Eating At A Pizza Restaurant While On A Low-Fat Diet
If you're following a low-fat diet, either to lose weight or for a more specific health reason, then going to a pizza restaurant is probably not at the top of your list of things to do. But when your friends invite you, or when the pizza place is really the only restaurant in town, you can definitely go without completely veering off your diet plan. You'll just want to follow these tips as you dine.
Order a salad as your main course
You're going to have some pizza. You're in a pizza restaurant, after all, and to just eat a salad would be depriving yourself to an unnecessary degree. However, you should order a salad so that you can eat it as part of your meal, thereby cutting down on the amount of pizza you consume. Make sure the salad is one comprised mostly of vegetables. Leave off the cheese, bacon bits, and croutons, as they contain fat, and ask for a fat-free dressing. (Or you can just dress your salad with some red wine vinegar.)
Ask for the crust not to be painted with butter or oil
A lot of pizza restaurants like to brush their pizza crust with oil or butter before or after baking. This is a way for them to get seasonings, like garlic, to stick to the crust, and it also adds flavor to the pizza. Of course, the result is delicious, but it also adds fat to the pizza. Ask for your pizza to be made without any extra butter or fat on the crust. You'll miss out on a little flavor, but it will still taste delicious.
Ask for no cheese or just a little cheese.
Other than the butter brushed on the crust, the main source of fat on pizza is the cheese. Depending on how closely you're monitoring your fat intake, you can either ask for your pizza to be made without cheese or with only a little bit of cheese. You can instead have extra veggies added to the pizza for flavor. Mushrooms are a good choice, as they have a complex flavor. Peppers, onions, and broccoli are other good choices. If you want meat on your pizza, ask for plain (not coated) chicken. Avoid sausage and pepperoni, as they are high in fat.
You can stick to a low-fat diet while eating at a pizza restaurant, such as Original Italian Pizza Pa, as long as you know what to ask for and really focus on choosing the right toppings.