I’ve always wondered why pizza gets such a bad rap as a junk food, even though one could eat a sandwich with tomato, cheese, pepperoni and basil and not raise an eyebrow. Perhaps it’s the fact that people tend to consume massive amounts of it, usually accompanied by massive amounts of high-calorie beverages. But now a man is out to change pizza’s junky public image with a one-man bike tour from Florida to New York.

The cyclist, Florida pizzeria owner Matt McClellan, isn’t just riding his bike from St. Petersburg to the Big Apple. He’s putting his money where his mouth is — eating only pizza for the entire month-long trek.

His journey began June 4 in Florida and, biking around 90 miles a day, stopping every 3 hours to chow down at a local pizzeria, he plans on making it to NYC’s Times Square — the last place in the city to go for anything resembling pizza — on July 4.

Says the pizza-lovin’ fool:

I used to believe that pizza was a junk food. I felt guilty selling pizza. But now I know I am not hurting people…

We have to change the image of pizza from a junk food to a health food… I am eating pizza for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

McClellan’s PR stunt is getting some sideways glances from nutritionists.

“Pizza is not a health food,” said Lisa Young of New York University. “There is nothing wrong with pizza in moderation. But eating it all day long is not advisable.”

Others point out that McClellan can get away with the extra calories from all that pizza because he’s, ya know, riding his bike 90 miles a day.

Here’s a question: How many slices of pizza — and what kind of pizza — do you usually eat at one time?

Pizzeria owner bicycling up East Coast eating only pizza for meals to peddle it as health food

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