Man lives on pizza diet for 25 years

ELLICOTT CITY, Md., Feb. 26 (UPI) -- A Maryland man said he has subsisted on a diet of nearly nothing but cheese pizza for the past 25 years and his health has not suffered.

Dan Janssen, 38, of Ellicott City said he grew up on a diet of "meat and potatoes," but he stopped eating meat for ethical reasons in his young teens and soon landed on a pizza-only diet due to his dislike of vegetables, the Baltimore Sun reported Wednesday.

"I do eat a bowl of Raisin Bran once a week or so if I want to be healthy," Janssen said. "But usually it's just pizza and coffee."

"Nothing to me tastes as good as pizza," he said. "Why should I eat a carrot when I can eat pizza?"

Janssen said he switched to soft pretzels for two weeks while visiting Germany because he couldn't find good pizza in the country. He said his fiancee has convinced him to start seeing a nutritionist.

"I do see a day in the future when I get a little more adventurous," he said.

"I remember about four years ago I ate a peach and it was amazing," he said. "I just never think to do things like that."

Janssen said he was diagnosed with hereditary diabetes about the same time he started his pizza diet, but his health has not suffered.

"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."