The Restaurant Chain Most Would Skip If They Want To Eat Low-Calorie

Going out to eat can be a great experience. You have the chance to meet up with friends, try new food, and enjoy a relaxing meal (that you don't have to clean up later when everyone else goes home). At least, it's a relaxing meal if you're not on a diet. Walking into a restaurant with a dietary restriction can turn a night of fun into a headache-inducing mess that has you swearing off restaurants for good — especially when you don't know what secrets they're keeping in the kitchen.

Of course, not everything on a menu is bad for you. Some options are even healthier than you think. But if you're trying to stick to a low-calorie diet, there are some places you just don't want to try your luck at. The experts have their own opinions, like this list from Eat This, Not That!. But we here at Health Digest wanted to hear from our readers.

We conducted a poll asking which restaurant you would avoid if you were trying to develop a low-calorie eating habit. Respondents had seven options to choose from: Chipotle, Subway, Panera, Chick-Fil-A, Applebee's, TGI Friday's, and 'Other' where they could fill in their own option. And given the options, the final answer surprised us!

Despite its "Eat Fresh" slogan and athlete endorsements, it turns out that more people on a low-calorie diet will avoid Subway over everything else on our list. The chain earned almost 32% of the vote. 

It probably has something to do with the sugar content in Subway's bread, which is so high it doesn't actually qualify as bread in Ireland (according to CNN). A court ruling by Ireland's Supreme Court found that Subway's bread "has a sugar content of 10% of the weight of the flour included in the dough." For comparison, Irish law limits the sugar content to 2%.

This really adds in the calories. In fact, Subway's lowest-calorie sandwich is the 200 calorie 6-inch Veggie Delite. That seems like a good option until you dig deeper and find that the sandwich is cucumbers, lettuce, onion, tomato, spinach, and green pepper on a plain 9-grain roll. The roll itself contains 180 calories, according to Livestrong — leaving only 20 calories to come from anything else. 

It looks like our readers are definitely on to something. Subway might have a reputation for being the healthiest option at the food court, and you can definitely find a low-calorie option on their menu. But it offers few nutrients and even less flavor. You're better off finding another option and Eat This, Not That! has another list to make it easy. 

You can still enjoy Subway, of course. Just not on a low-calorie day.