When most people think about going on a diet, or when they see someone who is skinny, they assume that you can not eat pizza and lose weight and be thin. I get why people think this way. All that cheese and bread! However, there are many different kinds of pizza and you can customize them based on your needs. With the right ingredients, you can actually lose weight or maintain a consistent weight while still eating pizza. So today, I will teach you how to order a healthier low-calorie pizza! You will be able to order Domino’s Pizza without feeling guilty anymore. Most of the time in life, you can not have your cake and eat it too, but this is one of those situations where you absolutely can have both!

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Ingredients That Make Pizza Fattening/Healthier Alternatives

Dough

Breading/dough is one of the most fattening ingredients in pizza. Traditional pizza crust/hand-tossed pizzas tend to be very thick and fluffy, some even contain cheese inside the dough, in addition to the cheese that is on top of the Pizza. If you are dieting, it is best not to get a traditional crust Pizza, but rather, order a thin crust pizza or a gluten-free pizza. I find that when I order a gluten-free or thin crust pizza, I am much less tired after eating them because there are fewer carbs in them, which means less sugar, so they will contain fewer calories and are less fattening. When you go for these healthier alternatives, you can save between 60-70 calories per slice, so it is quite significant.

Brooklyn-style pizzas are another very popular type of pizza, and they have a thin crust, however, they do tend to contain more fat since fat is used to make them crispy, so I would avoid these types of pizzas while dieting.

If you are making pizza at home, you can make it even less fattening by using vegetables for your pizza crust, such as cauliflower crust. These are one of the healthiest options available for pizza crusts.

Cheese

The next most fattening ingredient on Pizza tends to be cheese. The most common cheeses put on pizza are cheddar, parmesan, asiago, provolone, and feta. My favorite cheeses are cheddar, parmesan, and feta, but cheddar cheese is pretty high-calorie. One slice of cheddar cheese is over 110 calories. Provolone cheese is not very flavorful in my opinion, especially compared to feta and cheddar, so I never get it, but it is around 100 calories a slice, similar to cheddar cheese. Asiago cheese is the highest and it has a lot of sodium, usually bad salt. Asiago cheese is around 110 calories per ounce and it has almost 400 mg of sodium.

Parmesan and feta cheese are my favorite cheeses for pizza. They are low-calorie and very flavorful and delicious. Parmesan cheese is around 20 calories a tablespoon and feta cheese is about 75 calories an ounce. I find that I really enjoy the taste of Pizza much more when I add feta and parmesan to it.

When you order a pizza, in order to reduce the amount of calories in it, I recommend adding parmesan and feta cheese to them, but go light on cheese for the entire Pizza. When you make pizza at home, you can make it even healthier by choosing to use a low-fat low sodium cheese on it, and avoid cheeses that are high in sodium or those made from whole milk. Cheeses that contain fewer calories will be made from non-fat milk or low fat milk, so the lowest calorie pizzas that you can have will be the ones that you make at home or buy in stores.

Meat

The kind of meat that you add on pizza really adds to the calories considerably. For example, if you get anchovies on pizza, it will add around 90 calories to the pizza. Ham is around 250 calories for one cup. There are a lot of calories in sausage, so I recommend avoiding sausage all together while dieting. One sausage link contains almost 400 calories, so it tends to be really high-calorie. Chicken can also be a bit high-calorie; chicken can vary between 320-350 calories, depending on the type of meat (light or dark meat), what is added to it such as flour and spices, as well as how much is on the pizza. In general, dark meat is more fattening and it does contain more calories, so white meat is the lower calorie option.

While dieting, I generally choose beef over chicken, since it tends to be lower in calories. Beef is around 200 calories. I absolutely love beef brisket because it is delicious and low-calorie. Beef brisket is around 44 calories an ounce, so you can eat a considerable amount of it and get full for a long time without consuming a lot of calories.

A whole steak is around 300 calories, but considering how you can get full on a whole steak, this is really great in terms of calories. In general, I find steak to be more filling than chicken, so it is definitely something to consider eating if you are on an intense restrictive diet. Philly steak is also common on pizza and it is also lower in calories. Philly steak is around 100 calories per serving.

Salami is another popular meat that is put on pizza. Salami can be just beef alone, it can be pork alone, or it can be a mix of beef and pork together. When salami has pork in it, it is much more fattening; the calories can go up to around 120 calories an ounce when it has pork, or about 40 calories per slice. In general, salami has around the same calories as pepperoni; 35 to 40 calories a slice. Pepperoni is also high in fat, but you can get some reduced-fat pepperoni that is made without antibiotics and hormones, so it will not hurt your diet.

Bacon has around the same amount of calories as pepperoni and salami. Bacon is around 43 calories a slice, but bacon is not as filling as beef salami, so you do need more of it to get full. In this way, the calories can really start to add up. In general, bacon is one of those foods that you should avoid while dieting.

Chorizo is another meat that a lot of people like to have on pizza. If you are unfamiliar with chorizo, it is a Mexican and Spanish dish that consists of pork sausage. I would avoid chorizo all together for health and diet reasons. The problem with chorizo is that it can often be undercooked, especially in restaurants that are rushing to get food out. Unfortunately, often when I eat Mexican food, I find the meat to be too undercooked for my liking, especially pork, beef, and bacon. Even when I ask for it to be well-done, it never is done enough, so I try to avoid Mexican meat while dieting.

If you cook chorizo yourself, or buy it yourself, you can get it fully cooked, cured, or smoked. Chorizo can be made with different spices and seasonings, but it tends to be very fattening, so it is definitely not for dieters. These days, you can get chorizo in stores and there are vegetarian versions or ones made from beef, chicken, or turkey. You will have to get these on your own, however, and cook them yourself. When it comes to Pizza, you are likely to get chorizo as pork. A lot of people like chorizo because it is flavorful since it has a variety of ingredients in it, such as chili peppers, coriander, paprika, cumin, garlic, clove, tomatoes, cilantro, and onions.

Portions

Portion control is very important when eating high-calorie fattening foods. You can eat fattening foods as long as you limit how much you eat at one time. When you order a pizza, especially if you are dieting, it is a good idea to get a small or medium-sized Pizza, instead of a large pizza. Getting a small pizza will cut the calories in half. Another option is to get a large pizza, and break it down and eat it over the course of three or four meals. Eat one or two slices of pizza with something else like a side of vegetables, rather than eat the slices of pizza by themselves. This will make the pizza more filling and you can eat less of it and consume fewer calories per meal.

Conclusion

Pizza is delicious and it is a great treat to have. You can add as many vegetables and peppers as you want to any pizza and it will not make it fattening or high-calorie. What makes pizza fattening is the dough, how the dough is prepared, the cheese, and the meats. So when you order pizza, remember to go heavy on the veggies, and manage your portions. Less is better with meat, dough, and cheese.

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