A Big Mac or a Sub? The Choices We Make.

I went out to eat tonight on my way to meet a friend. I had two choices: Subway or McDonald’s. How did I make my choice? Believe it or not, a napkin helped me make it.

Subway napkins tell you the calorie count for many of their sandwiches, and they do it in a marketing way. It’s basically a comparison between a “value meal,” a combination meal, between Burger King, McDonald’s and Subway.

The sandwich combination I had tonight was a 6-inch sub, which had 325 calories, according to the napkin. In comparison, a Big Mac Value Meal contains 940 calories, and a Whopper Value Meal will have a whopping 1,030 calories. Wow!

However, the napkin chart is a little misleading. The Subway caloric total was for a 6" sub, the size of my meal, although it's been my experience that most people order the normal 12" sub. Also, the McDonald’s and Burger King meals include French fries on the napkin calorie counter, whereas the meal quoted by Subway includes fresh apple slices. I didn’t even see apple slices as a choice in the Subway I was in, and chose the more familiar Lay’s potato chips. Potato chips and a drink are also included in a combination meal, with a slightly better price vs. a la carte. So, adding in the calories for the chips, my meal probably cost me around 500 calories.

It’s still better than 1,000+ calories. It would have been better if I’d gone somewhere else and had something that didn’t offer processed meat and bread, which was in my sub. But, then, it’s all about the choices we make, isn’t it?