PIZZA is one of America’s favorite foods and now one chef says that eating that saucy, cheesy slice can actually help you slim down.

    It’s called the pizza diet and New York City chef Pasquale Cozzolino says he cracked the code.

    Cozzolino moved to the United States from Italy four years ago and his weight — on a 6’6” frame — soared to more than 370 pounds (168 kilograms) and he was wearing pants with a 48-inch (1.22-meter) waist.

    He said he was so uncomfortable that he couldn’t play with his son at the park and his doctor warned of a heart attack.

    Cozzolino started by cutting out sweets and fizzy drinks and began exercising.

    He also ate a simple 12-inch margherita pizza pie for lunch every day.

    Cozzolino said his key to shedding over 100 pounds in seven months was eating his beloved pizza.

    “My pizza is something that comes from the Meditteranean diet,” he says. “So I can build a diet that makes me happy and doesn’t give me the opportunity to give up.”

    His homemade pizza has less than 600 calories and his ingredients are all natural and just the basics — flour, sauce, cheese and basil.

    (SD-Agencies)

    When he visited his family in Italy, people didn’t recognize him. He felt awful both mentally and physically.

    “I had knee problems, back problems, three ulcers in the stomach,” he recalls. He even had trouble taking his toddler son to the park because just walking there was so taxing.

    The final wake-up call came in June 2015, when Cozzolino went to see his family doctor on the Upper East Side.

    “She said ‘You need to lose weight or you will have a heart attack,’” he remembers.

    (SD-Agency)