Subway fixes what ain't broken

While there are far more exotic places to eat in Roanoke, my diet and budget often take me to Subway, the health-conscious man's answer to fast food. I'm no Jared: I can grow sick of Subway as easily as I can any other food I've had too many times, but I find myself there twice a week, I'd say, usually the one at Towers Mall, since the one downtown has been mediocre for some time (I guess when you have so much business, being good isn't mandated).

However, while I love the trend of having nutritional information posted on Web sites for even the most dietary egregious locales such as McDonald's and Wendy's, I was a little surprised to find something out about Subway's menu.

Pitched to the even more health conscious, there are two alternatives to the various types of bread at Subway: the wrap and the flat bread. I remember the wrap coming around when the Atkin's fad diet was in full swing and everyone was swearing off carbs. The flat bread is newish, pitched in particular for certain signature sandwiches.

However, checking the stats on the site, both the wrap and the flat bread have more calories and lower fiber than the wheat bread. Sure, I understand that any restaurant wanting business needs to appeal to the current diet trends and miscalculated fears, but hopefully someone choosing these bread alternatives are aware of the higher calories and less fiber (not to mention the fact that they would likely fill you up far less considering they both have less mass).

It's kind of ironic to want an alternative to something that's already healthy. I mean, you wouldn’t figure that a McDonald's hamburger was fatty because of the kinds of pickles or mustard they use. When my fellow Subway patrons get a good quarter cup of mayonnaise on an otherwise healthy sandwich, I'm thinking that bread is not the culprit here.