{"id":784,"date":"2023-03-14T09:55:13","date_gmt":"2023-03-14T16:55:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kpthrivingfamilies.org\/pediatricsblog\/?p=784"},"modified":"2023-08-08T08:24:33","modified_gmt":"2023-08-08T15:24:33","slug":"pizza-dinner-8-tips-making-healthier","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kpthrivingfamilies.org\/pediatricsblog\/pizza-dinner-8-tips-making-healthier\/","title":{"rendered":"Pizza for Dinner? 8 Tips to Making It Healthier"},"content":{"rendered":"

In my post on\u00a0eating dinner\u00a0together as a family<\/a>, I admit that sometimes I cut corners by ordering pizza for dinner. During an\u00a0interview\u00a0with the group Thriving Schools<\/a>, I also mentioned surviving the work-kid juggle by ordering pizza at times. I was asked about the wisdom of these admissions.<\/p>\n

Perhaps\u00a0@KPKiddoc<\/a>\u00a0should be putting a healthier face on her slice of life?<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s face it, pizza is everywhere. It\u2019s hard to raise kids without it. Schools serve it often. Every soccer team party features pizza. And yes, tired moms depend on it. However, since it can be high in saturated fat and salt, pizza can be a nutritional nightmare. Given this, it\u2019s not surprising that I might be warned to be more health conscious.<\/p>\n

We want to feed our kids well, and we\u2019re looking for tips on how to do so. A google search of \u201cis pizza healthy?\u201d generates 689,000,000 responses. My answer is, \u201cYes. It can be.\u201d Here’s how:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Have just 1 or 2 slices.\u00a0<\/strong>Since 1 slice is more than enough for a small child, consider cutting it in half. Two slices are sufficient, even for my athletic teens. At the dinner table, discuss the concept of moderation and portion size with your kids.<\/li>\n
  2. Fill the rest of their\u00a0<\/strong>plate\u00a0<\/strong>with salad.\u00a0<\/strong>Or do what some of my family does – pile some salad on your slice before you bite in, and call it salad pizza!<\/li>\n
  3. Have a whole-wheat or vegetable crust.\u00a0<\/strong>And definitely don\u2019t get it \u201cstuffed\u201d with cheese.<\/li>\n
  4. Order or use less cheese.\u00a0<\/strong>You can order extra cheese, right? (I suggest you don\u2019t do it!) Turns out you can also order less cheese which will cut down on the fat. Most kids won\u2019t notice the difference.<\/li>\n
  5. Skip the meat.\u00a0<\/strong>Your kids will be happy without it. They don\u2019t need pepperoni to bribe them into eating it … just say no.<\/li>\n
  6. Add veggies.\u00a0<\/strong>Same concept: kids like pizza enough that they usually will eat some veggies with it. If not, that\u2019s what salad is for.<\/li>\n
  7. Skip the fast food\u00a0restaurant\u00a0version.<\/strong><\/li>\n
  8. Make your own. <\/strong>Ok, not for a night when you\u2019re tired \u2013 but a fun family project.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    According to the US Department of Agriculture, a quarter\u00a0of all children ages 6 to 19 eat pizza on any given day \u2013 so it seems that our love affair with this meal is here to stay. Let\u2019s just work to make it a healthier choice for our kids.<\/p>\n

    \u201cIn Napoli where love is king
    \n<\/em>When a boy meets a girl
    \n<\/em>Here\u2019s what they sing<\/em><\/p>\n

    When the moon hits your eye
    \n<\/em>Like a big pizza pie, that\u2019s amore!\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

    \u2013 Harry Warren and\u00a0Jack Brooks<\/em><\/p>\n

    Enjoy our resources on My Doctor Online to help your family eat well:
    \n    How To Create a Healthy Plate
    \n<\/a>    Eat Well, Be Active, Live Better<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    In my post on eating dinner together as a family, I admit that sometimes I cut corners by ordering pizza for dinner. During an interview with the group Thriving Schools, I also mentioned surviving the work-kid juggle by ordering pizza at times. I was asked about the wisdom of these admissions. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":793,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[58],"tags":[50,100,49,172,175,582,267,173,174],"class_list":["post-784","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-healthy-eating","tag-family-dinner","tag-family-dinners","tag-family-meals","tag-healthy-slice","tag-healthy-substitutions","tag-national-nutrition-month","tag-nutrition","tag-pizza","tag-pizza-time","ages-all-school-ages"],"metadata":{"_edit_lock":["1691508274:8"],"_edit_last":["8"],"slide_template":[""],"video_format_choose":["youtube"],"_wpb_vc_js_status":["false"],"_custom_body_class":[""],"_yoast_wpseo_content_score":["60"],"qode_animate-page-title":["no"],"qode_show-page-title-text":["no"],"qode_show-page-title-image":["no"],"qode_show-sidebar":["2"],"qode_hide-featured-image":["no"],"_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":["58"],"_thumbnail_id":["793"],"wpfp_favorites":["7"],"_yoast_wpseo_primary_ages":["293"],"ase_chapter_enable_timeline":["off"],"_yoast_wpseo_estimated-reading-time-minutes":["3"],"bonfire_pageloader_display":[""],"_yoast_wpseo_wordproof_timestamp":[""],"_wp_old_date":["2021-03-18"],"ase_map_component_start_point":["a:2:{s:3:\"lat\";d:29.76;s:3:\"lng\";d:-95.38;}"],"_yoast_indexnow_last_ping":["1691508273"]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kpthrivingfamilies.org\/pediatricsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/784","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kpthrivingfamilies.org\/pediatricsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kpthrivingfamilies.org\/pediatricsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kpthrivingfamilies.org\/pediatricsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kpthrivingfamilies.org\/pediatricsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=784"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/kpthrivingfamilies.org\/pediatricsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/784\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4045,"href":"https:\/\/kpthrivingfamilies.org\/pediatricsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/784\/revisions\/4045"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kpthrivingfamilies.org\/pediatricsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/793"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kpthrivingfamilies.org\/pediatricsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=784"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kpthrivingfamilies.org\/pediatricsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=784"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kpthrivingfamilies.org\/pediatricsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=784"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}