When you go out? Obviously you can't bring lunch with you..Where should you eat, what are the healthiest restaurants? Today I may go out to eat at Pollo Tropical (Florida chain, I guess) or Quizno's. What are healthy options from those restaurants...? Is rice OK? Salads with all sorts of stuff in them? Anyone familiar with these restaurants...

Also...which sandwich is better? Twelve inch tuna or twelve inch Veggie..

Thanks!

The sandwiches I have no idea, but from 4 years experience working at Wendy's, I can tell you one piece of advice... watch out for salad dressings, the normal ones tend to have more fat in them than the burgers! Make sure you go for something low-fat, or check the information on it before you commit it to your mouth!

Hope that's a bit helpful.
~Fae

I would almost guess for calories, veggie would be the way to go.. Tuna would give you some great nutrients as well with a few more calories.

I eat at Subway alot for lunch. At Quizno's, see if they have a nutritional guide. Subway has one and i'm able to know exactly how many calories i'm eating.

I would not eat a 12 inch sub of anything. I would go with a 6 inch tuna. The 12 inch is just too much. If you are still hungry after a 6 inch eat a yougurt or fruit.

Yeah, if you going to eat at subway etc, get a 6", and watch of for mayo, cheese etc.. The calories they tell you are in them are without all the extras. Id say a veggie would be good becuase their tuna is made with mayo in it. And when i get a salad from say, McDonalds, i always get it with no dressing.. Either see if they have lowfat dressing available, or maybe buy your own light dressing. SOmetimes i will use just enough of the packet dressing for a little flavor (maybe 1/4 of the packet) and throw the rest away. Oh and watch out for the dressing packets that say tehres TWO servigns in them... I had one of those once..

Sometimes if i don't eat anything all day..not often but occasionally.. i'll get a 12in sub for supper. I don't recommend it often that's for sure. In the nutritional guide I have for Subway, it lists how much cheese, mayo, etc is seperately from the sandwich itself. I eat subway just about every wednesday night..lol

be very careful at subway...the bread alone has most of your sodium intake for the day...

Good to know! I never thought to take the sodium in bread into account.

I love to check sites that have nutritional information for the restuarants I visit often. If its a sit down restaurant- when my food comes I usually ask for a to go box and put around half of the meal into it.

And yes be careful of salad dressings!! They can be really fattening!

Chick-fil-a is my favorite lunch salad. All the veggies are really fresh, but as the others have said watch for the dressing.

Is there a Sweet Tomatoes or Souper Salad around. I always go there for lunch or just to pick up somethinkg to go.

As for the sandwiches, a veggie sub will DEFINITELY be better than the tuna one (assuming you don't pile cheese, oil, and/or mayon on the veggie sub!). Yes, tuna has those healthy omegas we hear so much about, but in that prepared tuna salad, you're also getting a TON of fat and calories from all the mayo (and possibly oil) they add.

Just about any place has some good options. As noted, be wary of salad dressings. Also, watch out for salad ingredients that can make your salad much less healthy (lots of croutons, bacon, full-fat cheese, etc.).

As others have touched upon, try finding your restaurants' websites for nutritional info. I know Subway has nutritional info on their's, so I'm guessing Quizno's might, too. Also, if the info is not on their websites, they often have the information in a guide available at the restaurant--just ask.

When in doubt, I stick with a grilled chicken sandwich--no mayo, no cheese--and I only eat the bottom of the bun (you can hold it by just the bottom bun from beneath with one hand, kind of like an oyster ). If you're not on the go and can toss the whole bun and just eat with a fork, that'd be even better, of course.

Many places are offering healthier side options now as well. For example, you could go to Wendy's and get a plain baked potato--still has carbs and calories, but at least it's not fried, not greasy, not processed, and has some nutrients.

Another suggestions--if you're out for lunch anyway, why not stop at a grocery store? They often have fresh salad bars or even small prepared salads, plus then you have the option of any healthier dressing you can find in the condiment aisle

If you have time to sit down someplace, most large chains now have healthier options on their menus. For example, Applebee's has a WW menu section, TGI Friday's has Atkin's-friendly options, etc. If you don't have time to sit and dine for lunch, you could call and place an order for takeout, and many of them even deliver the food to your car now. Ordering from a restaurant such as these also usually gives you MANY more options for healthier sides, plus they often have large portion sizes, so you could probably get 2 meals out of one order!