.
But before scrutinizing what's on top of the pizza, the first step to transforming unhealthy pizza into a healthy meal is to become familiar with the ingredients that go into most standard pizzas. This nutritional knowledge will guide you into making better choices which will enable you to enjoy reasonably healthy pizza just about anywhere without spending too much extra "dough."
Crust
Every pizza starts with crust that usually contains flour, yeast and egg. Nothing too treacherous here. In fact, there's actually slight representation from a couple of major food groups.
Sauce
Next, take a look at the ingredients in typical grocery store pizza sauce: Tomato paste, water, soybean oil, salt, modified food starch, dried onions, spices, sugar and natural flavor. This saucy combination doesn't rock the healthy-eating boat too much either.
Cheese
Now for the delectably cheesy ingredients. Mozzarella is primarily comprised of pasteurized milk, cheese culture, salt and enzymes. A standard serving of this cheese can contain about 20% of the recommended daily value of calcium, and 4% of vitamin A.
Amazing. If we stop here, we haven't landed too far away from the nutritional target. The standard root pizza with crust, sauce and cheese offers grain, protein and calcium, with a smattering of Vitamin A.
The key to making pizza a healthy meal is to mix and match more nutritious toppings atop the old standard core. Many devout pizza lovers enjoy trying unique foods on top of their pizzas, so the possibilities are deliciously open. In the meantime, here are some toppings that can give pizza a nutritional boost and a flavorful flair.
Easy-to-find Healthy Toppings
Mushrooms
Peppers
Onions
Anchovies
Pineapple
Anchovies
White chicken meat
Olives
Broccoli
Spinach
Tomatoes
Meat Toppings
The use of various meats to top off pizza is where our nutritional foundation can start to deteriorate. The beef and pork byproducts found in most pizza meats can derail your pizza from its nutritional track because the grease generated by these meats does not promote healthy eating. Some of these toppings are:
Pepperoni
Sausage
Bacon
Ham
Ground beef
Meatballs
Unique Toppings
To veer away from the beaten pizza path, here are some cutting-edge, moderatly healthy toppings that serious pizza eaters have been known to use:
Eggplant
Tuna
Salmon
Shrimp
Cashews
Pistachios
Bean sprouts
Shaved carrots
Lettuce
Avacados
Sour cream
White Pizza
The newer kid on the pizza block is the "white pizza," which is quickly gaining in popularity. The overall concept remains the same, but the tomato sauce is replaced with pesto, ranch dressing, Alfredo, or other non-tomato-based products. Pineapple, chicken, sliced tomatoes, and various vegetables are among common white pizza toppings.
In conclusion, the good news is that one of the most adaptable foods on the planet is pizza, so it's one of the easiest foods to customize. It's fun to sample adventurous new flavors, and to observe how others react to your creative pizza explorations. If you are dealing with children, let them conjure up their own creative toppings, then watch their excitement level rise as they eagerly anticipate eating pizza with pineapple or olives.
This approach to healthy pizza-eating with young people can also help set them on a more rewarding pizza path to follow later in life. They are not as firmly entrenched in pepperoni pizza-eating habits like many adults, so there's still time to teach them new ways to think regarding this delicacy.
Hopefully this slice of healthy pizza advice will be useful in transforming your usual dripping-with-grease pizza into a magnificently nutritious and delicious meal.