You want whole grains? Here's where to go

I love a good Subway sandwich, for many reasons: the store is close to where I work (in the same building), with just a little work you can order a reasonably healthy meal (they have apples and water bottles now), and the staff at my local shop is friendly and efficient beyond any reasonable expectation.

Yet, as Lesley Stahl told us on "60 Minutes" late last year, you can go very, very wrong at Subway if you don't know how to order a healthy meal. There's still plenty of cheese, mayonnaise, sugary dressings and sodas, potato chips and other artery cloggers nestled beneath the sneeze guard, piled on the chip racks and available at the drink dispenser.

By and large, Americans are savvy enough to know which of those foods are generally healthy, which are to be eaten in moderation, and which should be avoided altogether. Americans know, too, that they should be eating more whole grains.

Still, while waiting in line, I often hear customers order their sandwiches on "whole wheat" bread, which Subway does not offer. They have a wheat bread, but it's not whole grain. I've heard this order in several different stores in two different states, and I've yet to hear any of the "Sandwich Artists" correct the customer.

Here's the skinny: a six-inch wheat roll at Subway provides four grams of fiber in 200 calories. A same-sized honey oat roll offers five grams, presumably because of the few sprinkles of oats on the bread. The trade-off is the 250 calories.

So why doesn't Subway offer whole grain rolls, what with the entire country seemingly on a quest to improve the national bowel movement?

It's a calculated business decision based on Subway's belief that Americans may talk a good game, but they really don't want to eat healthier foods. Their executive chef admitted that a couple of years ago to sfgate.com.

"People say they want things, and then they don't really want them," Chris Martone said, noting taste tests that Subway has done with whole grain rolls.

So where does one go to find whole grains? After all, adult women need at least 12 grams per day, while men need 17 grams, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

The Whole Grains Council provides lists of restaurants and other food services around the country. In Fort Collins, you'll find Great Harvest, Panera, Whole Foods, Olive Garden, Noodles and Co., and even McDonald's, who offers a chicken sandwich an a bun with eight grams of fiber. Other restaurants on the list can be found as close as Loveland and all the way to Denver and Boulder.