Sandwich and Health

The type of sandwich you eat directly affects your general health and well-being — if you eat healthy, low-fat sandwiches, you can rest assure that you’ll be contributing to your health just as it is detrimental to your body if you consume high fat, high sodium, and high calorie sandwiches.

Perhaps there’s a bigger chance for you to eat the unhealthy types of sandwiches when it’s served in fast food restaurants or sandwich stalls where you do not have full control of what goes into your sandwich. These establishments have their own recipes which produce the most awesome sandwich but does not guard against the bad stuff (i.e. fat and sodium).

Concessions can be made though, like asking to skip the mayonnaise and butter, use whole wheat bread, or take out the extra patty. But that will not always be the case all the time. Remember also that these fast food restaurants, where we can easily get our sandwiches, offer larger, super-stuffed sandwiches that may be tempting even to the healthy eater.

So when in doubt, make your own sandwiches at home and be more aware of what you put into it. Sandwich and health go together especially if your daily meals and diet consist of sandwiches for lunch, snack or dinner. Select more vegetables, leaner versions of meat, and lower fat or calorie versions of the spreads and garnishes.

Perhaps the easiest way to begin building a healthier sandwich is in your selection of the bread. When you can, get the whole wheat or multi-grain breads instead of the usual white breads. Reduce the size of the bread (or share that large submarine sandwich). Go for more flavor than size — aioli, pesto, mustard, herbs and spices can offer more of these than piling on the meat, butter and mayo.

Eat pastrami, bologna, and processed meat sandwiches occasionally since they have more sodium, fat and calories per serving. Make sandwich and health synonymous by being more aware of what goes into each sandwich.

You can also select low fat cheese, mayonnaise and yogurt or substitute a lower version for one of the cheeses. Examples of healthy sandwiches include the tuna sandwich (but skip the mayo and just pile on the tuna with a squeeze of lemon), white bean and mozzarella panini, turkey meatball submarine sandwich, Greek salad pita sandwich, grilled portobello and goat cheese panini, and roast beef sandwich.