TOTALLY GEEKED!

When future generations are digging around in the smoldering embers of America’s eating habits, wondering, “What went wrong?” they are going to discover one thing: Pizza.

Yup. One day pizza will be recognized as being responsible for the downfall of the American diet. And then things will improve.

Pizza is the second highest source of calories in the diet for American youths. Indeed, the only thing that beats out pizza in terms of overall calories is grain desserts—i.e. cookies, etc. But everyone already knows they shouldn’t let dessert dominate their diets.

How many kids do you think eat pizza on any given day? According to a new study published in the journal Pediatrics:

• 14% of all 2-5 year olds
• 20% of all 2-11 year olds
• 23% of all adolescents 12-19 years old

See a trend here? Young pizza-eaters turn into older pizza-eaters. This is what happens with habits; they tend to stick around.

I know there are probably a lot of pizza “defenders” out there—and let it be known, I love pizza—but the reason pizza is so dangerous is that it usually flies under the radar. Pizza poses as “real” food. Pizza gets a pass.

There’s a lot of public attention focused on soda, on french fries, and on candy. But pizza? The only time people have freaked out about pizza consumption lately was during the whole Congress, “tomato sauce counts as a vegetable for school lunch” debacle.

Here’s what you should know about pizza:

Pizza is taking over the planet. In 2003-2004, pizza was primarily purchased in fast food restaurants. Now, pizza is everywhere: In regular restaurants, school cafeterias, stores (hello 7-Eleven).

On days when it is consumed, pizza accounts for more than 20% of the daily intake of calories. Moreover, the overall number of calories kids consume on pizza-eating days increases by 84 calories for younger children and by 230 calories for adolescents.

When kids consume pizza as a snack, they don’t compensate by eating smaller (or lighter) meals. Instead, younger kids consume an extra 202 calories. For adolescents, that number is more than 350 calories.

On days when they eat pizza, children and adolescents consume more saturated fat and more sodium.

So what should you conclude from all this?

Well, the researchers of this study call for improving the nutritional content of pizza. In other words, “If kids are going to eat all this pizza, it might as well be healthier pizza.” I disagree.

Even if kids are eating healthier pizza:

• Pizza displaces other foods. When kids are eating pizza, they’re not eating something else—and that something else is probably healthier.
• Every pizza pushes kids’ taste preferences in the wrong direction. This helps explain why kids like quesadillas, mac ‘n’ cheese, and grilled cheese sandwiches a lot more than they like quiche, salad, soup…
• Frequently eating pizza shapes kids’ ideas about what constitutes a meal, a snack, or even a food. This idea shapes the kinds of foods kids accept and/or reject.

The researchers also think we should discourage so much pizza-eating. I agree. But I don’t think the way to do this is to focus so much on pizza. Rather, it’s time for some big picture thinking. It’s time to talk about pizza and proportion.

Proportion—how frequently you eat different kinds of food based on how healthy they are—is one of the three habits that translate nutrition into behavior. (Variety and moderation are the other two habits.) Teaching children proportion teaches them how to manage their whole diets: pizza, popcorn, peas, parsnips, pears and pie.

Children who learn the habit of proportion know:

• Pizza is a once-a-week-or-less food, not an everyday food.
• Pizza shouldn’t be a snack, but if it is, the meals around that snack should be extra-healthy. (Can you say salad?)
• Once pizza shows up in your diet in the right proportion it doesn’t matter if it is “healthy” or not. Eat what you enjoy.
• Quesadillas, mac ‘n’ cheese, grilled cheese sandwiches, cheese & crackers are all pizza equivalents and have to be treated accordingly.

Learning how often to eat pizza in relation to other foods is a real game changer. And that’s what we’re going to need if we want to salvage our nation's eating habits.

~Changing the conversation from nutrition to habits.~

Source: Powell, L. M., B. T. Nguyen, and W. H. Dietz. 2015. “Energy and Nutrient Intake From Pizza in the United States.” Pediatrics 135(2): 322-30.

© 2014 Dina Rose, PhD

https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-art-science-teaching-kids-eat-right/201502/pizza-the-downfall-the-american-diet