Obesity Discussion Forums

[azamat]

I have seen the "Subway Diet" or "Subway Jared" or "The Subway Guy" on TV/YouTube/CNN/etc and even on Nascar commercials and I wonder how much of it is attributed to smart Subway advertising vs smart dieting? The fact is that Subway sales have doubled since the airing of his 50+ commercials. wow. I cant believe its been over 10 years since ...

His story is fascinating to me and I accidently met the guy at a IU football game since he's an IU alum.

I've actually lived next to a subway store and was eating lots of subs on weekly basis, but after awhile (3 months), it got really old for me. However, when I need fast food and I see a slew of restaurants, I'd usually go to Subway before going to the Burger King or Wendys etc. I do admit that I also like Arbys's market fresh subs cuz they are relatively healthy as well.

So my question is, are there other "Jared Fogle" types out there or is he the only one that was able to totally transform himself with the help of the "7 under 6" or "$5 footlong" etc campaigns?!


What do you think about this?

[Fluffymomma]

Hmm, interesting take on it. Not sure. I personally find Subway very bland but for their Tuna so I don't go often. I found from this forum to try an alternative to bread by eating Pita bread and stuffing it full w/veges. That's going to be my lunch today, BTW.

I think $25-30 a week eating Subway would get kind of expensive. That could buy alot more groceries or a few fantastic trips to the Farmers Market this time of year than eating a sub sandwich.

[Obesity Discussion]

Originally Posted by Fluffymomma

Hmm, interesting take on it. Not sure. I personally find Subway very bland but for their Tuna so I don't go often. I found from this forum to try an alternative to bread by eating Pita bread and stuffing it full w/veges. That's going to be my lunch today, BTW.

I think $25-30 a week eating Subway would get kind of expensive. That could buy alot more groceries or a few fantastic trips to the Farmers Market this time of year than eating a sub sandwich.

Subway can get expensive, and most of their subs have a ton of carbs and very little protein.

I think it sets a bad misconception that if you eat subs you'll lose weight.

You'll only lose weight if the calories in the subs you are eating are a good amount lower than the calories you would usually eat instead......


and to a lesser extent, if you ate fried/fast food before, and now you're eating more quality carbs with Subway's whole grain breads, not eating fried foods, etc, that will help too.

[matt007]

What I like about Subway is you can check out the nutrition facts before you go there. Although, some of their sandwiches have a lot more calories than I would have guessed. Then again just about all fast food has nutrition info online. But it's nice to have the information in front of you. I have a Quiznos in walking distance and that's my weekly treat on Sundays a lot of the time. But I think it would be hard to keep your calories down doing Subway (or any of the sandwich places) daily.

[SheaGrl]

I love subway! I ate it for lunch probably 3 times a week for a year straight and never got sick of it (not to mention i only get the turkey sub). I think its very flavorful b/c i put tons of veggies on it, honey mustard, etc.

I also think its okay in carbs if you just get the six inch- you can also get double meat. I never eat fast food, so if I want something fast, it will be subway. By the way....I know it is more expensive than typical fast food, however, the "supposed" healthy foods at fast food (like the grill chicken sandwiches) are always the most expensive item on the menu and it ends up being almost the same price as subway!

[Obesity Discussion]

Originally Posted by matt007

What I like about Subway is you can check out the nutrition facts before you go there. Although, some of their sandwiches have a lot more calories than I would have guessed. Then again just about all fast food has nutrition info online. But it's nice to have the information in front of you. I have a Quiznos in walking distance and that's my weekly treat on Sundays a lot of the time. But I think it would be hard to keep your calories down doing Subway (or any of the sandwich places) daily.

I love how well their nutritional menu is setup, however most Subways seem to vary a bit on the amount of meat/toppings they put on their subs. Now that Subway toasts their subs too, that's more the reason to go!

Originally Posted by SheaGrl

I love subway! I ate it for lunch probably 3 times a week for a year straight and never got sick of it (not to mention i only get the turkey sub). I think its very flavorful b/c i put tons of veggies on it, honey mustard, etc.

I also think its okay in carbs if you just get the six inch- you can also get double meat. I never eat fast food, so if I want something fast, it will be subway. By the way....I know it is more expensive than typical fast food, however, the "supposed" healthy foods at fast food (like the grill chicken sandwiches) are always the most expensive item on the menu and it ends up being almost the same price as subway!

If you're really concerned about the carbs you can always get the whole grain wraps they offer. I tend to get those in lieu of the full bread and it saves a ton of calories.

[SheaGrl]

I love the wraps. I wonder why they don't do a low-carb bread/low-carb wrap option.

[azamat]

What I want to see in a Subway or any other fast-food place is a drink machine that dispenses cranberry juice, orange juice, one of V8s, etc ...

or better yet, if FDA made all the calorie stats to be in font 30 instead of tiny 6 or 8 pt. This way, when you get a Coke, you'll see the # of sugar etc you are about to consume ... kind of like in Europe's smoking nicotine-death labels to bring more awareness to the side effects of smoking ...

just my $0.2

[MichaelB]

Originally Posted by azamat

kind of like in Europe's smoking nicotine-death labels to bring more awareness to the side effects of smoking ...

Yeah, I was pretty impressed at the French campaign.

"Fumer Tue!"

[Jilly Bean]

I eat a alot of subway - I stick to either chicken breast or turkey, and I usually get low fat mayo. Its worth every calorie.... lol. even with cheese its not all that bad, about 450 calories.... worth it I would say.

[SunShine]

I never eat subway sandwiches, in fact I never eat sandwiches at all of any kind. Just never cared for them. I guess you could say the only sandwich I eat would be a healthy veggie burger on a whole wheat bun.

[Obesity Discussion]

I didn't realize this, but apparently he has a book out....it's a biography mostly, but still a book on his subway diet for any hardcore Jared fanatics out there.

[SunShine]

Jared says he did lose his weight eating subways. I guess you can lose that way if that is all you ate was just one small sandwich a day.
I wonder if he cut his calories at supper time to. I am sure he did not just eat subs for all three meals aday.
It worked for him so I say do what works for you...

[SentinelBasch]

I'm a bit torn on the point.

On the one hand, if you are going to eat out, there are worse things you could eat then a Subway sandwich. A Hardee's Thickburger comes to mind.

On the other hand, you could make a sandwich at home that is so much healthier. I doubt that Subway's "wheat" bread has very much whole wheat at all. The subs are also very high in sodium.

In addition to that, you really don't know what's in the food you're eating, as is true of virtually any food you eat out. Because of that, I don't think it's wise to make any restaurant food a diet staple, but rather restrict it to the occasional treat.

[SunShine]

I do not think its wise either to make a fast food restaurant a diet staple. I had rather eat at home myself.

[MichaelB]

But Sentinel has a good point...

Originally Posted by SentinelBasch

I'm a bit torn on the point.

On the one hand, if you are going to eat out, there are worse things you could eat then a Subway sandwich. A Hardee's Thickburger comes to mind.

Coming home from the coast this last weekend, we stopped near a Subway -- but they all wanted to go to a Mexican restaurant and so that's where we ate.

The Subway would've been a far healthier choice...it would've been cheaper, less fat, and I would've felt better if I'd just gone and grabbed a sandwich than eaten that taco platter. Ugh.

[Obesity Discussion]

Originally Posted by SentinelBasch

I'm a bit torn on the point.

On the one hand, if you are going to eat out, there are worse things you could eat then a Subway sandwich. A Hardee's Thickburger comes to mind.

On the other hand, you could make a sandwich at home that is so much healthier. I doubt that Subway's "wheat" bread has very much whole wheat at all. The subs are also very high in sodium.

In addition to that, you really don't know what's in the food you're eating, as is true of virtually any food you eat out. Because of that, I don't think it's wise to make any restaurant food a diet staple, but rather restrict it to the occasional treat.

Believe it or not, Subway's 9 grain wheat bread and honey oat bread do have a decent amount of wheat in it.....up to 5g of dietary fiber for a 6" loaf for those to types, which is pretty good for Subway!

Great mindset on making restaurants a treat instead of a staple....unfortunately because people are in a rush they tend to make quick/easy places a staple, or just because they want to get out of the office. If you have to go, it's wise to do your research ahead of time online and find the healthy meals available, and go easy on the sauces/dressings! Those have what I like to call "surprise" calories.....and lots of them.