What to Eat for Lunch

For the guy who's both hungry and lazy, the supermarket deli can be a poignant reminder of his surly adolescence, when all he had to do was make a silent, resentful appearance at the family dinner table to score a heaping plateful of meat loaf or tuna casserole. No nuking, no social interaction, no proper attire required.

Seamless as this arrangement sounds, there is one problem: Most grocery-store takeout isn't exactly lean and healthy, and stores are about as likely to know the fat content of their meat loaf as Mom was.

Tired of guessing, Men's Health rounded up 15 popular deli takeout foods from three grocery chains and sent them to a lab for nutrient analysis. For each one, we looked at a 3/4-cup serving. (That's the amount in a Boston Market side dish, or a pile about the size of 1 1/2 tennis balls.)

What we found confirmed our worst fears. Some deli takeout is loaded with fat and calories. Make the wrong choices, and you might as well dine beneath the Golden Arches. But we found a few healthy choices, too. Some highlights and lowlights:

* Biggest impostor: Coleslaw. This "vegetable" has as much fat as a large milkshake and fries. The coleslaw we tested averaged 36 grams (g) of fat per serving--more than half the fat a man should have in a day.

Knowing this, we'd just as soon pass on the whole mysterious slaw category; but if you're a fan, try pepper slaw. It's made of finely chopped cabbage and green pepper, but has a vinegar-based dressing instead of mayo. A serving has only 1 g fat, and it's low in calories and sodium, too.

* Poorest excuse for a salad: Chicken salad. Naturally low-fat chicken stops being healthy when it's drowning in mayo. The chicken salads we tried averaged 33 g fat per serving -- more than in a McDonald's Quarter Pounder with Cheese. A leaner (and better-tasting) option is skinless chicken breast with honey-mustard sauce, which has only 5 g fat. (Tip: If takeout food is swimming in mayo or oil, eat a small helping -- less than a tennis ball. Balance that portion with a big helping of steamed vegetables or a tossed salad with fat-free dressing.)

* Biggest shock: Broccoli salad sounds healthy, but the ones we tested were made with mayo and bacon and averaged about 32 g fat per serving--5 grams more fat than a whole Tombstone for One Deep Dish pepperoni pizza.

Better vegetable options are glazed carrots (5 g fat per serving) and roasted vegetables (6 g fat).