Jersey Mike's Vs Jimmy John's: Which Serves A Healthier Tuna Sub?
Jimmy John's and Jersey Mikes have been battling for sandwich-based gravitas across the country as they try to claim supremacy over the marketplace even going head-to-head over which of the sandwich-slinging franchises has the best Italian sub. But which chain serves up the healthiest tuna-based snack? It's a surprisingly difficult question to answer.
Jersey Mike's does not offer up nutritional information on its menu directly; you need to head to the nutrition information calculation page on the brand's website, then figure out the approximate nutritional value of your order depending on the size of the sub, the bread used, and the toppings on the sandwich. A regular-sized tuna sub on white bread with no toppings at all and nothing on the side has about 780 total calories, 46.48 grams of fat, 7.04 grams of saturated fat (0.40 of that is trans fat), and 55.94 milligrams of cholesterol. The total amount of sodium in the sandwich is 1,288.18 milligrams. All of this will change, naturally, depending on how you switch up your order. Over at Jimmy John's, the popular Totally Tuna sandwich with no toppings on French bread has about 480 calories. It has 23 grams of fat and 3.5 grams of saturated fat. It also contains 35 milligrams of cholesterol and 1,160 milligrams of sodium.
Therefore, it's a toss up. Jimmy John's sandwich has less fat, cholesterol, and sodium in their tuna subs — but their tuna salad mix has way less protein in it than the version at Jersey Mike's. It ultimately depends upon your dietary restrictions, and what you're specifically looking out for when you tuck into a meal.
Both sandwiches do have positive health benefits as well
It's not all bad news, of course. Jimmy John's Totally Tuna sandwich 15% of your daily recommended intake of Vitamin D and 6% of the calcium you're going to need to power your day. It also has 3.5 milligrams of iron, 3 grams of dietary fiber, and 2 grams of sugar. For those looking to increase their protein intake, a Totally Tuna sub has 19 grams.
At Jersey Mike's, order the #10 and it will get you 31.69 grams of protein, 2.80 grams of dietary fiber, and 2.95 grams of sugar. The nutrition information calculator does not list specific vitamins and minerals, but presumably it must have some form of iron since it's made of tuna. And naturally, you can make your Jersey Mike's sandwich 10x better by piling vegetables on and switching your order up. That's the best thing to do if you want a healthier sandwich — no matter which chain you decide to order lunch from.