When Pizza Is on Your Plate

Americans love pizza, whether it's from a fast-food restaurant or an old-fashioned pizza parlor where the pies are hand-tossed and made to order.

You can get a healthy meal if you choose thin, unstuffed crusts and vegetable toppings: green peppers, mushrooms, onions, and tomatoes. For instance, two slices of pizza topped with vegetables have 340 calories and 12 grams of fat. Compare that with two slices topped with sausage: 600 calories and 32 grams of fat.

To maintain a reasonable calorie count, you must also limit how much you put on your plate. Eat just two slices instead of three or more. Complete your meal with a green salad topped with a low-fat or fat-free Italian or oil-and-vinegar dressing.

Best bets

Pizza topped with peppers, garlic, mushrooms, onions, pineapple, tomatoes, or chicken

Thin-crust pizza

Worst bets

Pizza topped with extra cheese, anchovies, bacon, pepperoni, or sausage

Stuffed-crust pizza

Healthy meal

Thin-crust cheese pizza (2 slices)

Fresh-fruit salad

Bread sticks (2)

Iced tea

Total calories: 782

Total fat: 18 grams (21 percent calories from fat)

Total sodium: 950 mg

Healthier meal

Thin-crust cheese pizza topped with grilled chicken (2 slices)

Green salad

Oil and vinegar dressing

Diet soda

Total calories: 670

Total fat: 17 grams (23 percent calories from fat)

Total sodium: 1,650 mg

Healthiest meal

Thin-crust cheese pizza topped with onions and green peppers (2 slices)

Green salad

Low-fat Italian dressing

Iced tea

Total calories: 580

Total fat: 15 grams (23 percent calories from fat)

Total sodium: 1,207 mg