Do you have a hard time resisting a warm and cheesy piece or two (or three) of pizza, even though you know that it is probably not very good for you?
Pizza is a favorite food of many Americans, and over 5,000,000 pounds of pizza are consumed in the United states in one day. Sadly, most of this pizza is frozen, fast or not prepared with health in mind.
Nestle, one of Americas top food manufacturers, makes about half of all frozen pizzas in the United States, and they are under the gun from a consumer who has filed a class action lawsuit against them for placing profits over public health and not removing trans fat, a known carcinogen, from their pizzas. Nestle, who owns Stouffers, California Pizza and DiGiorno, claims that they have done nothing wrong.
California, along with 13 cities outside of California, have banned trans fats from restaurant foods because they elevate bad cholesterol, lower good cholesterol and have been implicated in heart disease, hypertension and cancer. The same rules, however, do not apply to packaged foods.
The FDA only requires that the ingredients be listed on the label, not that trans fat be removed, although many food manufacturers have willingly stopped using the dangerous ingredient. While it is true that Nestle is not breaking any rules, they are clearly putting profit ahead of health, states the consumer who filed the lawsuit.
This is not the first lawsuit of its kind. In 2005 McDonald’s paid over $8 million to settle two lawsuits alleging that the company misled consumers about trans fat levels in their food.
The FDA itself has said that replacing trans fats with healthier fats could save up to 10,000 lives each year.
Besides the trans fats, most frozen pizzas contain more ingredients than anyone has time to read, or can read – which is a concern itself. Furthermore, traditional pizzas are made with processed flours that are hard on our digestive systems and don’t break down well.
However, pizza lovers need not worry that they have to give up their pizza. Here is a healthy, gluten-free pizza that you can make at home:
Can’t Believe It is Gluten-Free Pizza
Pizza Dough
Dry Ingredients:
- 1 cup rice flour
- 1 cup arrowroot starch
- 1/2 cup tapioca starch
- 1/2 cup bean flour
- 1 tsp xanthan gum
- 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp sea salt
- 1 Tbsp quick yeast
Wet Ingredients:
- 2 eggs
- 1 tsp cider vinegar
- 3 Tbsp grapeseed or olive oil
- 1-2 Tbsp raw organic honey
- 2 cups filtered water
- Preheat oven to 425 F.
- Mix the dry ingredients together. You can store these or package them up so you will have a ready supply of dry ingredients to help save you time in the future. If you choose to store it, yeast cannot be stored at room temperature. You may store the complete mix in the fridge or leave out the yeast from the dry mix and add it when you are making the dough.
- Mix the wet ingredients together. Slowly add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients, mixing thoroughly. You may use a mixer to get dough thoroughly mixed but run it less than 5 minutes so you don’t over-mix.
- The consistency of the dough will be quite ‘thin’ (i.e., it almost ‘pours’ like pancake batter). This is very intentional. It makes it much easier to work with (avoiding the problems associated with stretching and ripping pizza dough).
- On a cookie sheet, either covered with parchment paper or lightly covered with coconut oil, pour and spread the pizza dough mixture to your desired thickness. It will rise slightly as it cooks. If you set the pan on a warm oven you will allow the dough to rise while you complete preparations for the toppings.
- The dough should be allowed to rise for 20-30 minutes as you put on toppings of your choice. Be careful to not allow it to over-rise (max 30 minutes) before putting it in the oven. You may need to prepare some toppings ahead of time if their preparation is time consuming (chopping fresh vegetables, garlic, etc.)
- Cook for 20-30 minutes, depending on the ingredients you have put on top.
-The Alternative Daily
