The Popular Jersey Mike's Sub You May Want To Avoid Ordering

We've long held the opinion that deli sandwiches taste better than homemade ones, and that goes double for sammies made by chains like Jersey Mike's. Who hasn't passed one of these outlets in a strip mall and been lured like Pepe Le Pew on a cloud of delicious scent wafting from the baking bread? We confess to loving some Jersey Mike's for lunch or dinner, but we recently discovered a compelling reason to stay away from one of its best-beloved subs: #13 The Original Italian.

When made regularly, the #13 contains white bread, provolone cheese, boiled ham, and four different kinds of Italian cured meats with salt, oregano, oil and vinegar, as well as lettuce, tomatoes, and onions. Sounds good, right? Well, a "regular" size sub packs 2,571.21 milligrams of sodium, which is higher than the 2,300-milligram maximum recommended by the American Heart Association, and leagues above the 1,500 milligrams suggested as a target. This is to say nothing of Jersey Mike's "giant" sized sub, which is twice as big.

Not the type of person who thinks much about their sodium consumption? Maybe you should give it some thought — eating too much sodium can, in the short term, cause uncomfortable bloating and weight gain from water retention. Over time, excessive sodium places you at higher risk for headaches, kidney stones, high blood pressure, stomach cancer, and even heart failure. A salt bomb like the Jersey Mike's Original Italian might taste delicious, but it could be dangerous to consume on the regular, especially if you already have health conditions that require you to watch your sodium.

Overall, Jersey Mike's is probably not an outstanding fast food option for those looking to curtail their salt intake. Many of the common components in its sandwiches — the processed deli meats, the cheeses, and, surprisingly, every one of the bread choices — are absolutely loaded with salt. Your best option might be to avail yourself of the chain's "sub in a tub" salad option. Similar to our favorite crunchy tuna salad bread substitute, which is no bread at all, making your sub into a salad cuts way back on sodium by eliminating the thick slabs of white, wheat, seeded Italian, or rosemary parmesan. Swiss is the best cheese choice, and roast beef is a marginally-better protein than the cured options.

Lest we vilify Jersey Mike's unfairly, know that, overall, eating at sub shops is a fraught prospect for those conscientious of their sodium. We checked out the nutritional tables for a few major competitors, Subway, Firehouse Subs, and Jimmy John's, and discovered that their menus were, by and large, equally packed with salty fare. Each chain offered limited options for sandwiches with under 1,000 milligrams of sodium without extensive customizations. It does seem that, like at Jersey Mike's, Italian-type subs are especially terrible for sodium, thanks to the large amount of meats cured with nitrates and salt. As always, it's important to do your due diligence as a consumer and check out the nutritional info on the food you eat, especially when you aren't preparing it yourself.