Pizza without peril: follow our advice and you won't develop your own thick crust and layer of cheese

Men's Fitness, Jan, 2003

Americans eat approximately 100 acres of pizza every day. That's 350 slices of crust, sauce and cheese with every tick of the clock. In the time it takes you to read this page, your fellow citizens will be shoveled 21,000 slices of gooey pizza down their collective maw.

But all sorts of junk food is contributing to the fattening of America, you say. Why pick on pizza? Frankly, the devil is in the slices. With some pizzas, a single slice has the same fat and calories as a McDonald's Egg McMuffin. Other slices are nutritional grenades on par with a Big Mac. One Egg McMuffin is only mildly bad (12 grams of fat), and even an occasional Big Mac won't kill you. The damage comes from eating two or more Big Macs at one sitting--each contains 30 grams of fat, 11 of which are the saturated kind--because in effect that's what you're doing when you consume three slices of pizza.

"The big problem with pizza is the saturated fat in the cheese," says Jayne Hurley, R.D., senior nutritionist at the Center for Science in the Public Interest in Washington D.C. Hurley should know, as the CSPI has done extensive research on this hot (and cheesy) topic. "A typical serving of cheese pizza, which is a couple of slices of a large, has hall of a day's saturated-fat limit." Add meaty toppings and maybe a stuffed crust, and the outlook grows even bleaker. This doesn't mean your future must be pizzaless--as long as you place your order the right way.

PERK UP YOUR PIZZA

Scientists and well-respected medical establishments tell us that pizza is bad news, but don't let the Man get you down. Here are some ways to lighten up your next pie.

* Take a napkin and blot the excess oil from the top of your pizza. "You can get up to a teaspoon of oil off," says Joy Bauer, M.S., R.D., author of The Complete Idiot's Guide to Total Nutrition. This alone can save you a staggering 14 grams of fat. Wait until the pizza cools slightly, or the cheese will stick to the napkin.

* Order half the cheese. "Since they're saving money by putting less cheese on the pizza, they're going to be happy to do it for you," says Jayne Hurley, R.D., senior nutritionist at the Center for Science in the Public Interest.

* Opt for a vegetable topping, but make sure that the restaurant doesn't gob on extra cheese with the greens (some places do this).

* "It's really a good idea to round out your pizza with a salad, of maybe some baby carrots of sliced green peppers with nonfat dip," Hurley suggests.

* Order your pizza cheeseless, and then sprinkle on low-fat Parmesan. It's more flavorful, so you use less. Better still, opt for low-fat Parmesan.

* Stick with thin crust. "When you order the regular or thick crust, you end up filling up on a lot of white, refined starch that offers nothing in the way of nutrition," says Bauer. "It's nothing good, just pure calories."

* Take water with your meal instead of soda of beer, and make sure to drink plenty to counteract the huge amount of sodium in the pizza.

HUMBLE PIE BENEFITS

Pizza has enough redeeming qualities to permit eating it on the rare occasion, such as your 30th birthday, after your first marathon.

* The cooked tomatoes found in pizza sauce contain lycopene, a prostate-health-enhancing compound.

* Olive oil helps lycopene travel more easily throughout the body, and boast heart-healthy unsaturated fat.

* Cheese has conjugated linolenic acid, which can aid in fat loss. "It's a small increase in fat loss, but it's there," says Joy Bauer, author of The Complete Idiot's Guide to Total Nutrition.

* Cheese has an enzyme that stimulates saliva production. The more saliva you have, the more you can protect against cavities.

AB-FRIENDLY SLICE (in moderation) as rated by the Center for Science in the Public Interest

Domino's Hand Tossed Cheese (with half the cheese)

Two slices: 480 calories, 12g fat, 5g sat. fat

Domino's Hand Tossed Ham

Two slices: 540 calories, 16g fat, 7g sat. fat

Little Caesars Round Veggie

Three slices: 271 calories, 21g fat, 9g sat. fat

Papa John's Original Crust Garden Special

Two slices: 560 calories, 20g fat, 6g sat. fat

Pizza Hut Tossed Veggie Lover's

Three slices: 550 calories, 14g fat, 6g sat. fat

FAT-BOMB PIES

California Pizza Kitchen Original BBQ Chicken: 1,000 calories

Burn it off: Ideally, this pizza will give you the energy you need to chop wood for just under two hours.

Domino's Deep Dish Meatzza: 910 calories

Burn it off: We hope the memory of the Meatzza pizza keeps you warm as you shovel snowza for the next 107 minutes.

Little Caesars Thin Crust Pepperoni: 800 calories

Burn it off: it turns out that Pizza, pizza! is Italian slang for "Try hiking uphill for 81 minutes, Emperor Lardius."

Papa John's Thin Crust The Works: 970 calories

Burn it off: Do you hear Papa John screaming "Who's your daddy?" as you punch a heavy bag for an hour and 28 minutes? We do.

Pizza Hut The Big New Yorker Sausage: 1,140 calories

Burn it off: It's called the New Yorker because you'll have to hike to the Big Apple to get it off your love handles, or at least stay in the saddle for 104 minutes at near-maximum effort.