Assume you’ll be able to’t eat pizza and shed extra pounds? Nicely, you higher begin believing. All it takes is ensuring you do it the proper means. One Italian pizza chef did, which helped him shed kilos and considerably enhance his well being. Pasquale Cozzolino, a local of Naples, Italy, is government chef and co-owner of Ribalta pizzerias in Manhattan and Atlanta. He knew he needed to lose a whole lot of weight however realized he couldn’t abandon his every day pizza behavior. So he found out the best way to shed extra pounds by consuming pizza.

“I’ve tried typical weight-reduction plan methods earlier than with no luck,” says Cozzolino. “I used to be hungry on a regular basis. The listing of acceptable meals was depressingly restricted, particularly to a chef who loves taste.”

Cozzolino determined to determine the best way to shed extra pounds and nonetheless eat pizza day-after-day. He experimented with methods to make pizza more healthy and decrease in energy, utilizing methods from again house in Naples, together with utilizing a fermented dough that was greater fiber. He would eat one small pizza for lunch day-after-day. The remainder of his meals have been primarily based on the Mediterranean food regimen.

“I targeted my meals on recent greens, fruits, fish, and complete grains and utilizing wholesome fat like olive oil and avocado as a substitute of saturated fat,” says Cozzolino. “That is the way in which I used to eat in Italy earlier than I got here to New York and began consuming fast-food and sugary processed meals.”

It labored. In 9 months, the chef misplaced 114 kilos with out giving up his favourite meals—pizza. Cozzolino paperwork his miraculous well being transformation in his e book The Pizza Diet. In it you will discover 50 of the chef’s recipes for extra pizzas with progressive, healthful toppings.

Along with following the heart-healthy Mediterranean Diet, Cozzolino discovered easy hacks to assist him shed extra pounds whereas nonetheless consuming pizza, together with sensible methods to chop energy from pies that you simply, too, can use for each takeout and selfmade pizza. Listed here are a few of his tips, and for extra wholesome consuming suggestions, make sure to try our listing of 21 Finest Wholesome Cooking Hacks of All Time.

Water that’s. “Usually, individuals mistake thirst for starvation and attain for a fork as a substitute of a glass of ice water,” says Cozzolino. “Have a glass of water earlier than consuming; it will maintain you from overeating pizza.”

Here is How A lot Water You Have to Drink for Weight Loss.

You’ll be able to decrease any pizza’s glycemic index (GI), which is a measure of how shortly blood sugar ranges rise in response to a sure meals, by including fiber- and protein-rich toppings. For instance, whereas a easy cheese pizza scores an 80 out of 100 on the GI scale, a veggie pie clocks in at 49. Uncooked veggies and lean meats like rooster breast make for the very best GI-lowering toppers. Tip: keep away from toppings of veggies which were cooked in a shower of oil. And take a look at one in all these 17 Underrated Pizza Toppings.

Select pizzas with tomato sauce over white pizzas. The redder the higher as a result of the tomato sauce is wealthy in lycopene, which research present could also be cardioprotective and cut back the chance of sure cancers.

Give it a strive your self with one in all these 29+ Finest Wholesome Pizza Recipes for Weight Loss.

Ordering (or making) your pizza with “half cheese” is a simple strategy to reduce the saturated fats (and energy) on plain- or vegetable-topped pies by 50%.

Whenever you see a pool of oil floating on high of your cheese pizza, take a serviette and mop up the surplus. You will save about 50 energy, and possibly maintain the grease off your shirt.

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When most individuals eat pizza, they pair it with soda, candy tea, beer, or wine. Change to water or unsweetened iced tea to delete the added energy.

“I utterly reduce out the liquid energy,” says Cozzolino, who had a three-can-a-day soda behavior. “You do not notice all of the energy you are consuming. Once I stopped, I felt the distinction.”

Listed here are 40 Aspect Results of Ingesting Too A lot Soda.

A lot of the evils of pizza lay within the empty calorie, but extremely caloric crust, usually constituted of refined white flour.

“It spikes your insulin ranges, inflicting you to crave extra,” says Cozzolino. “I exploit a extra nutritious flour referred to as kind 1 stone-ground flour and permit my dough to ferment for at the very least 36 hours.”

Most pizzerias do not use that costly dough, so Cozzolino advises ordering thin-crust pizza, to cut back the carbohydrate affect in your blood sugar.

You’ll be able to trick your self into consuming much less and increase your calorie-burning metabolism by including slightly spice to your pizza pie. A research by Canadian researchers discovered that males who ate spicy appetizers consumed 200 fewer energy than those that skipped the recent sauce. Prime your pizza with just a few grinds of recent black pepper, purple chile flakes, or in the event you’re actually courageous, jalapeno slices.

A sequence of well-cited Yale College research recommend consuming a salad appetizer can cut back whole calorie consumption over the course of a meal by as much as 20%. So, begin your pizza dinner with an enormous backyard salad. Prime your greens with a scant tablespoon of French dressing. Analysis suggests vinegar might assist weight reduction by retaining your blood sugar regular. One research amongst prediabetics discovered that the addition of vinegar to a high-carb meal (like pizza) lowered the next rise in blood sugar by 34%.

In case you are curious, This Is the Finest Slice of Pizza in Each State.