Subway's Low-Fat New Year's Resolution Promotion Disregards Low-Carb's Benefits

Jared Fogle, spokesperson for Subway, is still pushing a low-fat diet

The fast food industry has for the most part failed at marketing their products as "healthy." Despite desperate attempts by many of them to boast of having salads, yogurt, fresh fruit and other so-called healthy alternatives to their usual fare, fast food restaurants are still known for their carbohydrate-loaded french fries, milkshakes, and other such food items.

However, there is one company in recent years that stands out as an exception to this rule and has even highlighted their products as "healthier" than most other fast food restaurants. That restaurant chain, of course, is Subway.

And since 2000, whenever you mention Subway, you've gotta mention the name of that guy who lost nearly 250 pounds by eating low-fat Subway sandwiches every day -- Jared Fogle.


JARED FOGLE - BEFORE & AFTER PICTURES

Jared's weight loss is quite impressive and I am so happy for him that he has maintained his unbelievable weight loss for five years and counting. According to the Subway web site, Jared eats a low-fat, low-calorie diet, drinks diet soda, and walks "whenever he can" to keep the weight off. If that's something he can live with for the rest of his life, then I so GO FOR IT, Jared!

Subway is hoping to help others who struggle with a weight problem by making recorded messages from Jared available to the public for a New Year's resolution hotline number during the first week of January.

Beginning Monday, January 2, 2006 through Sunday, January 8, 2006, the Subway-sponsored "Fresh Resolutions Hotline" will be available to offer "free support, advice and resources" from nutritionists at the American Dietetic Association.

While I think it is great that a fast food company would be willing to help others get healthy and lose weight in the new year, I cannot tell you how disappointed I am that they would turn over the reins of educating the public on this to the American Dietetic Association. This organization has historically shunned the low-carb lifestyle in favor of a low-fat diet and have allowed low-fat lunatics like Dr. Dean Ornish spread their foolish jibberish about how bad low-carb is to the masses.

As I have stated many times before, if someone chooses to lose and maintain their weight on a low-fat diet, then I am certainly not going to stand in their way. Whatever method one chooses to get their weight under control, I fully support them in the decision they make. Unfortunately, those who advocate a low-fat diet as the ONLY way to lose weight are only making the obesity problem worse by witholding the truth about low-carb and how it has helped so many people lose weight and keep it off for good!

The fact is that the low-fat diet failed me and it has failed many others who are desperately trying to lose weight as well. The monotonous message of cutting your fat and cutting your calories and cutting your portions while burning more calories than you take in to lose weight is as old as dirt!

But thank God for the low-carb lifestyle because it gave me hope that there is another way to get there without the hunger, deprivation, and disgusting low-fat diet. I can enjoy delicious foods in the quantities of MY choosing and not feel guilty about it one bit. Livin' la vida low-carb gave me freedom in my life like I have never experienced before. That freedom to choose the foods I wanted to eat that were within the required carbohydrate quantity that I needed to eat them allowed me to experience the 180+ pound weight loss success that I attained.

And I credit Subway for recognizing the need to serve the low-carb consumer by offering excellent low-carb choices on their menu. While I was losing weight, I often ate one of several of Subway's low-carb wraps which had only 9g net carbs. You couldn't beat the great taste and satisfying foods provided for us low-carbers. I even gave their low-carb wraps a free plug in my book. :)

In fact, after I lost my weight I wrote a letter to Subway telling them about my enormous weight loss success and noted that I often ate at Subway for their delicious wraps. They wrote me back and asked for some before and after pictures as well as my story to keep on file in case they decide to promote the low-carb wraps in the future. But based on this new promotion, it looks like Subway thinks the message of low-carb is out and promoting low-fat is what their customers need to hear. Meanwhile, obesity will keep getting worse and worse.

The toll-free Fresh Resolutions Hotline number is 1-877-NOW-FRESH and will be available from 3 p.m.-11 p.m. EST all next week. There will also be a web site located at Subwayfreshresolutions.com for daily telephone recordings from Jared himself that will last until the end of January. There will even be some randomly-selected "motivational messages" from Jared to people who opt-in for the caller list. You can sign-up now by clicking here.

There will be an in-store promotion with instant-win game cards from January 2-February 19 at Subway restaurants with several nice prizes including memberships to Bally Fitness and Blockbuster Online, all-inclusive vacations to a Beaches Family Resort, a $5,000 Chase savings account and $5,000 in free Citgo gas.

Subway's promotion is a great attempt to help people with a weight problem get going about doing something in 2006. But to blatantly disregard the healthy benefits of the low-carb lifestyle and to monopolize the nutritional information by ONLY promoting a low-fat, low-calorie diet for effective weight maintenance, Subway is doing a disservice to its consumer base and is, in essence, exacerbating the obesity problem.

Send a message to Subway and tell them how disappointed you are that they will be allowing the American Dietetic Association to be pushing their low-fat message to their customers while discounting the benefits of low-carb living.