Pizza chef Pasquale Cozzolino from Naples, Italy, lost 100 pounds eating a special pizza, one a day, along with a healthier diet. Learn how he used his favorite food to save his life--and you can, too, with The Pizza Diet!

Eat pizza and still lose weight! Readers can do just that by following the same, simple diet plan that chef Pasquale Cozzolino used to drop 100 pounds.

Cozzolino, a transplant from Naples, Italy, became obese eating the typical American diet when he moved to New York City. "I woke up one morning and noticed that I couldn't see my feet," he says. "My stomach was in the way." A doctor told him he would be dead by age 50 if he didn't change his diet. After all, he was 370 pounds!

Cozzolino realized that he could not give up his favorite food -- pizza! -- so he found a way to lose weight and still eat a small pizza a day. He experimented with dough and toppings and devised a recipe for a more healthful pizza, which is detailed in the book. By eating a small Neapolitan-style pizza made with high-quality ingredients and a lighter dough for lunch and a healthy dinner and exercising three times a week, Cozzolino was able to drop 100 pounds and significantly improve his health.

The Pizza Diet details exactly how the Italian chef did it, so readers can, too. The tasty diet works on the premise that most other diets fail because they require people to sacrifice their favorite foods. Deprivation and despair are just too hard for anyone to do for any length of time, so they quickly fall off their diet and regain the weight.

With the revolutionary Pizza Diet, readers never have to say no to pizza. In fact, they can enjoy your own specially prepared pie every day if you wish. After just one week, readers can expect to:

* start melting belly fat quickly

* crush their cravings and stay fuller, longer

* reduce gluten sensitivities

* begin to lose weight and feel lighter, healthier, and happier.

The book includes dozens of healthy pizza recipes, including pizza margherita, grilled vegetable pizza, and even pizza with sausage or prosciutto di Parma.
About the Author: Pasquale Cozzolino is the executive chef and co-owner of Ribalta restaurants (ribaltapizzarestaurant.com) in Manhattan and Atlanta.

Born in Naples, Italy, he attended six years of culinary school, where he learned 200-year-old recipes and perfected the art of making Neapolitan Pizza Margherita. After graduation, Pasquale worked for 10 years as a private executive chef in concert tours throughout Europe and South America serving such bands as U2, Madonna, Muse, and Coldplay. In 2011, he moved to New York City to pursue his dream of becoming a pizza chef and owning a restaurant.

In the U.S., Pasquale packed on the pounds by eating American-style fast food. He became dangerously overweight and realized he had to change his lifestyle or risk a heart attack. The answer was pizza, but not just any pizza. Pasquale used top-quality ingredients and his talent for mixing tradition with innovation to develop healthy recipes for pizza so he could lose weight and transform his health while still enjoying Neapolitan cuisine. His creations earned Ribalta New York magazine's best pizza of NYC award.

While eating this pizza every day for lunch, Pasquale lost more than 100 pounds in 7 months--and The Pizza Diet was born. Now leaner, healthier, and happier, Pasquale is eager to share his strategies and recipes to help others achieve a healthier lifestyle.

Pasquale lives in Queens, NY, with his wife and two sons.