Healthy Eating in a Deli

There is a lot of information circulating that deli foods are the unhealthiest food choice in the market. But, eating in your favorite delis like Schnucks Deli could be very healthy. Given the right information, you may be able to make the right choices on what will go in between and compose your sandwich.

Here is a quick guide and reference that can be the basis of your next deli choice of orders, one that will best fit your health condition and goals.

For the benefit of those who prepare their sandwiches at home, we are also going to include some items that may not be in the deli but will surely be in the grocery, available for your own concoction.

Bread

There are a lot of different kinds of bread that you can choose from according to taste, texture and health considerations. For nutritional content, whole grain bread is always better than multi grain bread. Whole grain bread will provide you fiber, while multi-grain breads like white bread have minimal, if no nutritional value at all. Most say that white bread is just sugar in disguise.

Focaccia or Panini breads have the same texture as pizza dough, flat but thicker. For variety, you may want to have a wraparound instead of the regular sandwich. In which case, there are thinner and softer pizza dough like breads. These are pita and tortilla breads. Pita and tortilla breads have their unique taste of a bit of sweetness and saltiness.

But the most popular sandwich preparations in most delis like Albertsons Deli will be in regular bread slices or subs.

Fillings

What define the sandwich are the fillings that are placed in between the 2 slices of bread.

Vegetables add texture to sandwiches creating that sweet crunch in every bite. There’s nothing like an overextending crunchy lettuce in your sandwich that gives you that crumpling sound from the first to the last bite. There’s in nothing like that juicy tomato in the middle that breaks up into sparks of sweet liquid taste and adds another dimension to the main filling’s taste.

While veggies, for some, are just add ons that contributes to the overall taste of the sandwich, for vegans, they are the main course.

Without a doubt, the best for health choice in any deli are the veggies without anything else. Veggies will include stir-fry vegetables, tomatoes, onions, lettuce and others

But for non-vegetarians, a sandwich without any kind of meat in it may become too boring. A large majority of food lovers are meat lovers. And, it is safe to say that meat lovers will always crave for juicy tender mouthwatering meaty meats in their sandwiches.

If you need to eat meat, then skinless turkey breasts should be you first choice. Other healthy alternatives are chicken breast and chicken roll.

Other meat choices are bologna, salami, ham, loose meat and others.

Cheese

They say that everything tastes better with cheese and more cheese on top. Well it’s dairy so there should be nothing wrong with having too much of it. But at the same time, it could be the wrong dairy product for people with health and weight problems.

The good news is that not all cheeses are filled with cholesterol and fat. The healthiest cheeses are feta, string cheese, parmesan and cottage cheese. Other cheeses are Swiss, Muenster, blue cheese and others. There could also be other add-ons egg whites are best. Other options are egg salad, eggs and the likes.

Condiments

Condiments help make the bread more moist. Not really a necessity but, they add tons of flavor to your filling. The healthiest condiments are tahini and mustard. Other condiments are ketchup, butter, mayonnaise, pesto, barbecue sauce and others.

Eating your sandwich hot or cold doesn’t really make it healthier or unhealthier unless you fry them in which case you can always go for olive oil which better than the other kinds of cooking oils.

On the nutritional value side, there are studies that say that more nutrients are lost as foods are cooked. In this sense, a cold sub or sandwich must be more nutritional than their cooked or heated versions.

Whether you are going to have that sub at home or in your favorite deli, sandwiches will always give you that flexibility to choose the right kind for your day’s taste and passion.

Is it a health and fitness day? There is a low calorie, high fiber high protein sandwich that will leave you satisfied and feeling good. Is it an all-out blow out day? There is a juicy high calorie, high protein sandwich that will fill you up to the brim. Next time you go to a deli, say Schnucks Deli, don’t be too fast in ordering. Take a few seconds to figure out your mood and match it with the right sandwich.