Originally Posted by Rowan (Post 16203681)

...There's usually at least nine different salad vegetables you can build in one of their rolls, cheaper than what a McDs or other fast food outlet can offer....

Originally Posted by 3speed (Post 16200481)

I still can't believe they're the biggest food chain. I don't think I know anyone who eats at Subway. I used to many years ago, but found that the quality of their offerings went downhill. Maybe it was just our local shop? Eventually it seemed like I was getting a couple paper thin slices of ham, a couple thin slices of unripe tomato, a few black olives, and 4lbs of iceberg lettuce and lots of bread. Did it get better again, or is it just a matter of the fairly low price point that brings you guys in the door?

Originally Posted by raybo (Post 16194111)

.... at most, not all, stores and the places in the US have free ice and filtered water in their drinks machine.

I usually check if there is a Subway in the towns I will stop in or ride through as I plan my trips.

Originally Posted by staehpj1 (Post 16204107)

I absolutely am not concerned about the amount of salt in Subway or other fast food for that matter. I find that when touring I crave salt. I believe that the reason I crave it is that my body needs it at an increased level especially when riding in the heat 6-12 hours at a clip.

Originally Posted by Ekdog (Post 16205729)

Our bodies crave a lot of things (alcohol, tobacco, drugs, fatty foods...) they don't necessarily need.

Originally Posted by staehpj1 (Post 16205737)

Yes, but they also crave what they are short of. I have found that on a long high mileage tour I tend to crave what I need and am not getting enough of whether that be carbs, electrolytes, or whatever.

Originally Posted by ak08820 (Post 16205059)

In my area some Subways refuse to provide water and are ready to sell you bottled water. Also, their sandwiches are not filled generously. I find that local sandwich shops are much better options - at least in CNJ.

Originally Posted by Gravity Aided (Post 16206034)

I've gotta ride 40 miles to get to a Jersey Mikes. A tour in itself. And I can only get Blimpies in the cafeteria at work. I, like a lot of people, have Subway as the only option, but I do like my local sub sandwiches better, although they are called gondolas here.

Originally Posted by ak08820 (Post 16205059)

In my area some Subways refuse to provide water and are ready to sell you bottled water. Also, their sandwiches are not filled generously. I find that local sandwich shops are much better options - at least in CNJ.

Originally Posted by spinnaker (Post 16206237)

+1000 for Jersey Mikes. A friend and I were doing a ride on a local MUP. It was time for lunch and I knew a Jersey Mikes was nearby but down a busy road. After a mile or two my friend was starting to freak out and we turned around and ate at Subway. he had no idea what he was missung. :)

Originally Posted by andrewclaus (Post 16204070)

You beat me to it. On the 100F+ days I was cycling in the Midwest heat wave I experienced, I was adding salt to my Subway sandwiches and fast food fries. When you drink six or seven liters of water per day, you'd better add salt. Hyponatremia does suck--a friend nearly died of it on a Tucson golf course. He stayed very well hydrated--too well, as it turns out.

Originally Posted by Gravity Aided (Post 16206253)

Got to go clear back to Peoria around here for one, even though Bloomington/Normal supposedly has one of the largest restaurant per capita ratios in the country. Worth it.

Originally Posted by Carbonfiberboy (Post 16205993)

Good luck with:
1) finding a healthier restaurant on your route
2) having the bill be less than $10.
3) howling at the moon at the lack of 1 and 2.

Originally Posted by MassiveD (Post 16201686)

Frinstance. The Garlic 6" bun has 30% more salt in it than the whole big mac. It has 6 x you daily salt requirement, and .5 your daily allowed. Add chipotle sauce, and you are pulling up to the salt in 2 big macs (not recommended either!). I don't know about you, but I like a 12"... Add pepporoni, and you might as well swerve into a truck now. Helmet, you seriously should wear one while eating this crap.

Originally Posted by spinnaker (Post 16206244)

Strange every Subway I have ever been to, you get your own drinks. There is a water dispenser usually under the iced tea. I have often filled my water bottles with ice and water at Subway when on tour.

Originally Posted by ak08820 (Post 16206909)

Here, if I remember correctly, they have the beverage machine behind the counter. Customer area has cases of bottled drinks.

Originally Posted by MassiveD (Post 16205606)

I know from having hypertension that salt isn't even indicated in that for more than about 7% of people. So I didn't suggest that the salt itself is a problem for everyone. I take it as an indication that:

- Their food is relatively poisonous, and industrial, like everyone else in the fast food industry. Salt is only one indicator of that problem but it speaks loudly. If they are making products that regularly have ten times the salt the average human needs in one small bun before anything else is added, what else are they doing. If you think "veggies", are a super pure never messed with, universally healthy product, you need to hit the books. I would eat their veg, but I don't expect much from it.
Poisonous? Really? How many people have died from eating Subways? Which books hit you with that one? And what would you recommend people eat in lieu of veggies? Why wouldn't you expect much from it? Have you done an analysis of the content of each one? Oddly, I believe their veggies come from the same sources as those people buy in supermarkets... and thrive on.

- Taking extra salt tablets (or teaspoons of salt) when working in hot enviros is and old trick that is currently no longer recommended by the likes of the CDC. A gradual replacement through food is recommended, whether that includes foods that are more salt rich than the tablets, I doubt.
The intake of salt when undertaking physical activity is well known. It can be in the form of NaCl, or KCl, or a mix of other trace elements. There are companies that make capsules with electrolytes in them. Talk to anyone who is deficient in electrolytes, even though their rehydration has been up to scratch, and I bet they are feeling lousy.

- The fact you feel badly after eating subway, and you need to right the balance would not lead me to poring on more salt myself.
For the record, I've never felt badly after eating Subway throughout the world. In fact, quite the opposite. Now if you talk any of the FF burger joints, or the hailed restaurants that people rave about the North America, that's a different story.

- Table salt is NaCl, the extra chlorine is free! Salt replacement products are normally sodium and other products designed to help metabolize the sodium. One product is designed to be consumed by triathletes at a rate of 250 mg an hour. Those guys are pushing pretty hard, but they still aren't shoving a sandwich with 2500 mg or even 500 mg of salt in the pie hole.
The chlorine is not free. Otherwise, it would kill you instantly. There is a lot more chlorine as a part of the chemical compounds in your body that you would like to admit. Incidentally, the replacement constituent in Lite Salt is potassium chloride.

As I said, the salt by itself may not be a problem for you, I doubt it has any positive benefits. But the idea Subway is some safe food haven is not a commercial I wanted to see run unpaid for on this site. It's a business model, not a nutritional model. The business appears successful, the nutrition appears to be a veneer of marketing. Most of these fast food businesses are not evil. I have met quite of few local doctors who owned McD in the Maritimes, when I used to do business down there. As they explained about the switch over from the McD original apple pie, to it's successor, they were in the business of giving people what they want. I don't personally believe the average Subway customer is a health freak, though they tried hard to make it seem weight loss friendly. It's a highly popular restaurant that is distributed throughout America, as others have said, that's who is setting the menu.

The menu is very consistent throughout the world. And the customers we have seen in them generally are much better weight-wise than those in the FF outlets.

Originally Posted by ak08820 (Post 16206909)

Here, if I remember correctly, they have the beverage machine behind the counter. Customer area has cases of bottled drinks.

Originally Posted by spinnaker (Post 16208668)

The big joke here with Subway is napkins. They hand them out like they are gold. People get real excited when they get more than 2. :)