When you think of healthy dining and weight control, the image of a fast food restaurant probably doesn't come to mind. But there's one fast food place that's garnered some recognition for sponsoring at least one weight loss success. Who can forget the dramatic before and after images of Jared after he lost 235 pounds eating Subway sandwiches. That was enough to cause people to sit up and really take notice. Does the Subway diet work or was Jared an unusually motivated exception? Even more important is it healthy?

The basis plan behind the Subway diet goes something like this. Start the morning with a cup of hot coffee. For lunch, choose a six inch Subway sandwich and supplement it with a bag of baked potato chips. For dinner, eat another Subway sandwich, only this time in the twelve inch length. Of course, you would need to make your sandwich choices wisely. Not all Subway sandwiches are healthy. The best choices would be the subs that have six or less grams of fat. You would need to avoid such tempting pleasures as Subway cookies and soft drinks.

It's obvious that the Subway diet doesn't offer a great deal of variety. In addition even if you order your sandwiches piled high with vegetables, it's unlikely you're going to get your daily quota of fruits and veggies. Not to mention, with a diet this narrow, you may not be getting enough of a variety of vitamins and minerals. Unfortunately, the one mineral you will be getting too much of is the one you don't need in large quantities, sodium. The Subway diet is pretty high in salt, especially if you choose Subway sandwiches made with their processed meats. Another negative is the fact that some versions of this diet skimp on breakfast which is one of the most important meals of the day in terms of priming your metabolism.

On a Subway diet, the boredom factor would likely be pretty high. How many Subway sandwiches can you eat before you start fantasizing about hot, gooey, macaroni and cheese, and rich chocolate brownies? Even though you could vary your sandwich and they type of bread on a daily basis, it's unlikely this will prevent Subway sandwich burnout for most people.

The advantages of the Subway diet include the fact that it's structured which takes some of the decision making out of your hands. You know exactly what you'll be eating and when you'll be eating it. It's also a fairly low fat diet if you don't ask for mayonnaise, which is a positive from both a weight loss and a cardiovascular standpoint. Another advantage is this diet is appealing if you have limited time to prepare meals and need to eat on the run.

The bottom line? If you're a busy person and don't have time to prepare meals, using this diet short term may help you kick start the weight loss process if you enjoy the taste of Subway sandwiches. It shouldn't be used long term due to the risk of nutritional deficiencies from the lack of diversity. It would be best to supplement this diet with eggs and fruit for breakfast which wouldn't add many additional calories but would help to prime the metabolism. You might also want to add some vegetables to increase the nutritional value. It's best to avoid this diet if you have hypertension due to the high salt content.

The Subway diet may be a good short term solution to help kick start your weight loss plans but avoid using it for long periods of time since it's not nutritionally balanced.