New no-dough pizza... a heart attack in a box?

I was interested to hear that a new no-dough pizza was released a few days ago. Although I'm not a big pizza eater, it's always good to know that there's a readymade wheat free pizza available to buy off the shelf, for those "must have pizza but haven't got the time to make it" moments.

So I wanted to know the low down on these new pizzas, as I'm sure does anyone else that loves pizza but can't eat wheat.

The pizzas are the brainchild of WHO radio personality Van Harden who lost his appetite for bread after an accident with a lawn mower. Don't ask me what lawn mowers have to do with liking bread, it's a new one on me. The upshot was that he really missed pizza, so with his wife set about trying to make pizza without the dough base. From this the no-dough pizza was born.

For everyone now thinking, "but how does the topping stay together without a dough base?" I'll tell you. He uses cheese. Yes, cheese. So you can now buy a pizza that has a cheese base, and is then topped off with more cheese, and to add a bit more to the old artery hardening recipe it comes in pepperoni, sausage and beef versions.

Evidently these pizzas are "a little rich", a little rich? It's a bit of a dietary nightmare.

The published nutrition stats for 1 slice of the pepperoni no-dough pizza are: Calories: 330 Carbohydrates: 5g Total fat: 24g Sodium: 910mg Calcium: 600mg

If you look at 1 slice of an average traditional pizza it would give you: Calories: 150 Carbohydrates: 12g Total fat: 8g Sodium: 380mg Calcium: 90mg

So while you might be getting more calcium, you are also increasing your fat intake by three times, doubling your calorie intake, and more than doubling your sodium intake. And of course what they do exactly to the cheese to make it into a pizza base is a closely guarded secret.

Wow, eat one of these pizzas and you could satisfy all your calorie needs for the entire day, you won't need to eat another thing, which as we all know just isn't going to happen. But of course this type of pizza is also going to appeal to people on the Atkins diet, where calories and fat are seen as the good guys, and carbohydrates are seen as the bad guys.

So if you are looking for a wheat free pizza and don't mind the fact that it is a fairly heavy calorie and fat laden snack then these pizzas may be for you. However if you are on a wheat free diet because you have a wheat allergy or intolerance then you'll probably be far more health conscious anyway, and choosing to eat a healthy, balanced diet to optimise your nutrition needs.

Me, I'm sticking with my own homemade pizza crust, I know what's in them, how they were made, and that I'll be getting a balanced pizza as part of the whole deal.