Healthy Pizza

This article is about to attempt something that is widely considered impossible. It is going to try to make delivery pizza healthy! Okay, that’s a step too far. You don’t get delivery pizza to be healthy, you get it as a treat, or to celebrate. What we don’t want is this article to make people consider cauliflower-based tofu pizzas! The idea is to minimize damage but still be able to eat and hack your way to a healthy pizza.As such we will be analyzing pizzas from three of the most common pizza delivery companies (Dominos, Papa John’s and Pizza Hut). These three are the biggest companies in terms of sales and are all well known across the country. As we mentioned before, we aren’t looking for super healthy options, but are instead looking for the healthiest option available. Pizza is not really a great diet food, but there are definitely better pizza choices that you can make. Some rules that we are going to lay down first: We are looking for the lowest calorie pizza, so we will not be looking at side orders, salads, or individual slices (if you order that stuff, you've got bigger problems than a healthier pie, Nancy).

Dominos

Most of Dominos’ pizzas are ridiculously high in calories, but we managed to find two pizzas that stayed relatively low calorie. Sadly, these are both controversial choices: We found the Veggie Feast pizza was only 1280 calories (or 640 calories for a half), while the Hawaiian Pizza was only 1,360 or (680 calories for a half). The Veggie Feast was a large hand tossed. It contained 8 slices. There was 56g of protein, 128g of carbs, and 76g of fat. The pizza contains green peppers, onions, mushrooms, black olives, and extra cheese. Eating half of the pizza would be 640 calories, 28g of protein, 64g of carbs, and 38g of fat.

The Hawaiian Feast is a 12-inch medium, thin crust pizza. It also contained 8 slices. There was 64g of protein, 136g of carbs, and 76g of fat. The pizza contains ham, pineapple, and extra cheese. Eating half of the pizza would be 680 calories, 32g of protein, 68g of carbs, and 38g of fat. Incidentally, the highest calorie pizza on Dominos’ menu is the MEATzza Feast which contains 3,440 calories, or 430 calories per slice. Yeah, it saddens us to read that, too.

Papa John’s

What’s good about Papa John’s Pizza is that they are incredibly open about their nutrition. They can help you design your perfect pizza slice and give you a complete calorie rundown of each one. What’s not so good is that it is impossible to order a pizza that comes in at under 1,000 calories. Just like Domino's, each pizza is around 8 slices (medium). A normal serving size is around 4 slices (half). The pizza we created looks like this:

• Thin Crust
• Pizza Sauce
• Light Sauce
• No Cheese
• Chicken
• Black Olives
• Fresh Mushrooms
• Green Peppers
• Jalapenos
• Onions

The pizza comes to 1,280 calories with 40g of protein, 136g of carbs, and 36g of fat. Eating half the pizza would come to 640 calories, with 20g of protein, 68g of carbs, and 18g of fat. The highest calorie pizza we could find was the Chicken Bacon Philly (medium) which was 2,560 calories, or 320 calories per slice.

Pizza Hut

The Veggie Sizzler Gluten Free Pizza is without a doubt the lowest calorie option on Pizza Hut’s menu, which makes it the healthy pizza pick on their menu. Coming in at only 116 calories per slice. The pizza is 8 slices big, meaning that the pizza is only 928 calories in total or 464 calories for a half. There are 56g of protein in the pizza, 131.2g of carbs, and 48g of fat. That means that half of the pizza contains 28g of protein, 65.6g of carbs, and 24g of fat.

Final Thoughts

If there is one takeaway here, it is that delivered pizza is NOT a good diet choice and healthy pizza is about as impossible to find on the menu as a free pizza. It should be seen as an occasional treat. Concentrate on serving size, look at ordering from authentic Italian restaurants (which tend to favor thinner crusts), and avoid all extras. Or, eat the highest calorie pizza available, and then reduce calories for the next week to ten days to compensate! Bottomline, pizza shouldn't be healthy. It should be enjoyed. if it happens to be a little lighter because you made smart choices, that's just a bonus that can make a healthy pizza a part of a fun night.