Serious question: How much pizza is too much pizza?
We all say we could eat pizza for all major meals per day, but one man is practicing what we all pitched to our parents as kids.
Dan Janssen, of Ellicott City, Md., has eaten pizza for almost every meal for 25 years: pizza for breakfast, pizza for lunch, pizza for dinner. And it's almost always plain, cheese pizza. The 38-year-old admits that he'll eat an entire 14-inch pizza.
"Once a week to be healthy, I'll eat a bowl of Raisin Bran, but other than that it's just pizza," Janssen told TODAY.com. "But usually it's just pizza and coffee."
Janssen's pizza-rich diet began when he decided that he had grown tired of "regular foods" and wanted to become a vegetarian for ethical reasons. However, he also decided he does not like vegetables.
"I hate vegetables," Janssen told TODAY.com. "I tried for maybe a couple weeks, and then I realized the thing I really like is pizza, so I'm going to eat that...Nothing to me tastes as good as pizza. Why should I eat a carrot when I can eat pizza?"
Janssen sticks to plain cheese pizza, but he does alternate between making his own, heating up frozen pizzas and eating at pizzerias. He also tries eating different kinds of pizza, "if he has a Red Baron frozen pizza for breakfast, he'll have Joe Squared pizza for dinner," VIce reported.
"If I go to one pizza shop or another brand, it's like eating a completely different meal," Janssen told Vice.
Janssen does make some exceptions, like ordering pesto pizza because he doesn't like the tomato sauce at some pizza restaurants. Still, many people are polarized about Janssen's extreme eating habits.
"They either want to kill me, or they think I'm a hero,'' he told TODAY.com.
Adding : "People are really angry about it, which I don't understand. When somebody says, 'I've been a smoker for 20 years,' most people say, 'That's your choice.' I eat pizza for 20 years, and people want to kill me, or they think I'm a hero."
Janssen revealed that he has diabetes and noted that he occasionally does pass out when his blood sugar is too low, but he said pizza is not the problem, claiming that he is in remarkable health.
"Whenever I go to a new doctor.... my bloodwork comes back great and they say, 'You're doing great,'" he said. "I'm active. I ride my bike 30, 40 miles at a time. I feel great."
But overall, Janssen said he is happy.
"I must say, even though I sound like a horribly unhealthy and fat person, I'm not. I'm thin. I have tons of energy, and I feel great every day, so there might be something to the exclusive pizza diet," he said.
