Three fast food dinners, counted properly

I nearly published a lie this week.

I had a tidy little chart comparing a Big Mac with a slice of pizza, and the pizza looked like the sensible choice. Then I remembered that nobody in the history of Friday night has eaten one slice.

So here they are counted the way people order them.

Three slices of a 14 inch pepperoni carry about 111 grams of carbohydrate. The burger everyone treats as the villain carries 46. The portion did more work than the food did.

The six inch turkey sub is the leanest of the three by a distance, at 39 grams of carbohydrate and three of fat. It also carries four grams of fiber, which is more than either of the others.

Neither number is impressive. Fast food is not where fiber lives, which is most of why these meals move you the way they do.

Label and database figures, not medical advice. Chains and recipes vary, so the box in front of you is the one that counts.

None of this makes the burger a health food. It makes the portion the thing worth watching, which is a much easier thing to change than what you fancy.