Under-400-calorie fast food choices bring to mind small salads and mini-wraps. But there are more choices out there than you think without lettuce as the star or 'mini' on the marquee.

AOL Health has identified 17 under-400-calorie fast food choices. I was pleased to find a handful lower in fat, but beware of the sodium. The majority of selections were packed with over 1,000 mgs.

Here are my top three choices from the list:

• Dunkin' Donuts' Egg White Veggie Flatbread Sandwich: 290 calories, 9 g fat, 680 mg sodium -- which Dunkin' Donut do you think has the least fat and calories?
  
• Panera Bread's Half Tomato and Mozzarella on Ciabatta Bread: 390 calories, 15 g fat (high), 650 mg sodium
• Chik-Fil-A's Chargrilled Chicken and Fruit Salad with Reduced-Fat Berry Balsamic Vinagrette: 290 calories, 8 g fat, 1010 mg sodium (watch your sodium intake the rest of the day).
  
  

When will fast food joints ever figure out how to serve fast without the salt?

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I've got a problem with bread -- I love it. And when I go out to eat and there's a bread basket on the table, I'm in trouble. Deep trouble. Hungry Girl offers a few tips for bread lovers like me who really don't prefer to eat as much as we do. And while she writes these tips with Panera Bread in mind (yummy), many of them can be utilized at any establishment, even at home. These are HG's rules to chew by.

• Get a half order. And if Panera is one of your preferred stops, go with the "You Pick Two" option. You get to pick a half-sandwich, half-salad, and/or half-soup.
  
• Ditch the top half of the bread and enjoy your sandwiches open-faced.
• Avoid Ciabatta and Foccacia breads. Just about anything else is better for you, but Hungry Girl recommends you get something with the words whole grain in the name.
  
  

My tips for banishing an overload of bread? Don't keep tempting breads in your house, choose restaurants that don't serve bottomless bread baskets, and don't eat out so much. Save bread for a special treat if you can't hold back. Like me.

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This month's issue of Women's Health magazine features a comical spin on some serious food crimes we all commit -- knowingly or otherwise -- from time to time.

As part of a sidebar article, they list four popular food chains and a menu item from each that requires a stiff fitness sentence to repay your health debt to society.

PANERA BREAD - Crime: Somkehouse Turkey on focaccia = 800 calories ... Sentence: 120 minutes of race walking

COSI - Crime: Caesar salad with grilled chicken = 942 calories ... Sentence: 60 minutes of running 10-minute miles

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Eating healthy at home can be accomplished with relative ease. You prepare the food, so you know what to expect. Do you know exact calorie, fat, carb, and protein counts? Maybe, maybe not. You could always find out by visiting sites like DietDetective.com, but there's not always time for such measures to be taken when you also have nine thousand other things that need to get done before the new episode of Lost comes on. So, in most cases we go by educated guesses. Again, not all that difficult to do when we're the ones making the food.

However, things can become much trickier at restaurants -- especially those where the healthy menu options are limited. To help you along, here are five healthy suggestions from Self magazine that should make your restaurant dining experience both enjyoable and guilt-free.

1. Quiznos - Black & Blue Salad. Go with reduced-fat dressing and only use half of the amount they give you. Also, ask for additional tomatoes and mixed greens.

2. Burger King - Tendergrill Chicken Salad. Lightly drizzle with 1/2 packet of low-fat dressing.

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