The 100-Calorie Secret - Never Diet Again!

Everyone likes pizza. It’s popular everywhere you go – home, traveling, school, and work. But it’s loaded with calories, fat and salt. It's every homemaker's favorite, just pick up the phone and you are 30 minutes aways from some very pleasing food.

You might think that since each slice is a portion, it would be easy to control the calories you eat. The opposite is true. Americans overeat pizza more than any other food. More pizza is sold than all the burgers and fries combined. More than 8 billion slices of  pizzas are sold each year from more than  70,000 pizzerias in the US.

There are two position on pizza:

1. It's junk food, and may be worse than McDonald's or Burger King's worst selection or

2. It's "Nutritious and healthy."

You need to judge yourself.  Here is the nutritious and healthy claims from the American Dietetic
Association in 2008:

The American Dietetic Association's position on pizza from the  February 19, 2008 position paper:

"Pizza is many things, including tasty and portable. And if you pay attention to your toppings, pizza can be nutritious, too. Pizza crust provides carbohydrates and B vitamins. The cheese adds calcium and protein, while tomato sauce contains vitamins A and C, along with other nutritious compounds." They go on to say that pizza contains all 4 food groups: grain, vegetable, dairy
and protein. 

The other position is that pizza has the most variation in quality, fat and calories than any other major food.   Most people know what to expect from burgers and fries,  but a whole pizza can very from 1600 to 4500 calories! It's  the worse choice for most dieters.

• Pizza is often eaten socially-it's fun.
• Pizza is usually the only food on the table and is eaten without lower calorie side dishes like vegetables and salads.
• People buy large pizza pies, with more than a single serving for each diner.
• Pizza is easy to overeat.

If the portion could be controlled, would  pizza  be healthy?

• Most pizza flours are made using white, processed flour
• Olive oil has lots of calories & it's poured like water on the pizza
• Mozzarella cheese is high in fats and calories
• Meat toppings are high in saturated fat and sodium
• The quality of ingredients used and the choice of cheese, and amount of oil
• determines the calories and fat.
• Most pizzas are high in saturated fat, salt and calories

Ordering Pizza Over the Phone:
•    Calling for Pizza—1 calorie
•    Eating pizza in restaurant—600 calories
•    Eating pizza at home with a crowd—Who know? … Who Cares?

Americans  eat a lot of pizza:
According to the pizza industry, 2/3 of Americans eat pizza. On the average they have 2 slices twice a month.  Based on 200 million Americans eating pizza that comes to 800 million slices a month, or more than 8 billion slices a year.

Pizza is loaded with calories and fat despite what the industry says:
Two slices of a Pizza Hut 12-inch pizza with pepperoni  has 30 g of total fat, and 600 calories.  Here is what Pizza Hut writes on their nutrition page on its website:

"At Pizza Hut, we take great pride and care to provide you with the best food and dining experience in the quick-service restaurant business. We believe eating sensibly, combined with appropriate exercise, is the best solution for a balanced lifestyle….pizza can be part of a well-balanced meal. Ingredients in our pizzas include protein, complex carbohydrates, Vitamin A and calcium. And, depending on the toppings you choose, our pizzas have items from all of the four major food groups - meat, dairy, fruits and vegetables, and grains!

Here is the real facts about Pizza Hut:
If you check Pizza Hut's web site, the average slice of pizza is about 350 calories, with a range of 240 to 450 (no extras.)  The personal pan pizzas range from 640 to 900 calories with only 1 choices out of 8 less than 700 calories.  Two slices could easily account for 40% of you  total calories for the day and more than 100% of you fat allowance.

We can easily eat 3 slices of pizza, who orders 3 Big Macs(often the same calories)?
The Center of Science for the Public Interest a nutrition watchdog group, takes a different view than does Pizza Hut. The group found a slice of pizza topped with pepperoni and sausage is almost equal to the fat and calories that a large burger might have. While many consumers would not order more than one Big Mac or Whopper, many pizza-lovers don't think twice about reaching for a second or even third slice.

Of all foods, pizza calories, salt, fat and carbs varies the most--store to store and within the store:

One slice of Little Caesar's Round pizza varies from 240  for cheese pizza to 490 calories for the deep dish.  At Dominos, the calories go from 240  to 380 calories depending on the choice. Extra toppings add many more calories.

Many of the  pizza ingredients may be low calories and low fat and even "healthy" like:

• tomatoes
• onions
• tomato sauce
• mushrooms
• vegetables

The other  ingredients  are NOT "low" in anything or  “healthy:”

• pepperoni,
• extra cheese,
• sausage
• Alfredo sauce

It's not usually just a  single slice:
"Moderation" is not part  of most pizza makers or pizza eaters.    After  all of the oil, meat, cheese, thick crust,extra cheese, you've just eaten the whole day’s food.

Pizza is eaten differently than meat, chicken or fish:
Home delivery can be even more deadly than the drive-thru. Not only are you confronted with a faceless person on the phone, ordering large amounts of very high calorie food is not unusual, in fact it’s the norm.  You are encouraged to order more than one. A recent Domino’s ad featured, "order two pizzas get the 3rd for free." Who is the food for?   A family of four?  A couple? or may be just  for you?

Eating pizza is fun:
The overweight individual loves pizza especially when there is more than one box on the table.  Lost in a crowd of other people eating, no one is counting the pizza that anyone is eating. In fact, the person trying to lose weight is not counting either. One slice becomes two or three or even four.

The more pizza on the table the more is eaten. How many slices of pizza did you  eat? No one can keep track, it becomes your secret.

3 Secrets to Eating Pizza(If by circumstances, it  is the only choice):

1. Make sure you are eating something with the pizza(not the bread sticks or wings) but vegetables or
a salad. Thinking of it like diluting down the calories in an alcoholic drink with a zero calorie mixer,
it make the meal look bigger and give you a chance to fill up on lower calorie foods.

2. Order 1/2 cheese pizza and you cut down the calories by more than 1/3

3. Limit the toppings and the number of slices. The personal pan pizza, no toppings might be a good
choice. (640 calories)

Summary of the calories and  ingredients in pizzas from many stores.