Matt McClellan combined his love of pizza with a passion for competitive bicycling when he opened his own pizzeria in St. Petersburg, Florida called Tour de Pizza. As Matt tells it, “"I am a very simple person. I am just a normal guy who owns a pizza place."
In addition to being a normal guy, Matt has taken it upon himself to single-handedly establish pizza as an undisputed and recognizable heath food by consuming only pizza during a 30-day bike ride from his hometown to Times Square in New York City. He will demonstrate that pizza has what it takes to nourish his body for the physical feat as well as help him lose weight while on the pizza-only diet. "We have to change the image of pizza from a junk food to a health food and I am eating pizza for breakfast, lunch, and dinner," McClellan announced.
Matt has some prior experience with his pizza diet. Last year he ate only pizza for 30 days in a row and lost 24 pounds by working out every day on the diet. He now says "I used to believe that pizza was a junk food. I felt guilty selling pizza. But now I know I am not hurting people."
Despite nutritionists who have said pizza is not a health food and eating it all day long is not advisable, McClellan says he gets plenty of nutrients from the calcium and protein in the mozzarella, vitamin C and cancer-fighting lycopene from the tomato sauce, and loads of carbohydrates from the crust.
He plans to prove it by biking 90 miles a day from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. for 30 days. Of course, McClellan says he will take a break every three hours to eat pizza along the way. Matt will finish his journey at a pizza party sponsored by the Brooklyn-based spice company, Pizza Packets, in Times Square on July 4.
