Making the correct stops at Subway

When you don't do your homework, you might assume that whatever you stack on your Subway sandwich is good for you as long as it's one of the 6 grams of fat subs. Bad news: that measurement comes without all the globs of mayo, pounds of cheese and horrible salami you stack in there.

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Before I get into the tips, here's a quick guide to Subway's $2.49 Sub of the Day deals so you can know when to go. (Note: I'm not sure if these change from region-to-region, let me know if these are different in your neck'o'the woods.)

Sunday: Oven Roasted Chicken

Monday: Turkey and ham

Wednesday: Turkey

Every other day: bad, bad, bad!

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So, after giving you Chipotle tips it's time to review some of the important Dos and Don'ts for what can be another choose-your-own-misadventure.

1. $2.49 Sub of the Day > Five Dollar Foot long (hell, even a DOUBLE MEAT 6-footer is better than a FDFL!)

A five-dollar foot long will be costly in bread (and therefore unneeded calories and carbs). Apparently, it's actually a better choice to double the meat on a 6-inch sub instead if you need more sandwich.

2. Choose your bread wisely

The range in calories isn't big, but Honey Oat and Wheat bread provide far more fiber.

3. Condiments change everything

I'm on the fence about cheese, as it actually has its benefits according to many.

The dressing is where you can really ruin your sandwich, though.

I recommend: Mustard, Honey Mustard (my favorite compromise), Sweet Onion (whatever the fuck that is), Red Wine Vinaigrette (a little too sweet IMO) and maybe another sauce or two.

Stay away from ranch, mayo and generally anything creamy. Also, Oil & Vinegar is a bad move because you're likely to get a heavy dose of oil. Stick with less dangerous options.

3b. Be stern

You really have to stay on them if you do get ranch or another unhealthier dressing. Tell them "just a little" and blurt out a stop message once they start pouring it on haphazardly as they'll forget since they hate their jobs and don't care that you're trying to lose weight. The dicks.

(It's actually surprising that Subways actually do vary in quality even though their food tastes eerily similar across the country. Why? Better, more attentive staffs means less itchy sauce trigger fingers.)

4. No chips, no soda

You know you've done this before: you buy a decent Sub but then you get a 32 oz. Coke and Cheetos. Well, guess what? You fucked up.

My recommendation is to pick up a sandwich if you can.

5. If you must have a combo:

Get Unsweetened Iced Tea and Apple Slices. Or, if you must, Diet Soda (really don't recommend Diet though) and Baked Lay's.

That might sound hard, at first, but ask yourself this: how much do you taste fries/soda when you're eating lunch? If you're a fatty like me, you usually barely even chew your food enough to actually taste anything.

If you hate Baked Lay's (the BBQ, Sour Cream and Onion and their weird pepper or Chipotle varieties are solid) then go with Sun Chips. Sun Chips are still pretty high in fat (usually 9 grams, possibly more than your sandwich) but they add a decent amount of fiber.

6. Veggies make the sandwich

The other day, I finally had a cheese-free sandwich. I did so by stacking my sandwich with an impressive array of veggies: tomatoes, lettuce, green and yellow peppers, black olives, pickles and onions. It was delicious.

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So, those are my Subway tips. It's not a perfect place to eat, though. These meals still tend to be pretty high in sodium (the monster I'm still fighting) and the veggies can be a little shaky sometimes.

Still, Subways are everywhere and can really allow you to control your caloric intake while eating something satisfying. Just make sure to avoid the dreaded Health Halo and channel your inner Jared.

See Also:

Subway Official Nutrition Information (they also have some really good "weight management" advice that you should take a look at.)

Adios, French fries (or the importance of a good side-kick)

It's all about the company you (and your entree) keep.

While I'm personally trying to pack nutrition into every meal, it's quite possible that many of you just want to cut some calories each day. That's cool, brahs and brahettes.

There are plenty of ways to do that, but one thing that gets overlooked is what surrounds your heaping portions of meat (or vegan main course?). You already know this, but if your cross hairs aren't necessarily aimed at the ceiling, you'll marvel at how much you can save by (take a deep breath) cutting out french fries, potato chips and their fried kind.

(Another way? Cut back or completely cut out empty soda calories, but that's another post for another day. Although I will prematurely sing the praises of unsweetened iced tea, as diet soda is kind of bad for you too.)

Just to give you a quick comparison, I've been combining Chick Fil A's Chargrilled Chicken sandwich (a quite tasty 300 calorie sandwich whose only sin is a high sodium count) with their side salad instead of fried chicken and fries yet still ending up with a VERY filling meal. In fact, I'd argue that the meal ends up appeasing my hunger for much longer.

Let's compare some of the side options at the wacky Mormon (they're Mormons right? I know they close on Sundays ...) chick joint, with the fruit cup being another great option, although I doubt that it would be enough to keep me full through the day. You may disagree, and good for you, because it's even better for you than the salad option.

Anyway, let's compare and contrast.

Grilled chicken and a healthy salad make a dynamic duo. (G-get it?)

(Oh, and Chick-Fil-A has its own calculator, so you can mix and match to your heart's content.)

Bad move:

Fried chicken sandwich, medium Waffle Fries and a medium Coke:

Calories: 980; 38 grams of fat; 1575 mg of sodium; 131 carbs; 7 g of fiber; 54 g of sugar; 35 g of protein

Comments: The sad thing is that this is a relatively decent meal in the fast food world. It just shows you how much damage you can do when every move you make is a bad one. Horrible sugar, carbs and calories. And, again, there are burgers alone out there that can cause similar caloric problems.

Intermediately Bad:

8-piece nuggets, medium Waffle Fries and a medium unsweetened tea.

Calories: 650; 33 grams of fat; 1190 sodium; 57 carbs; 5g of fiber; 2 g of sugar; 32 g of protein

Comments: Still a bit costly, but if you're going to be bad this isn't a catastrophe. Bump it up to 780 calories and 38 grams of fat if you go with the 12-count of nuggets.

My choices:

Note: for the side salad, there's three options: a reduced fat berry balsamic vinaigrette, a low fat Italian and fat-free Honey Mustard. In this case, I chose the berry balsamic, but that's mainly because of the high salt content of the Italian (which sports less fat and calories) and because I'm already using mustard as a Ranch-killer.

The Meal

• Chargrilled Chicken sandwich (make sure to get the regular one, which I think was #2, instead of the Club - I believe #6 - which has bacon and cheese to ruin the value)
• Side salad w/ a little less than half a packet of reduced fat berry balsamic V dressing [don't use the croutons, but I did throw in a bit of the sesame seeds they provide. You don't need the whole packet on a small salad, BTW.]
• Unsweetened Iced Tea.

The Stats

440 calories, 10g of fat (probably 15 with the sesame seeds), 1390 mg of sodium, 55 carbs, 5g of fiber, 21g of sugar, 34 g of protein

Comments: A nice, filling meal that I typically augment by bringing a fruit cup for later in the work day. It's not perfect, but you save 200-500 calories by choosing a better side, better drink and grilled chicken. That way, you make the most of your calories and can avoid those dreadful mid-afternoon sugar crashes.

Keep in mind also that with chicken nuggets it's almost inevitable that you'll add some bad sauces to the mix, making the grilled chicken w/ salad shine through even more. If you decide on the chicken nuggets, maybe ask for one of the health(ier) dressings instead? Hmmm?

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Going forward, I'll try to find more solid substitutes for French fries. If you're at a Subway, you might be surprised how decent the Baked Lay's are (even if they share the same un-filling problems as their fattier bagged brothers). But I can expand on that later.

Oh, and Chick-fil-A also has salads and other helpful suggestions if you'd really like to avoid carbs or just want a variety of options ...

Not sure you'll find much there if you're a vegetarian, though. But I'll try to look out for your interests whenever possible. No, really.

Restaurant guides: Chipotle

Note: I might fine-tune this post a little bit later, but I figure it couldn't hurt to put it up as is for the purposes of feedback and corrections. Hope this helps!

At one point in my life, Chipotle was the site of horrible, high-calorie disasters. You throw a huge burrito around a collection of meat, sour cream, rice and cheese and you've destroyed any reasonable diet. When I think of the sad disintegration of one of my longest relationships, I think of how doughy we became due to Chipotle-sque calorie orgies.

So it stunned me when Eat This, Not That named Chipotle a do-gooder in many ways. You see, Chipotle is the quintessential example of the wide pendulum of many restaurants, as the venue can swing from awful to quite decent nutritionally.

With that, I'll break down eating at Chipotle. If you want to calculate your own meals, this site is fabulous. Chipotle Fan's calculator is a great way of weighing the pros and cons of items in your food.

Burrito bol you over (hey-oh!)

At first, losing these items is going to sting. But the thing is, if you take them out, you can eat DELICIOUS food without much more than sodium regret.

Get a burrito bol, not a huge burrito or the tacos

Yes, Chipotle markets their huge tin foil-draped burritos and they're very tasty, but they're pretty awful for you. If you want to lose weight, you do have to make some compromises but I've found that the burrito bol isn't that tough, at all. It's like eating a salad of awesome.

According to Chipotle fan, here's the key facts with the food joint's other food holders:

The trademark 13" Burrito

Calories: 290 (!), Fat: 9 grams (!), Sodium: 670 mg, 44 carbs, Protein: 7g

Comment: You can have a 400+ calorie meal if you take this option out and you won't hurt for protein. Stunning, right?

The soft tacos

Calories: 270, Fat: 8 grams, Sodium: 600 mg, 39 carbs, Protein: 6g

Hard tacos

Calories: 180, Fat: 6 grams, Sodium: 30 mg, 27 carbs, Protein: 2g

So if you HAVE to eat what holds your food, I guess hard tacos are a reasonable choice although I'd rather replace that with guacamole and take a little more fat (but good fat) and get much better health benefits.

No cheese or sour cream, sorry folks. You won't miss them as much as you think.

Don't eat the chips

You're better off getting chips elsewhere, because that bag hits the 570 calorie, 27g of fat mark. In other words, it's worse for you than a burrito bol I had with steak, rice, black beans, two salsas and lettuce. Take a wild guess which of those choices is more filling and more nutritious ...

One note if you choose a salad

You're better off dressing the lettuce with guacamole or salsa (or both) than getting the dressing.

The dressing provides a walloping 25g of fat and 260 calories while providing none of the vegetables of salsa or the many benefits of guacamole.

Building a good bol or salad

1. Black beans might be the best thing on the menu.

For only 120 calories and 1g of fat, black beans provide a nice flavor along with a stunning 11g of fiber (a nice chunk of your daily need) and an impressive 7g of protein. I think this has benefits for anyone, but these are especially good for vegetarians (unless they've been clandestinely rubbed with meat or something).

2. I like meat, therefore I will usually choose one.

It seems like the meats are all pretty similar in calories and fat, with the main variance being sodium. They all add quite a bit of fat and calories, but they're the anchor of a meal ... and if you're used to tacos or burritos wrapping your food, it might be best to take baby steps. Plus, the protein will fill you up well into the rest of your work day.

3. Salsas are a cheap source of flavor, but beware of sodium. They also have minor benefits I wasn't expecting.

Salsa is bad ass. It gives you a nice helping of vegetables and adds a ton of taste. Just be careful about sodium, especially if you like to add more than one like me.

My favorite salsa is the Green salsa (probably called Green chile, but lay off me I'm a gringo). It only costs you 15 calories and a semi-reasonable 230mg of sodium and even has a gram of fiber to boot. It also is my favorite tasting one.

The tomato (or basically pico de gallo) salsa is another favorite, although it's pretty salty at 470 mg.

I'm impressed by the corn salsa's 3g of fiber and it's not too bad at 80 calories and 2g of fat. The sodium is kinda high too, though, at 410 mg.

The hottest salsa is a bit too much for me, but it does have its benefits. Not surprisingly, it has the highest sodium count at 510 mg. Still, it does provide a surprising 4g of fiber and 2g of protein. When you consider that Subway's honey oat bread stands out for providing 5g of fiber, a mere salsa that brings almost as much is pretty damn stunning.

Still, I think I'll stick with one or more of the other three. That hot salsa is a bit ... painful.

4. The guacamole wild card

The avocado-based condiment comes with an extra charge (usually about $1.75 extra) and some at-first intimidating fat content (13g) but it's also a great substance to add to your food, especially if you need some filler without meat.

For one thing, 150 calories isn't too bad when you consider the flavor, impressive 6g of fiber, small influx of protein and of course the good fat that comes with it.

It really depends on how picky you're being with calories, but my advice would be to have guacamole at least once every three visits. It's delicious and will keep you from eating other things if the rest of the meal isn't filling enough for you big eaters.

5. The rice question

It's not brown rice, so it's not the best rice for you. And from what I've read, rice is more or less filler anyway. At 130 calories and 3g of fat with 23 carbs and 2g of protein, it seems negligible nutritionally.

So far, I've laced my burrito bols with their tasty rice (mmm cilantro), but I'm still on the fence about the company's signature filler.

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OK, that's my take on Chipotle so far. I might come up with a list of concoctions to give people a few different ideas, but you can use that Chipotle calculator to know exactly what you're getting yourself into.

Hopefully this helps you, because if you have a Chipotle nearby, you stand to benefit from a meal full of organic foods, reasonably decent meat and lots of good stuff. For fast food, there are few better.

Yet it's amazing to note that my old favorite (steak, rice, big burrito, fajita vegetables, sour cream, cheese, two salsas) was a mind numbing 885 calories, 38 g of fat and only 4g of fiber. When you count the Coke I'm slowly turning into unsweetened iced tea, I'd imagine my meals would clock in at a troubling 1000 calories.

500 calories sure looks pretty damn good, now.