We all have cravings sometimes, mostly every time some people try to control these cravings and some submit to it. Doesn’t matter every now and then we all want to eat something that tastes good, that’s tastes spicy or sweet. When it comes to fast food, most people have the craving for pizza and burgers they are the most common fast food and global.
Even you come in this category but you can’t give in to your cravings you are on diet trying to lose weight or you have eaten your daily macro’s but sometimes it is ok if you want to eat pizza or burger, with that in mind another question pop-ups in your mind pizza vs burger which one is healthier or a better option than the other?.
When taste buds come into play there is no clear winner between pizza vs burger, when it comes to taste everyone has their personal opinion, and based on that biased information you can’t decide the winner. You may like one of them or both, it is hard to pick one but when deciding which one is the healthier option for you we have to look at the other aspects like calories, content and nutritional values, on that information we can find out the winner between pizza vs burger.
Pizza and burger both offer some good nutrients like protein, carbohydrates, and various vitamins and minerals like pizza is a good source of vitamin A, B6, K, and E. pizza also provide various minerals like copper, zinc, magnesium, potassium, and phosphorous. Burgers are a good source of vitamin A, C, D, and K also providing anti-oxidants and minerals like zinc, magnesium, phosphorous, iron, and potassium. So if it’s all good, then it doesn’t matter if you eat pizza or burger both are healthy but that’s not the case here.
Below we will look at the things that make them unhealthy.
Calories
Calories are the first thing that comes to our mind, whenever we hear or ask about the nutritional value. First of all, pizza and burgers both have many varieties throughout the world and it’s almost impossible to compare each variety in calories so this calorie comparison point is to give you just an idea.
One slice of pizza contains around 254 calories that weigh around 96 grams (1). Now we both know you’re not going to eat just one slice at least a minimum of 3 and that skyrockets your calories intake to 762. To burn that 250 calories you will have to do cycling for 35 minutes at 10mph.
If one burger weighs 100 grams it will contain around 239 calories (2). To burn one burger worth of calories you have to do cycling for 33 minutes at 10mph, almost the same as pizza.
You need calories for energy but having high calories intake and not being able to burn them will take you a step closer to obesity and with obesity comes many health problems (3) so avoid eating food that makes you fat.
When it comes to calories in pizza vs burger, the burger is the clear winner but remember adding extra ingredients like calorie-dense cheese or sugary sauce will increase your calories intake.
Carbohydrates
Carbohydrates are our primary energy source. One slice of pizza contains around 32 grams of total carbohydrates of which 2.2 grams is dietary fiber and 3.4 grams is sugar and the burger consists of 18 grams of carbohydrates. From your daily calories, intake carbohydrates should be 45 to 60%.
You can reduce your daily carbs intake by choosing whole wheat instead of refined wheat. Again when it comes to carbs in pizza vs burger, the burger is the better option.
Cholesterol
Cholesterol is important for your body, it carries out the main tasks such as making hormones and building cells. Cholesterol travels with the help of blood on protein also known as a lipoprotein, there are two types of lipoprotein to say it in simple terms those two types are bad cholesterol and good cholesterol. A high level of bad cholesterol is dangerous to your health it carries the risk of stroke and various heart diseases. While having good cholesterol eliminates these health risks.
One slice of pizza consists of 16mg of cholesterol, while the burger consists of 54mg of cholesterol. Certain ingredients in pizza and burgers carry the most amount of cholesterol like cheese but if you remove the cheese will it taste good? that’s up to you to decide.
If you just look at the number in pizza vs burger, pizza is the winner but you don’t need to consume cholesterol but even if you do you should limit your daily cholesterol intake to 300mg, if you have any heart health risk factors then your intake should be below 200mg.
Sodium
Many ingredients that are used while making fast food, ingredients such as processed meat and cheese they have a very high sodium level. WHO suggests that our daily sodium consumption should be less than 2000mg (2grams) and intaking too much sodium can lead to an increase in high blood pressure, stroke, and heart disease. It can also cause calcium loss in your bone.
One slice of pizza consists of 572mg sodium and the burger consists of 350mg sodium.
When it comes to sodium in pizza vs burger, the burger is the healthier option but both pizza and burger contain an unhealthy amount of sodium so try cutting back on cheese and switch processed meat with fresh meat.
Sugar
Whenever we talk about dieting or losing weight, the common thing that people ask us to cut back on is sugar that may be true but you can’t cut sugar that naturally exists in your food and even your body needs sugar to function. Sugar that is naturally available not the ones that we add on.
One slice of pizza consists of around 3.4 grams of sugar and the burger consists of around 4 grams of sugar. So in the battle of sugar between pizza vs burger, pizza takes the victory.
Final words
In pizza vs burger, pizza is high in calories, sodium, and carbohydrates but they also offer a reasonable amount of protein, calcium, and other essential nutrients. The burger is high in cholesterol and sugar but it also has high protein and calcium levels so if we have to decide pizza vs burger which one is the healthier option then looking at overall values burger would be a healthier option.
If you can make pizza and burgers both at home you will have the luxury to cut and switch ingredients that can make even a pizza a healthier option. Still, if you can control your craving, try to suppress your hunger with fruits as they taste good or have a granola bar or muesli bowl.