Love Pizza? Here’s 7 Ways To Cut Down On Pizza Calories

If your mouth starts watering at the thought of melted cheese and pepperoni or veggies on some kind of crust, take comfort that you fit the stats:

• American men, women, and children eat, on average 46 slices of pizza a year.

• 94% of Americans eat pizza regularly

• In the US, 61% prefer regular thin crust, 14% prefer deep-dish, and 11% prefer extra thin crust

• 62% of Americans prefer meat toppings; 38% prefer vegetables

• 36% order pizza topped with pepperoni

Is Pizza Junk Food?

Pizza can be a pretty good food – both in calories and nutrition.  On the other hand it can be pretty lousy – both in calories and nutrition.

It’s difficult to estimate the number of calories and fat grams in a slice of pizza because the size and depth of the pies and the amount of cheese, meat, or other toppings vary enormously.

Here’s the good news: pizza can be a healthy food choice filled with complex carbs, B-vitamins, calcium, protein, vitamin A, and vitamin C and calorically okay if you choose wisely and don’t eat more than your fair share.

The not so good news:  the amount of fat, calories, and portion size. If your mouth starts to water at the thought of golden brown crust and cheesy goodness — here’s the downer:  that luscious slice of pizza that should be about the size of two dollar bills – not the size of a small frying pan or a quarter of a 12” circle.

7 Ways To Build a Better Slice of Pizza

1. Order thin crust rather than a thick crust or deep dish.
2. Resist the urge to ask for double cheese — better yet, go light on the cheese or use reduced-fat cheese (if they have it).
3. Ask for a pizza without cheese but topped with veggies and a little olive oil. You can always sprinkle on a little grated parmesan for flavor; one tablespoon has only 22 calories.
4. Instead of cheese go for big flavors like onion, garlic, olives but use them somewhat sparingly because of the oil.  And don’t forget anchovies  – a lot of flavor for minimal calories – but you have to like them!
5. Choose vegetable toppings instead of meat (think about the fat content in sausage, pepperoni, and meatballs) and you might shave 100 calories from your meal. Pile on veggies like mushrooms, peppers, olives, tomatoes, onion, broccoli, spinach, and asparagus. Some places have salad pizza – great if it’s not loaded with oil.
6. Order a side salad (careful with the dressing) and cut down on the amount of pizza.  Salad takes longer to eat, too.
7. If you’re willing (and not embarrassed or grossed out), try blotting up the free-floating oil that sits on top of a greasy slice with a napkin. Blotting (it’s easy to do this on the kind of hot slice where the oil runs down your arm when you pick it up) can soak up a teaspoon of oil worth 40 calories and 5 grams of fat.

Deep Dish, Hand Tossed, Thin Crust?

Check out the difference in calories for the same size slice of Domino’s classic hand-tossed, deep dish, and crunchy thin crust pizzas – each with the same toppings.  Then check out the difference in calories fort the various toppings.

Domino’s 14 inch large classic hand-tossed pizza

• America’s Favorite (Peperoni, mushroom, sausage, 1/8 of pizza):  390 calories

• Bacon Cheeseburger (Beef, bacon, cheddar cheese), 1/8 of pizza:  420 calories

• Vegi Feast (Green pepper, onion, mushroom, black olive, extra cheese, 1/8 of pizza):  340 calories

Domino’s 14 inch large ultimate deep dish pizza

• America’s Favorite (Peperoni, mushroom, sausage), 1/8 of pizza:  400 calories

• Bacon Cheeseburger (Beef, bacon, cheddar cheese), 1/8 of pizza:  430 calories

• Vegi Feast (Green pepper, onion, mushroom, black olive, extra cheese), 1/8 of pizza:  350 calories

Domino’s 14 inch large crunchy thin crust pizza

• America’s Favorite (Peperoni, mushroom, sausage, 1/8 of pizza:  280 calories)

• Bacon Cheeseburger (Beef, bacon, cheddar cheese), 1/8 of pizza:  310 calories

• Vegi Feast (Green pepper, onion, mushroom, black olive, extra cheese), 1/8 of pizza:  230 calories