SalTrax Blog

Pizza is an American standard for easy, quick meals. The problem is that pizza slices vary in size, so that it is difficult to say that "1 slice" has an exact amount of sodium in it.

The bottom line is that most, if not all, pizza purchased frozen from the grocery store or restaurants is very high in sodium. One slice of pizza may account from one-half to all of your daily sodium allowance (800 - 2,000 mg per slice!)

Most people know that cheese and pepperoni is high in sodium, but many don't consider the pizza crust (breads and cereals account for a lot of our sodium intake) or tomato sauce when thinking about sodium content.

One way to lower sodium content of pizza would be to make it yourself using a lower-sodium pizza dough recipe, fresh chopped tomatoes, basil, and lower-sodium cheese (or even use one-half of the normal amounts of cheese). Keeping track of your sodium using the SalTrax system can help you know if you have enough allowance left to indulge in a slice of Pizza.

However eating out is a necessity for many of us. If you are in a restaurant, ask for one-half as much cheese and tell them that you're allergic to tomato sauce (which can be high in sugar as well as salt) and request fresh chopped or sliced tomatoes and basil instead. It is often called a Margarita Pizza when prepared this way and is very tasty.

Enjoy!