CityLife

Too good to be true? PizzaExpress launches a "diet" pizza

The Leggera Vitabella

WHEN you receive word that a famous high street pizza outlet is launching a pizza for the calorie conscious diner, you could be forgiven if your first reaction was one of extreme scepticism. But-in a move which will no doubt come as very welcome news indeed to those of us wishing to eat tasty carb laden delights without expanding our waistline-Pizza Express have announced that they are launching a new pizza which promises not to compromise on taste, despite only being 500 calories

The pizza range, called "Leggera" (which means ‘light’ in Italian), has been inspired by a classic "fresella" from Naples – an Italian bread with a hole at its middle.  Calories are reduced by removing 50g of dough from the middle of the pizza and replacing it with salad. 
 
Weight Watchers

The launch of the Leggera range comes at the same time as Weight Watchers announcing that they will be trialing their meetings in PizzaExpress restaurants to show diners that they can now genuinely enjoy dining out whilst watching their weight.

Angharad Massie from Weight Watchers said: “We wanted to show that watching what you eat doesn’t mean compromising on quality and taste or avoiding your favourite foods. Pizzas are traditionally thought of as being a no go areas for dieters, this is not the case.  No food is off limits for our members.
 
“Our meetings in PizzaExpress restaurants will run as normal and include a confidential weigh in and diet and lifestyle advice including how to enjoy favourite foods and still lose weight.  Eating out doesn’t mean sacrificing good results at the scales.”

The Leggera is available from today in its restaurants across Manchester and will be available in all PizzaExpress restaurants from 22nd April.