When it comes to the end of the week, many mums choose to buy takeaway food for dinner so they can have a night off from cooking. Pizza is one popular choice for takeaway, but with 820 mg of sodium in one serving of ham and pineapple pizza, that is a lot of extra salt going into the bodies of your family. However, by making a few stealthy changes, you can reduce the sodium levels in pizza without your family ever knowing you are doing their kidneys a favour.
Add More Vegetables
Overall, vegetables are low in sodium so not only are you not adding extra salt to this meal when you load up the pizza with vegetables, but you are also making sure your family gets part of their daily recommended three serves of vegetables.
However, your kids (and possibly your partner) are not going to be thrilled if you go too overboard on the vegetable component of their tasty treat so stick to smaller vegetable cuts that can be easily hidden. Tomatoes, mushrooms and onions are all very low sodium vegetables.
However, olives are very high in sodium because of the curing process used to reduce their bitterness. Leave the olives off the pizza to help reduce sodium levels.
Choose Your Meats Wisely
Another quick way to achieve a sodium reduction in the pizza is to make a healthier choice for the meat toppings. While pepperoni, ham and bacon are all drool-worthy contenders for the pizza topping, they are also all high-sodium meat choices. Again, this is because of the way they are cured or processed to make them such a delectable treat.
Grilled chicken, however, is a healthier option that provides both protein and smaller amounts of sodium. If you think your family is going to kick up a bit of a fuss over switching to a chicken pizza, however, compromise with a small handful of bacon bits sprinkled over the top by you. This way not only do you control the portion size of the bacon being added, but a few bacon bits are still a better alternative to a pizza covered in pepperoni.
Too much sodium in the daily diet can lead to kidney health problems as the years march on, so do your family a favour by making subtle choice changes when you order your next take away pizza. It can still be a much-loved family treat without harming their health.