Do you love pizza? Is sure do. And after a hard day’s work in the yard and garden, and I’m too exhausted to fix dinner, pizza is often my go-to for the evening meal.

There’s been a lot of talk about how bad pizza is for our health, though. But surely we ought to be able to “have our pizza and eat it too?” Turns out, with a few adjustments here and there, pizza can indeed be a pretty healthy meal. I found these suggestions on how to build a better slice of pizza, at the website Eat Out Well. See what you think:

1. Resist the urge to ask for double cheese — better yet, go light on the cheese or use reduced-fat cheese (if it is available).

2. Ask for a pizza without cheese, but topped with veggies and a little olive oil instead. You can always sprinkle on a little grated parmesan for flavor; one tablespoon has only 22 calories.

3. Instead of cheese go for big flavors and healthier calories with items like onion, garlic, olives.

4. Choose vegetable toppings rather than meat (think about the fat content in sausage, pepperoni, and meatballs) and you will shave at least 100 calories from your meal. Generously pile on veggies instead; mushrooms, peppers, olives, tomatoes, onion, broccoli, spinach, and asparagus are loaded with fiber, nutrients, but not calories. Some places have salad pizza, which is terrific if it’s not loaded with oil.

5. Order a side salad (careful with the dressing) and you’ll be able to cut down on the amount of pizza. Salad takes longer to eat, too.

6. If you’re willing (and not embarrassed or grossed out), try blotting up the free-floating oil that sits on top of a greasy slice with a napkin. Blotting can soak up a teaspoon of oil that’s actually worth 40 calories and 5 grams of fat.

7. Order thin crust rather than a thick crust or deep dish.

All this said, let’s talk more about the crackly, thin crust option for healthifying our pizza. Papa Murphey’s makes my favorite—I love their Veggie Delite thin crust pizza. But if you’re ambitious and want to make your own thin crust pizza, the key to a successfully thinly-rolled crust is a pizza roller. Using this tool, you can even roll your crust right in the pan.

Another thin crust approach (that’s very fast and easy) is to use Naan bread. The best price I’ve found for this flat bread is at Costco (by La Brea Bakery). It’s the perfect size for individual pizzas. I spread a little pizza sauce over each one, sprinkle some grated Parmesan cheese, and top it heavily with fresh veggies (which will be straight from my garden as the season progresses).

And if you’re really organized, you can fire up the barbecue and cook these pizzas outside so you don’t have to heat up the house!

So this is the good news: pizza can be a healthy food choice filled with complex carbs, B-vitamins, calcium, protein, vitamin A, and vitamin C and calorically okay if you choose wisely and don’t eat more than your fair share.

    Alice Osborne
    Weekly Newsletter Contributor since 2006
    Email the author! alice@dvo.com