A Healthier Hero

Whether they're called subs, hoagies, heroes or grinders, long sandwiches stuffed with a variety of ingredients are a favorite lunch choice.

The fillings you choose will determine how healthy your meal is. A 6-inch Italian cold-cut sub has 425 calories and 20 grams of fat, but a 6-inch turkey-breast sub has 300 calories and 6 grams of fat

Here's how to keep your sub sandwich healthy:

• Opt for low-fat main ingredients, such as turkey breast, grilled chicken, roast beef or ham instead of salami, pastrami or seafood salad.

• Choose whole-wheat bread instead of white bread.

• Dress the bread with mustard instead of mayonnaise, and add lettuce, tomatoes and other vegetables.

• To save extra calories and fat, round out your meal with pretzels, a fruit salad, a green salad or a cup of broth-based soup instead of potato chips.

Best bets

• Turkey-breast submarine

• Grilled-chicken submarine

• Roast-beef submarine

• Ham-and-cheese submarine

• Fresh-vegetable submarine

• Green salad

Worst bets

• Italian-meat submarine

• Seafood-salad submarine

• Steak-and-cheese submarine

• Meatball-and-cheese submarine

• Eggplant-parmesan submarine

• Regular potato chips

Healthy meal suggestions

Meal A

6-inch ham-and-cheese submarine

Pretzels

Green salad w/low-fat dressing

Diet soda

Total calories: 539

Total fat: 15 grams

Calories from fat: 25%

Total sodium: 1,322 mg

Meal B

6-inch roast-beef submarine

Baked potato chips

Nonfat frozen yogurt

Iced tea

Total calories: 608

Total fat: 19 grams

Calories from fat: 28%

Total sodium: 1,359 mg

Meal C

6-inch fresh-vegetable submarine

Fruit salad

Baked tortilla chips

Lemonade

Total calories: 439

Total fat: 6 grams

Calories from fat: 12%

Total sodium: 830 mg