Another reason that pizza is not a vegetable is the fact that it is not nearly as

nutritional. Obviously, there are many different kinds of vegetables, and there are many
different ways that you can make a pizza. But even the most nutritious pizza would still
be far less healthy than the least nutritious vegetable. Nearly all traditional vegetables
contain under 50 calories, with the only exceptions being potatoes and avocados, which
contain around 160 and 230 calories, respectively. An average slice of regular crust
cheese pizza, on the other hand, contains nearly 300 calories. Pizza contains 10 grams
of fat, significantly more than most vegetables, with the only exception being avocados.
Every other vegetable has under 2 grams of fat, and most have less than half a gram.
Pizza also contains trans fat, an ingredient which is completely absent in all vegetables.
Furthermore, a typical pizza slice contains nearly 650 micrograms of sodium, while
vegetables like avocados and lettuce contain only 10. Even the cauliflower, the
vegetable with the most sodium, has less than a third of the sodium of a slice of pizza.
Most vegetables are rich in either vitamin C or vitamin A, and many contain well over
100 percent of the recommended daily amount. Pizza, although it contains a decent
amount of calcium and iron, does not contain very many vitamins, and it is definitely not
worth eating pizza for the vitamins it gives you when you have to consume the large
amounts of calories, fat, and sodium that come with each slice. All vegetables have
healthy amounts of potassium. A single cauliflower, for example, will provide you with
half of the recommended amount of potassium one should consume in a day. You
would have to eat 10 slices of pizza to get the same amount of potassium as a single
cauliflower. The USDA has stated that a half cup of any vegetable amounts to one
serving of that vegetable. Congress declared that two tablespoons of tomato paste can


be considered a serving of vegetables, directly contradicting the judgment of the USDA.
Two tablespoons is a minuscule amount compared to a half cup. Although Congress
technically has more power than the USDA, its members are obviously much less
knowledgable about food and nutrition than the USDA. On matters such as vegetables
and other foods, we should trust the group whos job it is to research and study these
topics. There is no requirement for members of Congress to be well-informed on the
topic of food nutrition before joining office, and therefore no reason to trust them on this
subject. This is why the USDAs interpretation as to what constitutes as a vegetable
should be considered more credible than the opinion of Congress.
















Works Cited

"Basic Report: 21299, Fast Food, Pizza Chain, 14" Pizza, Cheese Topping, Regular
Crust." Show Foods. United States Department of Agriculture, n.d. Web. 09 Dec.
2013. <http://ndb.nal.usda.gov/ndb/foods/show/6726?qlookup=21299>.


"NUTRIENT DATA LABORATORY." Nutrient Data. United States Department of
Agriculture,n.d. Web. 08 Dec. 2013.
<http://www.ars.usda.gov/main/site_main.htm?modecode=12-35-45-00>.


Jegtvig, Shereen, MS. "What Is a Serving of Fruit or a Vegetable?" About.com.
About.com Nutrition, n.d. Web. 09 Dec. 2013. <http://nutrition.about.com/od/
fruitsandvegetables/f/servingfruit.htm>.


Strauss, Valerie. "Bill Would Label Pizza a Vegetable in School Lunches." Washington
Post. The Washington Post, 16 Nov. 2011. Web. 09 Dec. 2013. <http://
www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/post/congress-to-label-pizza-a-
vegetable-in-school-lunches/2011/11/15/gIQASZz6QN_blog.html>.