I know I’m not the only one who was shocked to read this a few months back, but what does shock me is the lengths people will go to defend their position. National Public Radio (NPR) did the following three-minute story on Congress’ attempt to classify pizza as a vegetable back in November:
http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/2011/11/15/142360146/pizza-as-a-vegetable-it-depends-on-the-sauce
Corey Henry of the American Frozen Food Institute states in the interview that tomato paste packs quite a nutritional punch for kids and should therefore not be overlooked as a vegetable source. Contrast what he has to say with author James LaValle; LaValle recommends getting seven to nine servings of vegetables a day in order to get adequate vitamins, minerals, and fiber. In fact, I think you’d be hard pressed to find any authors, dieticians or nutritionists recommending more processed food like pizza to children.
To me the argument seems exceedingly simple and incredibly important. As many of you know, over 30% of our children are overweight or obese. For the first time, we are looking at a generation of children that will not outlive their parents. The reason? Obesity-related health issues. Now I ask you, do these kids really need more pizza?
Last year, I was fortunate enough to have a garden in my yard. Beets, carrots, brussel sprouts, tomatoes, pumpkins, jalapeno peppers, cabbage, green beans, herbs, squash and zucchini were a few of the items therein. Nowhere did I find pizza.
This is awful advice from congress and in fact its pretty shocking, yes pizza does have some veg but its the bread / dough that does most of the damage when it comes to obesity.
That’s ridiculous. However, I would suggest that if kids liked to eat pizza to make a healthy one. For example, use some whole wheat peta bread as the “dough” and put some chicken breast, broccoli, and mushrooms on top. It’ll taste great and it’s also very good for you!