Chili Conundrum

Hi All,

I'm looking for some insight about chili and lunch options. I find when I am eating out at restaurants that offer soups, salads and sandwiches as options I am always zooming in on a bowl of chili. In terms of nutrition and packing more power for the punch does anyone have thoughts if chili is the better option than a bowl of broth based soup or a salad? I am so confused, I thought salads were the way to go but I've since discovered the tastier salads are hidden with a lot of salt, sugar and fat and if i choose a salad that is low in all these sins than I'm starving by 3pm and feeling pretty cheated and ravenous by 5pm... Trying to figure out what to eat at Panera-type places when I'm not visiting my local Chinese or Thai places.

thanks. :)

p.s. I originally tagged this under trends. I'm coming back to repost in a more appropriate tag to get some help and thoughts on my chili talk.