Roper St. Francis Healthcare affiliated dietitian Erin Castle walks us through a nutritious lunch or dinner order for two at this Summerville and James Island pizzeria.
Photograph by Cassidy Hurt
THE ORDER: A Cheese Pizza with Veggies and Chicken, plus the Shaved Beet Salad and Greens Salad
WHY IT’S A NUTRIENT POWERHOUSE:
- Roper St. Francis Healthcare affiliated dietitian Erin Castle, RD, LD, suggests sharing two small salads as your appetizer. Doing so bulks up the vitamin and mineral content of your meal and starts to satiate you.
- By splitting the Greens Salad and the Shaved Beet Salad, the diners ate four different leafy greens—arugula, romaine, spinach and bibb lettuce—all before their entrée arrived.
- “Beets, the star of the Shaved Beet Salad and a favorite fall vegetable, are packed with betalain, a powerful anti-inflammatory agent,” says Castle.
- Customizing your pizza lets you optimize its nutrition. Opt for red sauce over a pesto base (“Pesto is at least twice as high in calories as marinara due to its blend of oil, cheese and nuts,” she says). For toppings, pile on the veggies—like the spinach, mushroom and vitamin C-packed artichokes seen here.
- “To add more protein to the pizza, we chose chicken over processed meats like prosciutto, bacon, pepperoni and sausage, which are high in saturated fat and sodium but provide less than half the protein as chicken,” says Castle.
- TIP: In general, be mindful of the “pasta” section of the menu. “Most have added fat from bacon or sauces,” Castle explains. “They also come with a side of garlic toast, which would double up on starchy foods in one meal.”
Crust Wood Fired Pizza
1097 N. Main St., Ste. 201, Summerville
1956 B Maybank Hwy., James Island
(843) 285-8819 (S); (843) 762-5500 (JI)
crustwoodfiredpizza.com
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