Fast Foods Sandwiches to Eat and to Avoid

By Anthony Todd in Food on Dec 1, 2010 8:40PM

WebMD, that haven for self-diagnosis, has created a great slideshow describing the nutritional information for some of the best and worst sandwiches in American fast food restaurants. This slideshow is particularly useful because instead of the standard preaching about avoiding all fast food, the authors have given us suggestions for eating relatively well at most of the major chains. It's also slightly shocking how many calories are packed into these sandwiches, especially at the "healthier" chains like Panera.

At Panera, the "worst sandwich" is the Signature Chipotle Chicken on Artisan French Bread, with 990 calories and 2370 mg of sodium. Indeed, one of the lessons of this list is to avoid many chicken sandwiches, which hide behind a mask of health (chicken!) but usually have mayo, bacon and breading to pack on the calories. The McDonalds Crispy Chicken Club has a similar caloric load. At Subway, if you are looking to diet avoid the Double Meatball Marinara with Cheese. Just the 6-inch has 860 calories - eat fresh, indeed!

There are better options, and they don't require a trip to the farmer's market. The Burger King TenderGrill Chicken Sandwich (without mayo) only has 370 calories. Check out the rest of the list. Some common-sense tips - use mustards, pickles and onions to add flavor without fat or calories, avoid breading and mayo, and remember, lunch probably shouldn't have 1000 calories unless you aren't planning to eat dinner.