Sweet Onion Chicken Teriyaki on 9-Grain Wheat

I decided to feature this sandwich, because it was always one of my favorites. I thought I was being soooo healthy by eating it because it was featured on their Fresh Fit Choice menu. Reading the ingredients infuriates me! It also upsets me that this is how the sandwhich is marketed:

“This gourmet specialty is a flavorful blend of tender teriyaki glazed chicken strips and our own fat-free sweet onion sauce. Served hot & toasted on freshly baked bread. A taste so big, you won’t believe it has less than 6g of fat!” – www.subway.com

Having low calories is not what constitutes healthy. I know I have said it before, but healthy consists of so much more than calories. We also have to consider preservatives, refined sugars, oils, artificial colors, msg, bleached flours, and above all, GMOs. Just one 6-inch Roasted Garlic loaf from Subway–just the bread, no meat, no cheeses, no nothing–has 1,260 mg sodium, about as much as 14 strips of bacon!

As you will see from the following ingredient breakdown, the “Heart Healthy” Sweet Onion Chicken Teriyaki sub contains a medley of all of the above. Items bolded in red are at-risk of being GM (genetically modified).

9-GRAIN WHEAT:  Enriched wheat flour (wheat flour, malted barley flour, niacin, iron, thiamine mononitrate, riboflavin, folic acid), water, yeast, whole wheat flour, sugar, contains 2% or less of the following: wheat gluten, oat fiber, soybean oil, wheat bran, salt, wheat, rye, yellow corn, oats, triticale, brown rice, barley, flaxseed, millet, sorghum, yeast nutrients (calcium carbonate, calcium sulfate, ammonium sulfate), vitamin D2, dough conditioners (DATEM, sodium stearoyl lactylate, potassium iodate, ascorbic acid, azodicarbonamide), caramel color, refinery syrup, honey, yeast extract, natural flavor, enzymes. Contains wheat. (41 ingredients)

CHICKEN BREAST STRIPS: Boneless, skinless chicken breast with rib meat; water, flavor (potassium chloride, maltodextrin, sugar, autolyzed yeast extract, gum arabic, molasses, flavors, salt, lactic acid, disodium guanylate and disodium inosinate, fructose, medium chain triglycerides, dextrose, succinic acid, vinegar solids, thiamine hydrochloride and artificial flavors), soy protein concentrate, modified potato starch, sodium phosphates, salt. Contains soy. (24 ingredients)

CHICKEN STRIPS (Teriyaki glazed): Subway Chicken Breast Strips (see above), teriyaki glaze (water, corn syrup, soy sauce (water, wheat, soybean, salt, sodium benzoate [a preservative]), rice vinegar, modified corn starch, sugar, tomato paste, ginger, vinegar, garlic, sesame oil, sesame seed, salt, dehydrated green onion, dehydrated red bell pepper, natural flavours, autolyzed yeast extract, dehydrated garlic, sodium benzoate (a preservative), spices, citric acid, soybean oil, dry yeast (torula), dehydrated onion.). Contains soy, wheat and sesame. (28 ingredients)

93 ingredients later, you have a sub.

There is sodium benzoate in the teriyaki glaze (it is also in the banana peppers, jalapeño peppers & pickles). This preservative puts people at risk for a high-sodium diet if they eat this sandwich twice a day, every day like Jared did. A high-sodium diet causes high blood pressure, or hypertension, which increases risk for heart disease, kidney disease and stroke. Yet, this ingredient is in a product on the “Heart Healthy” menu. Sodium Benzoate also has the ability to deprive cells of oxygen, break down the immune system and cause cancer.

An alternative to this sandwich would be to bake/grill organic chicken (sprinkle with salt, pepper and olive oil), cut it up and put it in a lettuce wrap with guacamole, organic roasted red peppers and organic pickles. One of my favorite combinations!

Some words about Subway from one of my favorite food bloggers, Food Babe:

“I’d been duped by the food industry,” she says. “I thought that eating a six-gram fat or less; 250-calorie or less Subway sandwich was healthy for me. I didn’t realize that the nine-grain bread had over 50 ingredients, with one ingredient that’s banned in Singapore. If you get caught using it, you get fined 450,000 dollars. I didn’t know that information. I ate those things because of the calories.

I thought, ‘Oh, look at all these vegetables inside.’ But I didn’t realize that the jalapenos have been dipped in petroleum-based dyes: Yellow #5 and Yellow #6. I didn’t realize that all of these buildups of chemicals in my body were causing these issues. And it wasn’t just appendicitis. I had asthma and allergies growing up. I was on three or four asthma medications… I had to see the doctor on a very frequent basis, even put on steroids to control my asthma. Now I have zero asthma. I’m on zero medications right now.”