Jared? You can shut up now.

If you watch TV at all, you've probably seen a commercial for Subway sandwiches, featuring Jared - that dude who used those same sandwiches to help control his eating and managed to lose a lot of weight doing so.  Congratulations Jared - I have tremendous respect for someone who can lose over a hundred pounds at all.  That he has managed to turn his weight-loss efforts into a lucrative spokesman job must be gravy (I make no assumptions that this blog, when I get down to 175 pounds of whatever, will suddenly start making me lots of money).  I think though, that it's time for Jared to move on.

Jared's continuing presence on the Subway commercials is designed to lend veracity to Subway's claims that their sandwiches are healthful.  In a currently airing commercial, they compare a particular Subway sandwich with chicken to a Burger King sandwich with chicken.  They cherry pick the fat numbers as an illustration of the relative healthy qualities of each sandwich - the Subway sandwich predictable has little fat, while the Burger King sandwich has an excessive amount.  The viewer can then extrapolate from this context free statistic that the Subway sandwich is good for you, while the Burger King sandwich is not.  My problem is not that Subway is lying about the Burger King sandwich being good for you - the sandwich they chose for their illustration (the Tender Crisp) is a whopper (ha!) to the body - but both the assertion that Subway sandwiches are good for you and the way they go about doing it.

Subway deliberately chooses the worst (nutritionally speaking) chicken sandwich Burger King makes.  Let's look at one of the worst sandwiches Subway makes - the tuna sub.  The 6" version has 530 calories and 31 grams of fat, not to mention over 1000 mg of sodium.  The chicken teriyaki (the subject of the commercial, I believe) has over 1200 mg of sodium - almost the entire recommended daily requirement.  Burger King makes a chicken whopper - this has only 570 calories and 25 grams of fat - very similar to the Subway tuna (a sandwich that you might foolishly think was actually going to be good for you).  I hate cherry picked statistics. 

I don't mean to be too hard on Subway here - I actually like some of their sandwiches, I like that you can get fresh vegetables on them (which is in my opinion really the thing that sets them apart from other fast food restaurants).  But Subway is still fast food - this means it is processed with way too much salt, and there are plenty of unhealthy options on their menu.  You need to be especially careful if you order a 12" sub.

My biggest complaint here is the choice of fat content as a comparison.  Can the whole notion of fat being bad for you just die already?  Can we replace it with the nuanced view that some fats are bad (trans fats = horrible!), some fats are good (omega-3) and that you do in fact need to eat some fat everyday.  There is also ample evidence that low fat diets do not work - besides the food tasting bland and unappealing, people trying these diets do not feel as full for as long.  The human body is very, very good at turning excess calories into fat - it does not care where it came from!  A 7oz bag of Jelly Belly jelly beans is a fat free food (yay, right?).  Eat it all, and you've eating over 1000 calories.

Ok, so this post ended up being more about Subway in general and less about Jared in particular.  Still, whatever valuable lesson Jared can teach is can be summed up as this:  control your caloric intake and move your body more.  What I want to know from Jared, is how he managed to two Subway sandwiches a day for as long as he did.  That would be both expensive and boring.  The way to achieve that willpower is infinitely more interesting to me than any particular suggestion of eat this, not that.

Comments

[Kerry]

Hear, hear! You can get moderately healthy choices at any restaurant - even McDonald's sells a salad w/ grilled chicken these days. If I were Subway, I'd go more for the angle of "whatever toppings you want" on your sub, or the fact that they even make them toasted, if you want.

Also, I eat at Subway a lot (it's the only fast-food restaurant in our little town) and most of the people I see get their subs with heaps of mayo, cheese, bacon, or salami and other things that are not exactly healthy. I daresay a sub with 4-5 tablespoons of mayo may be just as bad for you as a plain hamburger from McDonald's. Blech.

I'm very much enjoying your blog!

[TB]

You are absolutely right. Every single time I have made an effort to lose weight/get healthier the ONLY thing that works is cutting calories and being more active. Yet, I still have difficulty motivating myself to do it. I still look for the shortcut. I still have a millions ways to rationalize not doing what I know I should.

[me]

Ever notice on those Subway "congressional hearing" commercials that the channel indicator is "S-CAM"...

Oh and Hi!

[Amy]

And think about how much white bread is on a Subway sandwich! I'm a carb lover, but it's important to eat the RIGHT kinds of carbs.

Anyway, Potbelly's is better. :)

[jb]

I used to eat subway 3-4 times a week, not by willpower, but as it was the only close decent restaurant i could get to in my half hour lunch. with all the addable toppins you can really get some good variety. honey mustard...spicy mustard, mustard sauce, dijon mustard............

[schmutzie]

Thank you for both the Subway and the fat rants. I have friends who act terrified of fat and then consume gross amounts of sugars in soft drinks and the deceptive "fruit juices". And thanks for the chicken teriyaki sandwich heads up. I had one last week and had the sneaking suspicion that I had been hoodwinked regarding its healthfulness.

the vegatabales are not fressssssssssh!! i work there they are not fresh !!!