National Pizza Day: The Good, the Scary, and the Progress 🍕

From a Feeding Therapist, Katijo Makin, at Innovative Therapy Center

Pizza is everywhere. Birthday parties. School lunches. Family movie nights. And every year on National Pizza Day, it gets a little extra attention.

At Innovative Therapy Center, pizza is more than a fun food—it’s a food that tells us a lot. From the outside, pizza looks like the ultimate “easy choice.” But in feeding therapy, pizza can be wonderful, overwhelming, and surprisingly complex—sometimes all at once.

Let’s break it down.

🍕 The Good: Why Feeding Therapists at Innovative Therapy Center Love Pizza

Pizza checks a lot of therapeutic boxes, which is why we often use it intentionally in feeding therapy.

✔ Predictable structure Crust, sauce, cheese, toppings. That consistency helps many children feel safer approaching a meal.

✔ Built-in flexibility Pizza can be adapted without changing the “idea” of the food:

• Extra cheese

• No sauce

• Thin vs. thick crust

• Cut into squares, strips, or bite-sized pieces

✔ Natural texture variety Pizza offers crunchy edges, chewy crust, and soft melted cheese—perfect for targeting oral-motor skills in a familiar context.

✔ Social connection Pizza is often a shared experience. Being able to sit at the table and engage—whether eating or just interacting—is meaningful progress.

😬 The Scary: Why Pizza Can Be Hard

What looks simple to adults can feel overwhelming to a child.

Pizza combines:

• Strong smells

• Mixed textures

• Heat

• Visual changes (stretchy cheese, sliding toppings)

At Innovative Therapy Center, we often see challenges like:

• Refusal because it’s “too messy”

• Gagging when textures mix

• Anxiety if toppings change

• Eating only one specific brand or style

And this is important to hear:👉 This isn’t stubbornness or misbehavior. It’s often a child protecting their nervous system.

🌱 The “More”: What Feeding Progress Really Looks Like

Progress doesn’t always mean finishing a slice.

In feeding therapy, progress might look like:

• Tolerating pizza on the table

• Touching the crust

• Smelling the slice

• Licking cheese from a finger

• Taking one bite—and stopping

At Innovative Therapy Center, we celebrate interaction and regulation, not just intake.

Pizza is especially helpful because it allows for gradual exposure:

• Start with plain crust

• Add cheese

• Dip crust in sauce

• Change shapes or sizes

• Explore toppings when the child is ready

Each step builds confidence and trust at the table.

💙 A National Pizza Day Reminder from Innovative Therapy Center

If your child loves pizza—wonderful. If pizza causes stress—that’s okay too.

Progress isn’t about how “normal” a meal looks. It’s about:

• Reduced anxiety

• Increased curiosity

• Willingness to engage

• Feeling safe and supported while eating

Pizza can be a comfort food, a challenge food, or a bridge food—and all of those roles are valid.

So this National Pizza Day, whether your child eats a full slice or just explores the crust, remember:

Every interaction counts. Every step forward matters. 🍕💛

If you have concerns about your child’s eating, the feeding therapists at Innovative Therapy Center are here to help. A feeding evaluation can uncover what’s happening beneath the surface and create a supportive, individualized plan for progress—one bite (or touch) at a time.

This post was created by the clinicians at Innovative Therapy Center with support from ChatGPT.