Why does pizza have such a bad reputation?

135

Replies

  • stealthSLOTH
    stealthSLOTH Posts: 695 Member
    There was this one time, in jr high school, that pizza and i smoked weed under the bleachers.

    We totally got detention. :smokin: :laugh: And I got a bad rep...
  • I like lots of veggies on my pizza...thin crust and not a gob of cheese. I use a mango hot sauce to drizzle on the top....my local favorite pizza joint had a variety of sauces. Pizza is an excellent food choice...its all in wat you put on it.
  • Acg67
    Acg67 Posts: 12,142 Member
    OP it's simple. because the pizza they're referring to when they say low nutritional content is not made from whole wheat dough or ANY high quality ingredients.

    when people refer to pizza as a "bad" food, they're talking about typical store bought, refined white flour crust, HFCS sauce, and heavily processed cheese product - which is nutritionally inferior to the pizza you described.

    a pizza can be incredibly healthy or incredibly unhealthy depending on how it's made and from what ingredients.

    lol whole wheat dough
  • CoachReddy
    CoachReddy Posts: 3,949 Member
    OP it's simple. because the pizza they're referring to when they say low nutritional content is not made from whole wheat dough or ANY high quality ingredients.

    when people refer to pizza as a "bad" food, they're talking about typical store bought, refined white flour crust, HFCS sauce, and heavily processed cheese product - which is nutritionally inferior to the pizza you described.

    a pizza can be incredibly healthy or incredibly unhealthy depending on how it's made and from what ingredients.

    lol whole wheat dough

    agreed. i don't eat it myself. it is, however, preferable to enriched fortified white flour doughs.

    lol yourself.
  • stealthq
    stealthq Posts: 4,298 Member
    There is pizza (Pizza Hut, Domino's, etc) that is so loaded with grease that the crust is like a grease-sponge, and then there is real pizza. The former, I would imagine, is so packed with calories from the excess grease that it would be difficult not to overeat.

    Real pizza, i.e. the type of pizza that you'd typically find baked in a wood-fired oven ( oven not required ) is a totally different beast and can be found in at least one chain - Grimaldi's. There are probably more, I've just not found them. I'm lucky and have several restaurants, including Grimaldi's, near me that make the good stuff. One of my favorites is crust + arugula + gorgonzola + pear + walnuts and a drizzle of olive oil and balsamic. When I want something savory/salty, I opt for crust + marinara + moz. + sardine + basil.
  • Morninglory81
    Morninglory81 Posts: 1,190 Member
    We have take out Pizza every Tuesday at my house and I eat 2 slices and enjoy them. I see no problem with pizza.
  • ozigal
    ozigal Posts: 173 Member
    This is the UK calorie count for pizza express.

    http://www.pizzaexpress.com/uploads/documents/calorie.pdf

    At 800+ calories per pizza there is very little on this menu that I would consider eating. That's most of my daily calorie count on one pizza... no thanks!
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,865 Member
    Because it's easier to demonize calorie dense foods then it is to control the consumption of those foods. Before MFP, I had not idea about calorie density, nutritional density, etc. I had no idea what a serving of pizza was or how many calories that was...I just ate 4 or 5 slices rather than 1 or 2 not realizing how many calories I was consuming. It's actually much easier for me to love my pizza now.

    All that said, I think, relative to the caloric density of pizza it is relatively lacking in nutrient density relative to other high caloric dense foods. Of course, that would be dependent on where the pizza came from...but just the general "pizza hut" pizza or something.
  • RllyGudTweetr
    RllyGudTweetr Posts: 2,019 Member
    This is the UK calorie count for pizza express.

    http://www.pizzaexpress.com/uploads/documents/calorie.pdf

    At 800+ calories per pizza there is very little on this menu that I would consider eating. That's most of my daily calorie count on one pizza... no thanks!
    1. That's a whole pizza. That's an issue of portion size, not food source. 2. The menu itself gives you suggestions on how to reduce the calories.

    I'm not seeing the problem.
  • EmmaKarney
    EmmaKarney Posts: 690 Member
    This is the UK calorie count for pizza express.

    http://www.pizzaexpress.com/uploads/documents/calorie.pdf

    At 800+ calories per pizza there is very little on this menu that I would consider eating. That's most of my daily calorie count on one pizza... no thanks!
    1. That's a whole pizza. That's an issue of portion size, not food source. 2. The menu itself gives you suggestions on how to reduce the calories.

    I'm not seeing the problem.

    A whole pizza at pizza express is designed to be one portion.
  • RllyGudTweetr
    RllyGudTweetr Posts: 2,019 Member
    This is the UK calorie count for pizza express.

    http://www.pizzaexpress.com/uploads/documents/calorie.pdf

    At 800+ calories per pizza there is very little on this menu that I would consider eating. That's most of my daily calorie count on one pizza... no thanks!
    1. That's a whole pizza. That's an issue of portion size, not food source. 2. The menu itself gives you suggestions on how to reduce the calories.

    I'm not seeing the problem.

    A whole pizza at pizza express is designed to be one portion.
    And they give you options and information whereby you can control how much you're eating to conform to your nutritional goals and needs. So. . .?
  • irjeffb
    irjeffb Posts: 275 Member
    I try to avoid pizza because it's a weakness of mine. I LOVE it. My problem is that I can easily eat 1000 calories worth of pizza. It's just easier for me to have none than a little bit.

    Ice cream falls into this category for me as well for the same reason.
  • KimberlyDCZ
    KimberlyDCZ Posts: 525 Member
    People give different foods a bad name BECAUSE THEY DONT KNOW WTF THEY ARE TALKING ABOUT!
    ;D

    Learning when to eat is just as important as what to eat.

    THIS! haha, LOVE IT!
  • eric_sg61
    eric_sg61 Posts: 2,925 Member
    Because people who actually are fat seem to eat a proportionally large quantity of pizza. Same with hamburgers, bacon, ice cream, etc.

    These are very calorie-dense foods that make it very easy to consume excess calories.

    None of these foods are inherently bad. If you can eat them while fitting them into a reasonable quantity of calories then there's nothing to worry about.
    Came in to post this^. Pizza is calorie dense, and who can stop at just eating one piece and be full. Not me.
  • Acg67
    Acg67 Posts: 12,142 Member
    OP it's simple. because the pizza they're referring to when they say low nutritional content is not made from whole wheat dough or ANY high quality ingredients.

    when people refer to pizza as a "bad" food, they're talking about typical store bought, refined white flour crust, HFCS sauce, and heavily processed cheese product - which is nutritionally inferior to the pizza you described.

    a pizza can be incredibly healthy or incredibly unhealthy depending on how it's made and from what ingredients.

    lol whole wheat dough

    agreed. i don't eat it myself. it is, however, preferable to enriched fortified white flour doughs.

    lol yourself.

    Not really as the nutritional differences between the two are pretty insignificant, in terms of vitamins and minerals absorbed
  • cmcollins001
    cmcollins001 Posts: 3,472 Member
    Don't know, don't care, eating pizza anyway.

    so-there.gif

    Huge_smiley_with_tongue_out.gif

    Mmmm....pizza
  • My husband and I split a Red Baron frozen pizza once a week. It is our treat on our rest day. The only thing we worry about is staying with in our calories. So far it has done nothing to stop us from losing weight. I think Pizza gets a bad reputation if your are not counting how many slices/calories you are eating at one setting and eating it often.
  • XXXMinnieXXX
    XXXMinnieXXX Posts: 3,459 Member
    Now I make healthy home made pizzas, but anything from the take away is in no way healthy. Ridiculous amounts of cheese and greasy meats and heavily processed white carbs. The way it makes me feel sick says it isn't good for me and when I've had it I never get a good weigh in that week, even if I've done a sodium flush after and a few low carb days. 1 slice has the calories of a lot of my dinners, and I always end up eating 3 and just seem to want loads of junk afterwards. It definitely doesn't do me any favours!
  • dbmata
    dbmata Posts: 12,950 Member
    The thing is, the pizza I described in the first post is available essentially exactly as I listed it from three different delivery outfits within 2 miles of my house. It's not as if I'd need to make it at home in order to ensure the nutritional value was there; I'd just have to avoid obvious and well-known nutritional pitfalls that are not exclusive to pizza.

    Lots of places pour on extra oil

    A lot of people don't realize this about restaurants, there are a lot of things used commonly that are not something you'd ever do at home.

    For example, every place I worked at used 2oz ladles for oil. ;)
  • amelia_atlantic
    amelia_atlantic Posts: 926 Member
    Pizza is basically my happy place. I agree with most people who said the issue is the quantitiy.

    To include it in my life:
    Make healthy versions using pita bread or a low carb wrap, lots of veggies, a little bit of tomato paste and low fat shredded mozz.
    Go to a SLICE BAR. One slice and you've hit the craving without going over.
    Workout if I plan on having it later that day.
  • weinbagel
    weinbagel Posts: 337 Member
    personally, for me, i always overeat pizza. there's no such thing as "just eating one slice". it's like...the whole pizza or nothin haha. also, it has a ton of carbs. there are healthier alternatives, like "meatza" or a cauliflower base instead of flour. portabella pizza... mmm!
    I hear regularly about folks giving up pizza in an effort to eat healthier. Flyers plastered around the local college compare "high nutrient density foods" to "low nutrient density foods," with pizza consistently placed in the latter category. What's going on?

    If you were to eat two slices of multi-grain bread, 2 ounces mozzarella cheese, an ounce of beef or chicken, and an ounce each of chopped tomato, onions, green peppers, and olives, would you consider that a "low nutrient density" meal? If yes, what qualifies as a "high nutrient density food" for comparison? If no, then what magical process associated with a pizza oven removes the nutrients?

    I mean, sure, if you pile on double cheese, extra pepperoni and sausage, and eat an entire large pie, you'll be filling up on calories while missing some macros and micros, but there's nothing inherent in pizza that requires you either skip ALL the veggies or down a whole pie at one setting.

    What do you think?
  • Arkhos
    Arkhos Posts: 290 Member
    As far as those referring to chain restaurant pizza being Greasy.. Isn't that really from the pepperoni and sausage? So if you got a ham, veggies, pineapple it would not be greasy right? So then it would be good?

    I find that I'm usually hungry shortly after eating 2 slices of pizza :sad:
  • UsedToBeHusky
    UsedToBeHusky Posts: 15,228 Member
    OP it's simple. because the pizza they're referring to when they say low nutritional content is not made from whole wheat dough or ANY high quality ingredients.

    when people refer to pizza as a "bad" food, they're talking about typical store bought, refined white flour crust, HFCS sauce, and heavily processed cheese product - which is nutritionally inferior to the pizza you described.

    a pizza can be incredibly healthy or incredibly unhealthy depending on how it's made and from what ingredients.

    lol whole wheat dough

    agreed. i don't eat it myself. it is, however, preferable to enriched fortified white flour doughs.

    lol yourself.

    Not really as the nutritional differences between the two are pretty insignificant, in terms of vitamins and minerals absorbed

    go troll somewhere else

    I don't understand why when someone challenges your logic, you assume that they are trolling.
  • Acg67
    Acg67 Posts: 12,142 Member
    OP it's simple. because the pizza they're referring to when they say low nutritional content is not made from whole wheat dough or ANY high quality ingredients.

    when people refer to pizza as a "bad" food, they're talking about typical store bought, refined white flour crust, HFCS sauce, and heavily processed cheese product - which is nutritionally inferior to the pizza you described.

    a pizza can be incredibly healthy or incredibly unhealthy depending on how it's made and from what ingredients.

    lol whole wheat dough

    agreed. i don't eat it myself. it is, however, preferable to enriched fortified white flour doughs.

    lol yourself.

    Not really as the nutritional differences between the two are pretty insignificant, in terms of vitamins and minerals absorbed

    go troll somewhere else

    I don't understand why when someone challenges your logic, you assume that they are trolling.

    well first, what he said is not true, but secondly because he understands full well that i don't personally eat whole wheat products, but simply mentioned it because that's more accessible for a larger audience. he's targeting me specifically instead of involving himself in the thread with regard to the OP, which is his MO

    non fortified, non-enriched, natural whole grain breads are absolutely different in terms of the nutrients absorbed and how they're metabolized in your body vs wonderbread

    but please, continue contributing in such a helpful manner. :)

    Phytic acid added to white-wheat bread inhibits fractional apparent magnesium absorption in humans

    http://ajcn.nutrition.org/content/79/3/418.full
  • RllyGudTweetr
    RllyGudTweetr Posts: 2,019 Member
    OP it's simple. because the pizza they're referring to when they say low nutritional content is not made from whole wheat dough or ANY high quality ingredients.

    when people refer to pizza as a "bad" food, they're talking about typical store bought, refined white flour crust, HFCS sauce, and heavily processed cheese product - which is nutritionally inferior to the pizza you described.

    a pizza can be incredibly healthy or incredibly unhealthy depending on how it's made and from what ingredients.

    lol whole wheat dough

    agreed. i don't eat it myself. it is, however, preferable to enriched fortified white flour doughs.

    lol yourself.

    Not really as the nutritional differences between the two are pretty insignificant, in terms of vitamins and minerals absorbed

    go troll somewhere else

    I don't understand why when someone challenges your logic, you assume that they are trolling.

    well first, what he said is not true, but secondly because he understands full well that i don't personally eat whole wheat products, but simply mentioned it because that's more accessible for a larger audience. he's targeting me specifically instead of involving himself in the thread with regard to the OP, which is his MO

    non fortified, non-enriched, natural whole grain breads are absolutely different in terms of the nutrients absorbed and how they're metabolized in your body vs wonderbread

    but please, continue contributing in such a helpful manner. :)

    Phytic acid added to white-wheat bread inhibits fractional apparent magnesium absorption in humans

    http://ajcn.nutrition.org/content/79/3/418.full
    Wonder bread? Where are you still able to get Wonder bread?
  • CoachReddy
    CoachReddy Posts: 3,949 Member
    OP it's simple. because the pizza they're referring to when they say low nutritional content is not made from whole wheat dough or ANY high quality ingredients.

    when people refer to pizza as a "bad" food, they're talking about typical store bought, refined white flour crust, HFCS sauce, and heavily processed cheese product - which is nutritionally inferior to the pizza you described.

    a pizza can be incredibly healthy or incredibly unhealthy depending on how it's made and from what ingredients.

    lol whole wheat dough

    agreed. i don't eat it myself. it is, however, preferable to enriched fortified white flour doughs.

    lol yourself.

    Not really as the nutritional differences between the two are pretty insignificant, in terms of vitamins and minerals absorbed

    go troll somewhere else

    I don't understand why when someone challenges your logic, you assume that they are trolling.

    well first, what he said is not true, but secondly because he understands full well that i don't personally eat whole wheat products, but simply mentioned it because that's more accessible for a larger audience. he's targeting me specifically instead of involving himself in the thread with regard to the OP, which is his MO

    non fortified, non-enriched, natural whole grain breads are absolutely different in terms of the nutrients absorbed and how they're metabolized in your body vs wonderbread

    but please, continue contributing in such a helpful manner. :)

    Phytic acid added to white-wheat bread inhibits fractional apparent magnesium absorption in humans

    http://ajcn.nutrition.org/content/79/3/418.full

    i've got a really really easy solution for that.

    and... dude... first you said: "Not really as the nutritional differences between the two are pretty insignificant, in terms of vitamins and minerals absorbed "

    now you're saying it's ... just... one mineral.

    which is it?
  • jonnythan
    jonnythan Posts: 10,161 Member
    OP it's simple. because the pizza they're referring to when they say low nutritional content is not made from whole wheat dough or ANY high quality ingredients.

    when people refer to pizza as a "bad" food, they're talking about typical store bought, refined white flour crust, HFCS sauce, and heavily processed cheese product - which is nutritionally inferior to the pizza you described.

    a pizza can be incredibly healthy or incredibly unhealthy depending on how it's made and from what ingredients.

    lol whole wheat dough

    agreed. i don't eat it myself. it is, however, preferable to enriched fortified white flour doughs.

    lol yourself.

    Not really as the nutritional differences between the two are pretty insignificant, in terms of vitamins and minerals absorbed

    go troll somewhere else

    I don't understand why when someone challenges your logic, you assume that they are trolling.

    well first, what he said is not true, but secondly because he understands full well that i don't personally eat whole wheat products, but simply mentioned it because that's more accessible for a larger audience. he's targeting me specifically instead of involving himself in the thread with regard to the OP, which is his MO

    non fortified, non-enriched, natural whole grain breads are absolutely different in terms of the nutrients absorbed and how they're metabolized in your body vs wonderbread

    but please, continue contributing in such a helpful manner. :)

    Phytic acid added to white-wheat bread inhibits fractional apparent magnesium absorption in humans

    http://ajcn.nutrition.org/content/79/3/418.full

    i've got a really really easy solution for that.

    and... dude... first you said: "Not really as the nutritional differences between the two are pretty insignificant, in terms of vitamins and minerals absorbed "

    now you're saying it's ... just... one mineral.

    which is it?

    Well that is evidence that whole wheat isn't automatically better in every way than white, isn't it?
  • Acg67
    Acg67 Posts: 12,142 Member
    OP it's simple. because the pizza they're referring to when they say low nutritional content is not made from whole wheat dough or ANY high quality ingredients.

    when people refer to pizza as a "bad" food, they're talking about typical store bought, refined white flour crust, HFCS sauce, and heavily processed cheese product - which is nutritionally inferior to the pizza you described.

    a pizza can be incredibly healthy or incredibly unhealthy depending on how it's made and from what ingredients.

    lol whole wheat dough

    agreed. i don't eat it myself. it is, however, preferable to enriched fortified white flour doughs.

    lol yourself.

    Not really as the nutritional differences between the two are pretty insignificant, in terms of vitamins and minerals absorbed

    go troll somewhere else

    I don't understand why when someone challenges your logic, you assume that they are trolling.

    well first, what he said is not true, but secondly because he understands full well that i don't personally eat whole wheat products, but simply mentioned it because that's more accessible for a larger audience. he's targeting me specifically instead of involving himself in the thread with regard to the OP, which is his MO

    non fortified, non-enriched, natural whole grain breads are absolutely different in terms of the nutrients absorbed and how they're metabolized in your body vs wonderbread

    but please, continue contributing in such a helpful manner. :)

    Phytic acid added to white-wheat bread inhibits fractional apparent magnesium absorption in humans

    http://ajcn.nutrition.org/content/79/3/418.full

    i've got a really really easy solution for that.

    and... dude... first you said: "Not really as the nutritional differences between the two are pretty insignificant, in terms of vitamins and minerals absorbed "

    now you're saying it's ... just... one mineral.

    which is it?

    Did you even read it, see references 4-10
  • CoachReddy
    CoachReddy Posts: 3,949 Member


    Phytic acid added to white-wheat bread inhibits fractional apparent magnesium absorption in humans

    http://ajcn.nutrition.org/content/79/3/418.full

    i've got a really really easy solution for that.

    and... dude... first you said: "Not really as the nutritional differences between the two are pretty insignificant, in terms of vitamins and minerals absorbed "

    now you're saying it's ... just... one mineral.

    which is it?

    Did you even read it, see references 4-10

    no of course I didn't read it. aint nobody got time for that. can you explain to me what white-wheat means?

    also, as I alluded to, don't buy wheat bread with phytic acid and you're good. :)

    not all wheat bread is created equal. obviously. i don't even think wheat is good for us period so I'm not sure why you're picking this fight with me to get me to defend something I don't even eat. lol
  • jonnythan
    jonnythan Posts: 10,161 Member
    no of course I didn't read it.

    Indeed.