There you are – stumbling, swaying, following the blessed Wait Chapel beacon of light back to campus from a night of dancing and party hopping with your friends. Then you see it: the glorious, neon sign reading “Subway” with a line of students leading out the door. For the first time in hours, you realize you’re ravenous, craving your favorite choice of foot-long that always tastes better at 2am. Subway is healthy…right?
Photo from campusdish.com.
Here’s the good news: it can be. Nobody wants to give in to the munchies and consume empty calories and fat-filled food after a night out, but sometimes you just have to. Sometimes you just can’t help it. Don’t worry collegiettes; we’ve all been there.
Here are some keys to getting the healthiest choices out of your Subway:
1. Stick to a 6-inch. Foot-long sandwiches start at 540 calories and contain more than a full day’s worth of sodium. And it only gets worse from there because that’s the healthiest your foot-long can get without the cheese. And let’s face it – we all like that melted cheese during those late hours of the night.
2. Save an Old Gold and skip the soda and chips. They only add more calories, unwanted fat, sugar, and sodium to your late-night meal.
3. Don’t skimp on veggies! There’s limited supply enough on campus, so getting some extra green on your sandwich can be super helpful to complete the impossible to please food pyramid. Speaking of greens, swap out shredded iceberg lettuce with spinach for extra nutrients.
4. If you like white bread, you’ll like this tip: ironically enough, the Italian white bread at Subway has the least amount of calories, fat, carbs, and sodium of all the other bread options. It may also be void of any substantial nutrients, but at least it has less of the bad stuff, too!
Photo from sodahead.com.
If you make it right, a subway sandwich might actually not be as terrible for you as you think. If you can’t fight the urge to satisfy your cravings, using these tips will help you stay away from extra weight gained from midnight snacking!