You have to kind of love the commercials with the formerly very large Jared Fogle out hawking the products and comparing the sandwiches and menus at Subway to McDonalds and other fast food restaurants that serve burgers and the like.  Fogle lost a lot of weight by changing up his diet and eating Subway's sandwiches (and dropping a habit of eating less healthy food such as the food served at McDonalds), though his weight loss also had to do with exercising and other lifestyle changes that helped him shed the pounds and get into much better shape.  He really is to be congratulated given the results he achieved and the period of time he has sustained that weight loss over.

On the other hand... perhaps Fogle needs to remind people a bit better that just because they are eating at Subway, and eating a supposedly healthier meal, doesn't mean that they can fill up on other items on the menus at Subway. And oh, yeah, by the way, apparently a good many people miss the small print part about eating subs from subway that don't include additional condiments like cheese, mayo, and other items that add to the calories and fat that you'd be getting with the sub.  And finally, there's the issue of the bread in the sub roll which people like me refuse to substitute for something with more whole grains and fiber (like the whole wheat) instead opting for the less nutritious and more fattening white bread varieties.

A group of researchers have investigated the Subway 'health halo' effect.  It's in an interesting study that points out what happens when people make assumptions about food that they are eating being good for them.  Instead of maintaining a healthy diet, they wind up adding calories for side items that run up the calorie count and fat gram counts in the diet.  Not good if those people are trying to eat a healthy meal.

More information can be found at the original news article from USA Today that inspired this quick article: Subway's 'health halo' can lead people to consume more calories