OTHER
St. John’s Wort (Hypericum perforatum). Natural Standard,
Harvard Medical School. June 23, 2005 [Cited March
21, 2007].http://nccam.nih.gov/health/stjohnswort/
sjwataglance.htm.
St. John’s Wort (Hypericum perforatum) and the Treatment
of Depression. National Center for Complementary and
Alternative Medicine. March 2004 [Cited March 21,
2007].http://nccam.nih.gov/health/stjohnswort/
sjwataglance.htm.
ORGANIZATIONS
Office of Dietary Supplements (ODS), National Institutes of
Health.Home page of ODS. [accessed March 21, 2007]
http://dietary-supplements.info.nih.gov/.
National Center for Complementary and Alternative Med-
icine (NCCAM).Home page of NCCAM. [accessed
March 21, 2007]http://nccam.nih.gov/.
William Arthur AtkinsSubway diet
Definition
The Subway diet is the weight-loss plan created by
Jared Fogle, an obese college student who weighed 425
pounds (192.7 kilograms). The 22-year-old Fogle lost
245 pounds (111.1 kilograms) in 11 months by following
a daily diet that consisted primarily of two low-fat sand-
wiches purchased at the Subway fast-food chain. After
losing 100 pounds (45.4 kilograms), the 6-foot-2 (187.9-
centimter) Fogle added walking to his daily routine. His
dramatic weight loss led to Fogle’s appearances in Sub-
way commercials and his role as a motivational speaker
and an advocate in the fight againstchildhood obesity.
Origins
Jared’s Fogle’s unique diet led to his weight loss
and international fame as the star of Subway sandwich
commercials. He created the Subway diet in March of
- By 1999, he weighed 180 pounds (81.6 kilograms).
In 2000, he began appearing in Subway TV commer-
cials. His weight loss was illustrated by the image of the
slender Fogle holding his pre-diet jeans with the 60-inch
(152.4-centimeter) waist. At that time, Fogle weighed
190 pounds (86.1 kilograms). He had maintained that
weight as of the spring of 2007 and wore pants with a
34-inch (86.4-centimeter) waist.
The public identified Fogle by his first name or as
the ‘‘Subway Guy.’’ The Subway diet was one compo-
nent of Fogle’s fame; the public also celebrated his
weight loss and his campaign to educate others about
the importance of diet and exercise. Fogle drew upon
his life experiences when speaking about those issues
to the media, on talk shows, and in presentations to
schools and other groups.Progressive weight gain
Physically, Fogle’s ankles and wrists had swelled
with edema. His blood pressure was high, and his sleep
was interrupted by apnea. Overweight people are at
risk of sleep apnea, a condition where blockage causes
the person to repeatedly stop breathing. Fogle realized
it was time to start dieting, and he described those
efforts in his 2006 book,Jared, the Subway Guy: Win-
ning Through Losing: 13 Lessons for Turning Your Life
Around.Deciding to diet
Fogle decided to lose weight during his junior year of
college. He had moved out of the dorm and into an
apartment located next to a Subway shop. While the
shop was close to home, Fogle tried three other diets
before creating the Subway diet. His first diet limited
calories to 1,800 per day and involved extensive food
preparation. The preparation was time-consuming, and
he ended the diet. Next Fogle went to the store and
stocked up on low-calorie and diet frozen meals. He
disliked the taste of the microwaved meals and embarked
on another diet. This one involved drinking diet shakes
for breakfast and lunch and eating a sensible meal for
dinner. Fogle thought the shakes tasted terrible. He aban-
doned that diet but was determined to lose weight. He
researched and rejected what he called ‘‘one-size-fits-all’’
diets.
As spring break approached, Fogle found inspira-
tion in Subway’s ‘‘Seven Under 6 Grams of Fat’’
menu, a selection of seven low-fat sandwiches. In
March of 1998, Fogle developed a weight loss plan
that consisting basically of eating two sandwiches each
day. Once he shed 100 pounds (45.4 kilograms) on his
customized diet, Fogle started walking to school. He
eventually established a routine of walking 1.5 miles
(2.4 kilometers) each day.
By the following spring, Fogle had shed more than
half of his original weight. Fame came when he
encountered Ryan Coleman, a college friend who
hadn’t seen him in some time. Coleman was astounded
about Fogle’s weight loss and wrote about it for the
college newspaper in April of 1999. Organizations
including the Associated Press ran the story, and
Men’s Healthmagazine included Fogle’s story under
the heading ‘‘Crazy Diets That Work.’’ That led to aSubway diet