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Can Pizza be a Healthy Take-Out Option?
When you think of a healthy takeaway option, pizza will likely not come to mind. Homemade pizzas can certainly be a healthy choice for a quick throw together meal, but fast food pizza outlets usually only offer heavy and oily bases topped with high fat meats, large amounts of cheese and very limited vegetables. Pizza doesn’t have to be an unhealthy takeaway option. Choosing the right pizza restaurant and the right toppings can turn a very unhealthy meal into a relatively low fat meal with a lean protein source and a healthy serve of vegetables.
The recent surge of individual or small chain wood-fired pizza restaurants has revolutionised the takeaway pizza. These restaurants make choosing a healthy pizza option much easier, offering fresh ingredients, lean meats, a wide variety of vegetables, low fat cheeses and the ability to choose your own toppings. The bases are generally lighter and not greasy like fast food takeaway pizza bases. Many of these individual restaurants or smaller chains, such as Crust Pizza, also offer ‘off the menu’ healthier options with nutrition information available to the customer.
In response to this, fast food pizza chains such as Domino’s and Pizza Hut are now also offering healthier pizza options. Domino’s have the Good Choice range of 97% fat free pizzas and Pizza Hut have the Light and Delicious Range. These pizzas are topped with lean chicken fillets or prawn, a large variety of vegetables, tomato based sauce and low fat cheese. Domino’s also offer an additional low carb base, which has a quarter of the carbohydrate per 100g than the traditional base. The nutrition information for all Domino’s and Pizza Hut pizzas, both healthy and traditional options is available on their websites.
The table below compares a regular pizza to a healthier option pizza from a Crust Pizza, Domino’s Pizza and Pizza Hut menu per 100g
| Kj | Cal | Fat (g) | Sat Fat (g) | CHO (g) | Sugar (g) | Sodium (mg) |
Dominos Traditional BBQ Chicken and Rasher Bacon 624g pizza | 949 | 227 | 7.6 | 3.4 | 28.7 | 6.2 | 493 |
Dominos BBQ Good Choice Chicken and Pineapple 584g pizza | 793 | 190 | 3.0 | 1.5 | 31.9 | 4.8 | 360 |
Pizza Hut Traditional Garlic Prawn 590g pizza | 1016 | 243 | 7.6 | 3 | 31.9 | 2.3 | 443 |
Pizza Hut Light and Delicious Chilli Prawn 290g pizza | 968 | 231 | 5.3 | 2.3 | 35.4 | 4.9 | 482 |
Crust Traditional Pesto Chicken Club Approx 540g medium pizza | 1030 | 246 | 10.5 | 3.3 | 24.5 | 2.5 | 470 |
Crust Healthier Choice Chicken Avocado on Wholemeal Base 301g Pizza | 1110 | 265 | 7.5 | 2.4 | 31.8 | 4.8 | 270 |
Homemade 9 inch Chicken and Sundried Tomato Pizza (recipe below) 649g pizza | 557 | 133 | 4.1 | 1.5 | 12.3 | 1.9 | 350 |
Let us start by comparing each chains healthy pizza to the traditional version.
Domino’s Good Choice chicken pizza contains slightly less kilojoules, approximately half the fat and saturated fat per 100g compared to the traditional chicken pizza. It also has 130mg per 100g less sodium. It is good to point out that the Domino’s Good Choice range pizzas are approximately the same size and weight for a whole pizza as the traditional range. Although the overall kilojoule/calorie intake of the two is similar, the overall fat and saturated fat content is much lower in the Good Choice range. Choosing a Good Choice pizza will save you on fat and saturated fat, but it would also be wise to share the pizza to cut the kilojoule/calorie intake too.
From the table it would appear that the Pizza Hut Light and Delicious range isn’t a better option than the traditional range pizzas. The kilojoule/calorie, fat and saturated fat are practically the same. In fact, the sodium content is higher per 100g. So what’s the catch? Pizza Huts healthy range is Light and Delicious, as the whole pizza is approximately 300g less than a traditional range pizza. This means that the overall kilojoule/calorie, fat, saturated fat and sodium content is much lower than that of a whole traditional pizza. This in fact makes it a much healthier option if you wish to eat the whole pizza, even more so if you share it! It would also make it a healthier option than eating a whole Good Choice Domino’s pizza, if you were planning on eating the entire pizza, keeping in mind it will be substantially smaller.
The same applies for the Crust Pizza Healthier Choice menu. The kilojoule/calorie, fat and saturated fat content per 100g is much the same, however the pizza as a whole is approximately 200g smaller than the traditional option. Overall, this certainly makes it a healthier option.
Lastly, let us look at the homemade Chicken and Sundried Tomato pizza. Comparing the weight of the whole pizza, this pizza was actually the largest by weight. It was also by far the healthiest option with the lowest kilojoule/calorie, fat, carbohydrate and sodium content per 100g. It contains a lean meat source, low fat cheeses and vegetables. It is simple and quick to make, and when shared with a side salad is a very healthy dinner meal. Check out the recipe below.
But if it is a takeout pizza you are after, how about designing your own. Most fast food pizza places and smaller chains will allow you to design your own pizzas, even with online ordering. Here are some good tips to designing your own low kilojoule/calorie, low fat pizza
- Choose a tomato base, avoid oily or creamy bases or sauce bases such as bbq
- Choose a lean protein such as roasted chicken, lean beef, seafood or prawn and avoid meats such as peperoni, meat lovers and deli meats
- Add as many fresh vegetables as possible and avoid vegetables soaked in oils. Try a variety of vegetables such as mushroom, capsicum, tomato, spinach, onion,
- Ask for minimal or no mozzarella and replace it with a low fat feta or bocconcini. Pizzas do not need to be laden with cheese, and a small amount of gourmet cheese will suffice if you pack the pizza with vegetables
- Ask for no sauce toppings (Tzatziki, yoghurt, bbq, hollandaise etc) or if you must have it, ask for it on the side and use minimally
- Choose the small size pizza, this will be more than substantial enough
Chicken and Sundried Tomato Pizza
100gram skinless chicken breast
Salt and cracked black pepper
1 Bazaar Single Serve Gourmet Pizza Base (166gram)
2 tablespoons Leggo’s Pizza Sauce (35gram)
10 x 97% fat free sundried tomatoes (44gram)
2 canned sliced artichoke hearts (110gram)
½ sliced small red onion (30gram)
6 sliced mushrooms (84gram)
50gram extra light cheddar cheese
30gram reduced fat feta cheese
Preheat oven to 180ºC
Season chicken with salt and cracked black pepper and wrap in alfoil.
Cook in oven for approximately 10mins, or until cooked through.
Meanwhile, spread pizza base with pizza sauce.
Top with sundried tomatoes, artichoke hearts, onion and mushrooms.
Slice chicken and add to pizza.
Top with cheddar and feta cheeses.
Bake in the oven for 10-15mins, until base is crisp and cheese is melted.
Nutrition – per serve 1 whole pizza (649g)
Kj - 3625, Cal - 868, Fat – 26.8g, Saturated fat – 9.5g, Carbohydrate - 79.9g, Sugar – 12.5g, Fibre – 10.6g, Sodium – 2280mg
Added to site on : Monday, 9 September 2013