Us Americans love our pizza according to an article by David Zinczenko titled, The Best and Worst Pizzas in America, where it says we consume an average of 46 slices a year.

This article isn’t about the tastiest pizzas nor the ones that taste like cardboard though (and I know comparing pizza to cardboard is kind of silly because how many of us have actually taken a bite of cardboard – well, except on a dare at a party where many cocktails had already been consumed).

It’s about the worst offenders in the calorie, fat, and sodium department.

There’s 2 pizzas on the list that caught my attention, Papa John’s Pan Crust Garden Fresh Pizza and Uno Chicago Grill Classic Deep Dish Individual pizza because they are ones I might have ordered thinking they weren’t too bad to eat while dieting.  Good thing I found this article because I would have been wrong! (which of course hardly ever happens – just ask my husband – he’ll tell you I’m always right and if he does just ignore it when he also rolls his eyes).

How high in calories can a veggie pizza be?  Two slices of Papa John’s Garden Fresh Pizza with a pan crust has 740 calories; 38 grams fat; and 1,320 mg sodium.  But just by getting the garden fresh pizza with thin crust instead of the pan crust saves more than 300 calories and 16 grams of fat.  Asking for half the cheese will save even more calories and fat.

Uno Chicago Grill’s Individual Classic Deep Dish Pizza is listed as the the #1 worst pizza in America.  An individual pizza sounds like it would be okay while trying to lose weight, especially if you only ate half of it right?  Nope!  Just half of the pizza has 1,155 calories and 82.5 grams of fat!  Half that pizza would use up all my Weight Watchers points for the day and let me tell you that I certainly would want more to eat in one day than half an individual size pizza!  The flatbread pizza at Uno is a better choice.  But, like the article states, be careful when looking at Uno’s nutrition calculator because the calories and fat listed isn’t usually for the entire portion of food they’re going to set in front of you; it’s for only part of it.

But even though some restaurant pizzas are really high in fat and calories doesn’t mean you can only have Lean Cuisine pizza at home.  The article also lists some “figure friendly” pizza choices such as Domino’s Thin Crust and Pineapple Pizza which will only set you back 190 calories for one medium slice.

To read about all the best and worst pizza picks, click here to read the entire article.

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