Kidney Diet Tips

Dining Out Successfully at Buddys Pizzeria

Your family is going out to eat and takes you to a pizza chain restaurant. What do you order? Today, I am going to look at Buddys Pizzeria. It is a popular pizza chain around the Metro Detroit, Michigan area. This pizzeria has been around for more than 65 years.

Pizza is a challenging item to order at restaurants. Tomato sauce adds a lot of potassium, cheeses add a lot of phosphorus, and pepperoni or ham adds a generous amount of salt. Luckily, Buddy’s Pizzeria has an area on their menu where you can actually choose the toppings to make your pizza more personalized to meet your dietary needs.

Some healthy toppings for your pizza include: chicken, turkey, onions, green peppers, mushrooms, broccoli, cauliflower, kale, scallions, spinach, zucchini, carrots, roasted garlic, fresh dill, fresh jalapenos, fresh cilantro and fresh basil. You can make your pizza kidney-friendly by ordering light cheese, vegan cheese or no cheese. If you pick tomato sauce ask for light on the sauce or substitute olive oil for tomato sauce. Pictured below I created a pizza from Buddy’s Pizzeria that included chicken, green peppers and asked for the pizza to be light on sauce/cheese.buds-pizza-resized

Buddy’s Pizzeria also includes other items on their menu besides pizza that you could select.

Salads:

  • House salad-minus tomatoes
  • Greek salad-minus beets and olives
  • Caesar salad-light on the dressing

Burgers/Sandwiches:

  • Original Buddy Burger
  • Turkey Burger
  • Harvest Burger
  • Italian Chicken Sandwich
  • Grilled Steak Hoagie
  • Tuna Pita
  • Turkey Pita
  • Grilled Chicken Caesar Ciabatta
  • Grilled Turkey Ciabatta

For all the burgers and sandwiches on the menu order minus tomato, and substitute fresh vegetables or steamed broccoli for the fries. When picking out cheeses to put on the sandwich or burger choose one slice of provolone or use a tablespoon of bleu cheese. Refer to the Selecting the Best Cheese for a Kidney Diet blog post to help when ordering at restaurants.

Not all pizza places are accommodating with special requests so be sure to pick one where you can personalize for your dietary needs similar to Buddy’s Pizzeria. For more flexibility choose a pizza place that has other options besides pizza available to make your dining experience more enjoyable and kidney-friendly.

Additional Kidney Diet Resources

Visit DaVita.com and explore these diet and nutrition resources:

DaVita Food Analyzer

DaVita Dining Out Guides

Today’s Kidney Diet Cookbooks

DaVita Kidney-Friendly Recipes

Diet and Nutrition Articles                                                       

Diet and Nutrition Videos

Kidney Smart® Virtual Classes

This article is for informational purposes only and is not a substitute for medical advice or treatment. Consult your physician and dietitian regarding your specific diagnosis, treatment, diet and health questions.

Deanna Denny, RD

Deanna Denny, RD

Deanna Denny is currently a DaVita renal dietitian and has worked in the dietetics field for over 5 years. She is an avid foodie; loves exploring foods from all sorts of areas and cultures. She has a one year old Australian shepherd named Ace who means the world to her. She's a huge animal lover. She also enjoys traveling and spending time at home with her boyfriend and puppy.