Healthy Eating in New York: Calories and Protein in Bagels, Slices and the Halal Cart

How many calories are in New York's most popular foods?

New York's staple foods run from 99 calories for 3 oz of lox to 804 for a large egg and bacon bagel, by USDA figures. Eating well in New York City isn't about finding a salad. It's about knowing what's in the food the city actually runs on: the bagel from the shop on your corner, the bacon, egg and cheese from the bodega, a slice folded in half on the way to the train, chicken over rice from a cart in Midtown, and pastrami on the Lower East Side. Below are the numbers for each, from USDA FoodData Central and from the Halal Guys' own published nutrition, so you can keep eating New York and still hit a goal.

Two patterns jump out of that table. Protein in New York's grab-and-go food comes mostly from the meat and fish, not the bread, so the cheapest way to improve an order is more of the protein and less of what it sits on. And sodium is the city's hidden number: lox, pastrami and cart platters all pack a lot of salt into a few ounces, which matters if your blood pressure is on your doctor's radar.

How many calories are in a New York bagel with cream cheese and lox?

A large New York bagel with 2 tablespoons of cream cheese and 3 oz of lox comes to about 547 calories and 31.3 g of protein, by USDA figures. Its large bagel, 4.5 inches across, weighs 131 g and comes to 346 calories with 13.9 g of protein. The medium, 3.5 to 4 inches, is 105 g and 277 calories. Most bagel shops in Manhattan and Brooklyn sell something closer to the large, so start from 346 and build up.

Cream cheese is 350 calories per 100 g by USDA's figures, which works out to about 51 calories a tablespoon. Two tablespoons add 102 calories and almost no protein. Many shops spread far more than two, so if you're counting, ask for it on the side or ask for a light schmear. Lox is the opposite trade: 3 oz of smoked salmon adds only 99 calories but 15.6 g of protein, which turns a bagel from a carb breakfast into a reasonable one.

Is a bodega bacon, egg and cheese healthy?

A bodega bacon, egg and cheese is a high-protein but high-calorie breakfast: 536 calories and 27.4 g of protein for a regular one on a bagel, by USDA figures. It's New York's default breakfast, sold from almost every bodega and deli counter in the five boroughs. USDA's closest entry is an egg and bacon sandwich on a bagel. A regular one, 200 g, comes to 536 calories and 27.4 g of protein; a large one, 300 g, is 804 calories and 41.1 g. That entry has no cheese, so a real BEC with a slice of American on top runs higher, and on a hero roll the bread changes the count again.

For muscle gain, a large BEC on a bagel is a genuinely useful breakfast: 41 g of protein is a third of what many lifters aim for in a day. For fat loss it's a lot of calories at 7 AM. The fix most New Yorkers can live with is an extra egg instead of the cheese, or a regular size instead of the large.

How many calories are in a slice of New York pizza?

A plain New York slice is about 261 calories and 11.2 g of protein, by USDA figures. The New York slice is a wide, thin wedge cut from a big round pie, and USDA happens to have an entry that matches it: a thin-crust cheese pizza from a restaurant, with a piece from an extra-large 16 to 18 inch pie weighing 98 g. That slice is 261 calories, 11.2 g of protein and 529 mg of sodium. A whole extra-large thin-crust pie comes to 2,599 calories.

So two plain slices at lunch are about 522 calories and 22 g of protein. That fits most fat-loss days if the rest of the day carries the protein. Toppings move the number in both directions: vegetables add little, while pepperoni, sausage and the thick Sicilian square are heavier than the plain thin slice measured here. If you're eating pizza for dinner, one slice and a chicken breast you cooked at home is a more filling 542 calories than three slices.

How many calories are in chicken over rice from a New York halal cart?

A regular chicken over rice platter with white sauce is 773–817 calories by the Halal Guys' own published figures. Chicken over rice from a halal cart is a Midtown lunch institution, and the Halal Guys, now a national chain, publish nutrition for every part of the platter. They list the components separately: the meat, the rice, then each sauce. One caveat: their page shows two sets of figures for each meat without saying why, so we give both as a range.

The white sauce is the lever. A 2 oz serving is 300 calories and 28 g of fat, more than the chicken under it. Ask for half and you save about 150 calories; ask for it on the side and use a third. The hot sauce is only 7 calories for a 0.25 oz serving, so red is the free flavor. Chicken beats gyro on every count here: the regular gyro portion is 620–680 calories on its own, against 228–272 for the chicken, and the gyro platter's upper sodium figure passes 2,300 mg.

• The regular chicken platter with half the white sauce suits a lifter who wants 38–55 g of protein at lunch for about 623–667 calories.
• The small chicken platter with hot sauce only suits a fat-loss day: 349–379 calories with 26–37 g of protein.
• The gyro platter with full white sauce suits an occasional treat, not a weekday habit, at 1,165–1,225 calories.

How much protein is in a New York pastrami sandwich?

A New York deli pastrami sandwich can carry 18 to 50 g of protein, depending on how much meat is stacked on it. It's mostly meat, and that's useful to know. USDA's general pastrami entry (not specific to beef brisket) gives 147 calories, 21.8 g of protein and 1,078 mg of sodium per 100 g. Its guideline for a large sandwich is 84 g of meat, about 3 oz, which is 123 calories and 18.3 g of protein. Lower East Side delis famously stack far more than that.

If a towering sandwich holds 8 oz (227 g) of meat, the pastrami alone comes to about 334 calories and 49.5 g of protein at USDA's figures, with about 2,447 mg of sodium. Real hand-cut brisket pastrami is usually fattier than USDA's general entry, so treat those numbers as the floor. The practical play: split the sandwich, or eat half at the table and take half home for tomorrow's lunch. You get two protein-heavy meals out of one New York institution.

What does the salt shaker icon on New York menus mean?

New York City requires a sodium warning on chain restaurant menus. Since December 1, 2015, chain restaurants with 15 or more locations nationwide have had to post a salt shaker icon next to any item, including combo meals, with 2,300 mg of sodium or more, and post a warning where you order. When you see the shaker on a menu in New York, that one item carries a full day's limit.

It's a useful shortcut when you're ordering in a hurry, but it only covers chains. Your corner bagel shop, the cart on your block and the local deli aren't required to post it, which is why the numbers above are worth knowing.

How do I eat healthy in Queens, Brooklyn and the Bronx?

New York's food is the food of its communities, and every borough has neighborhoods where one cuisine runs the block: dumplings and noodle soups in Manhattan's Chinatown and in Flushing, Queens; South Asian and Himalayan food around 74th Street in Jackson Heights; Dominican cooking in Washington Heights; Caribbean bakeries and roti shops along Flatbush and Nostrand Avenues in Brooklyn; Italian delis on Arthur Avenue in the Bronx. We don't have measured numbers for those dishes, so here is how to order for a goal without them.

• Build around the protein you can see. Grilled or roasted meat, fish, eggs, tofu and beans, with the rice or bread as the side, not the base.
• Steamed over fried. Steamed dumplings and boiled noodle soups beat pan-fried dumplings and fried rice for the same portion.
• Watch the sauces and the oil. As the white sauce shows, a sauce can carry more calories than the meat. Ask for it on the side.
• Delivery nights count too. When you order in after a long day, pick the dish with the most visible protein and save half for lunch.
• Brunch is a meal, not a bonus. An eggs-and-salmon plate leaves room in the day; a stack of pancakes and a cocktail usually doesn't.

What does a fat-loss day of New York food look like?

Here is a day of eating in New York City that comes to about 1,570–1,600 calories with roughly 123–134 g of protein, using only the measured foods in this guide. It's an example, not a prescription: your coach sets your own targets from your size, age and training.

Vegetables aren't in the totals, and you should add plenty: a side salad with lunch and a big pile of greens with the chicken add volume for very few calories. The slice is deliberate. A plan that bans pizza in New York doesn't last.

What does a muscle-gain day of New York food look like?

That day delivers about 162–179 g of protein, which covers what most people building muscle aim for, and almost all of it comes from food you can buy within a few blocks of any subway stop. Food alone doesn't build muscle, though. It needs a program that gets progressively harder, three times a week, and someone checking that your squat still looks right on the last set.

Our coaches work from India, so New York sessions sit at 5 to 9:30 AM or 8:30 PM to midnight Eastern time, which leaves the lunch hour free for the cart. See the full schedule and plans on our New York page, what a trainer costs locally in our New York personal trainer cost guide, and where to burn it off in how to stay fit in New York. For other cities, start from the US page.