News Article

For: September Issue

To: Gulf Coast Womens News

By: Linda K. Bowman, Ext. Agt. IV - Family & Consumer Sciences

Santa Rosa County Extension Service

Telephone: 850/623-3868 or 939-1259, ext. 1360

A Bagel or a Donut?

Which makes a more healthful breakfast, a bagel with cream cheese or a donut? If you’re like the vast majority of people, you’d say the bagel. But you’d be wrong.

True, the bagel has more iron than say, a chocolate-frosted donut (35 percent of the Daily Value for vitamin A) but a plain bagel with cream cheese from a national chain donut shop contains 550 calories and 13.5 grams of saturated fat. This is more than half the saturated fat that should be averaged in a day by someone following a 2,000-calorie diet. The chocolate frosted donut, on the other hand, has just 200 calories—and only 2 grams of saturated fat.

The difference isn’t surprising when you consider that bagels at shops like the aforementioned are huge - about 5 ounces - compared with 2.5 ounces for a jelly donut. (That’s why the bagels have more iron; there’s more iron-enriched flour.) These bagels also come with 2 ounces of cream cheese instead of 1, racking up calories and saturated fat considerably. Every ounce of cream cheese contains about 100 calories. But even smaller bagels with less cream cheese, like the prepackaged bagel selections recently introduced, are no nutritional bargain. One of them - a 2 ounce bagel plus a 1-ounce tub of cream cheese - has 240 calories and 5 grams of saturated fat. That’s still more calories and saturated fat than in the national chain donut shop chocolate frosted donut - or jelly donut or French cruller.

Building a better breakfast

There’s nothing wrong with a bagel and cream cheese for breakfast occasionally - or a donut, either. (I’ve been known to enjoy them myself.) But it’s so easy to make breakfast nutritious, not to mention complete with things lacking in the American diet - calcium, fiber, whole grains - that we think it’s a shame to forego that opportunity on a regular basis.

For instance, a serving of whole grain cereal with a cup of skim milk and a cut-up banana or some blueberries will contain at least 300 milligrams of calcium (the Daily Value is 2,000 milligrams), 6 or more grams of fiber (out of the 25 you should aim for daily), plus a host of other nutrition and phytochemical lacking in the refined grains used to make donuts and just about all bagels. And it’ll contain only 300 to 400 calories and hardly any fat.

The same is true of throwing some thawed frozen berries into a cup of low-fat yogurt with a few raisins and a teaspoon of honey for extra sweetness. You can even include a slice of whole-wheat toast with a teaspoon of soft margarine and not go over 400 calories. An egg cooked in a nonstick pan with a slice of whole-wheat toast, a small glass of skim milk, and fruit cup makes a healthful breakfast, too.

All of these require a 2 to 5 minutes preparation commitment. And they require 5 minutes of sitting at a table to eat. But that’s an awfully small time investment to get more of the produce, whole grains, and high-calcium dairy foods that nutritionists keep identifying as key items missing from the American diet. Isn’t your body worth 10 minutes a day?

For further information contact: Linda Bowman, Family and Consumer Sciences Extension Agent, The University of Florida--Santa Rosa County Cooperative Extension Service--IFAS, at (850)623-3868 or (850)939-1259, Ext. 1360 for south county residents, between the hours of 8:00 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. weekdays. Hearing-impaired individuals may call Santa Rosa County Emergency Management Service at 983-5373 (TDD).

Extension Service programs are open to all people without regard to race, color, sex, age, handicap or national origin. The use of trade names in this article is solely for the purpose of providing specific information. It is not a guarantee, warranty, or endorsement of the product name(s) and does not signify that they are approved to the exclusion of others.