Healthy Menu Navigator: Pizza

Even if you know to steer clear of the bread basket, it turns out the average restaurant meal clocks in at a whopping 1,128 calories—yep, 1,128—making it easy for even the most health-savvy among us to think we’re eating well while eating out, when we’re not.

Enter nutritionist-author Heather Bauer, of Bread is the Devil andBestowed fame—and our culinary compass. Bauer steers us toward the healthiest choices on restaurant menus of any type.

Heather Bauer’s pizza joint navigational nugget

First thing’s first, don’t deny your pizza cravings: “It’s best to succumb to pizza and accept it,” says Bauer. “Don’t try and just get salad.” But be sure to plan your day accordingly (so keep breakfast, lunch, and any snacks relatively light and healthy), and cap it at two slices and a side salad. Or, better, have the pizza at lunchtime! 

Bauer personally goes for gluten-free pizza if it’s available; it tends to have a higher calorie count but is way more digestible than the flour-based crusts.

WHAT TO ORDER

1. Two slices of thin (never thick!) crust pizza. The carbo-caloric index of the latter is higher than your rent. 

2. Vegetable toppings. But Bauer warns that not all veggie pizzas are created equal—some have fried toppings. Instead, look for plain mushrooms, peppers, spinach, or other vegetables that haven’t been messed with too much.

3. A side salad, with greens other than iceberg, and without the cheese.

WHAT TO SKIP

1. Extra cheese! Pizza’s flavor should come from the combo of crust, sauce, and healthy toppings—not from gobs of formaggio.

2. Meat toppings. There’s no need to cover your slice in sausage or pepperoni, Bauer says. The sodium, the fat, and calories are not worth it.

3. Ordering your own. At many top pizza places with artisanal ingredients and imported ovens, they’ll serve you a whole pizza the size of a giant dinner plate. Keep with tradition and share your pizza.

Keep in mind: The type of flour used to make pizza dough can increase the calorie count in a major way, Bauer says. And gluten-free doesn’t necessarily mean it’s healthier: Almond flour is gluten-free, for example, but it’s relatively high in calories but also provides great protein. A better gluten-free flour would be quinoa, which has great protein and fewer calories, she says.