Hamburger or pizza? Your heart is swaying. If you are watching your line, be aware that one of these two ingredients is more balanced than the other. A dietitian-nutritionist gives her advice.
It’s no secret that junk food is bad for your health and your line. If it’s not to be abused, it’s possible to indulge in a little pleasure from time to time, by falling for a pizza or a hamburger. But which of these foods is preferred to limit weight gain?
Burger VS pizza: the match of calories
A hamburger contains 250 kcal per 100g, but this dish often weighs heavier. Result: a medium-sized burger contains around 350 to 400 kcal, and this can go up to 600 kcal for a triple cheese for example. What about pizza? It contains 1,000 to 1,200 kcal or about 200 to 300 kcal per 100g!
Pizza is more caloric than hamburger, but this criterion is not the only one to take into account when evaluating the impact of a food on the line. The quantity of carbohydrates, and therefore of sugars as well as lipids, in other words of fats, are also important.
A whole pizza contains 52g of fat and 156g of carbohydrates including 28g of sugar. For 100g of pizza, this is equivalent to 8g of fat and 26g of carbohydrates including 5g of sugar. On the hamburger side, there are 25g of lipids and 42g of carbohydrates including 8g of sugar. For 100g, this is equivalent to 12g of fat and 19g of carbohydrates including 4g of sugar. Again, the pizza is therefore richer than the burger, even if neither of these two dishes is of great nutritional interest.
Pizza and hamburger: too much bad fats and sugars
Why these two dishes not recommended for the line? In hamburger, meat, cheese, and various sauces – often fatty, salty, and sweet – are sources of salt, but also of saturated fatty acids and cholesterol, in other words of poor quality fat. Bread, on the other hand, is a source of simple sugars, which induces a high glycemic index.
In pizza, there is too much cheese, rich in saturated fatty acids, cholesterol, and salt. The dough, on the other hand, is a source of simple sugars and also has a high glycemic index.
These two dishes, therefore, contain too many bad fats, quickly assimilating sugars and too little fiber and vitamins.
The burger is more balanced than the pizza
Hamburger and pizza, same fight? Not quite! The hamburger is still more balanced because it still provides meat, which is a source of animal protein and iron, cheese, which is a source of protein and calcium, as well as starchy foods and some raw vegetables. Pizza, on the other hand, usually only contains starchy foods and cheese.
There are, however, a few tips to make these two dishes more balanced and therefore more interesting for the line. For the hamburger, you should choose quality bread, meat, and cheese, add more raw vegetables than in an industrial hamburger and limit the amount of sauce. If this dish is not eaten with fries, nuggets, or a soda, it provides the average amount of calories recommended for a meal.
For pizza, the trick is simple: it should not be eaten whole. A quarter of a pizza with a salad provides a relatively nutritionally balanced meal. Betting on the homemade and limiting the quantities is therefore the key to monitoring your line while falling for junk food from time to time!
