When we think about Pizza normally we don't think of something healthy.

This is certainly not one of the first things on my list when I think about healthy options. However in Italy pizza is not considered a ‘bad’ food.

So now that everyone is becoming more aware of what’s good for your body, how can you include your favourite dish into this? Whether it be a birthday party, family reunion, or like my family, good old fashioned Friday night pizza and a movie with the kids it doesn't matter.

Can Pizza Actually Be Healthy?

Pizza can be something we all enjoy if we pick the right options. You’ll find your family start to like the healthier versions of pizza better once they get used to them.

Having kids I came up with a couple healthy options for pizza.

In most local grocery stores now days they are selling whole wheat pizza crust. It's really thin and once it's topped with whatever you want on it the pizza bakes up in just minutes.

The thinner the pizza the less calories because you don't have all the bread from the dough.

Clever Swaps to Make your Pizza Healthier

In Italy pizza is made with flour, yeast, sea salt, olive oil and water. These are the basics before you add your topping. There’s nothing unhealthy in these ingredients.

Avoid stuffed crust and takeaway pizza if you don’t want to be having excess oil (which won’t be olive oil) and sugars (added to the tomato sauce).

The easiest way to do this is to make the dough yourself, or buy thin pizza bases from from the store and it's rather tasty. You can even use wraps for kids and let them add their own toppings.

You can now get gluten-bases or try cauliflower pizza bases which we have sometimes as my daughter is a Type 1 Diabetic. They are suprisingly good.

If you want a meat based pizza, switch out packaged pepperoni for pancetta, ham or bacon. There are so many added nasties in processed pepperoni.

For the tomato sauce you can use passata or a tin of chopped tomatoes. Just drain off the liquid. Don’t use jars of sauce if possible and if you need to check they don’t have corn syrup or added sugar.

When it comes to cheese use grated mozzerella or low fat hard cheese. These melt well.

So now let’s build your pizza!

Building a Healthy Pizza

It goes without saying but if you aren’t sure, start with your base, add a table spoon or two of tomato sauce and swirl around into the circle of the base. This should not be too thick or it will flood the base and make it soggy. Now sprinkle on your cheese. Lastly add your other toppings.

You can also add some vegetables such as aubergine/ egg plant, courgette/ zucchini, red onion, mushrooms or whatever you have in the house.

Just remember to get creative with this and have fun. The more fun you can have the less boring and more flavour your food will be. I give each of my children a tray with their pizza base and some bowls of the toppings. They then create their own dish, which means they are much more likely to eat it!