# health food

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/health-food/76187>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [August 14, 2001, 1:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/health-food/76187 "2001-08-14T13:27:41Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![clokwait](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f1d935/32.png) [@clokwait](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clokwait)\
**Post date:** [August 14, 2001, 1:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/health-food/76187/1 "2001-08-14T13:27:41Z")

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What is worse for you, a bagel or a donut?

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**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\
**Post date:** [August 14, 2001, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/health-food/76187/2 "2001-08-14T13:40:42Z")

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In what context? if it was a very very large bagel and it fell on you from a great height, you’d probably wish it was a donut (they are softer).

Donuts are usually fried, whereas bagels are poached in boiling water then baked; a donut is likely to have more fat in it, so if your doctor says avoid excessive fat, then the bagel would be the best choice, unless you fill it full of cheese or lard or something.

There’s no such thing as healthy and unhealthy foods, only healthy and unhealthy _diets_

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**Author:** ![SmackFu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/53a042/32.png) [@SmackFu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmackFu)\
**Post date:** [August 14, 2001, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/health-food/76187/3 "2001-08-14T14:16:06Z")

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They’re both going to be rather high in calories. Donuts have a lot of sugar and fat, so that’s not real healthy. Most people also tend to eat more than one. OTOH, bagels don’t have much sugar but they are very dense and have a lot of flour in them. You may only eat one, but you generally put something very bad on top of it, like butter or cream cheese.

To give specific examples from Dunkin Donuts:

[Chocolate Glazed Cake Donut](http://dunkindonuts.com/nutrition/nutrition.jsp?prodType=Donuts#chocolate_frosted_cake_donut)  
Calories: 290  
Fat: **16 g**  
Sugars: **14 g**  
Sodium: 370 mg

[Plain Bagel (no topping)](http://dunkindonuts.com/nutrition/nutrition.jsp?prodType=bagels#plain)  
Calories: **340**  
Fat: 2.5 g  
Sugars: 7 g  
Sodium: 680 mg

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**Author:** ![LaraLooooo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ba8739/32.png) [@LaraLooooo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LaraLooooo)\
**Post date:** [November 12, 2001, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/health-food/76187/4 "2001-11-12T03:31:18Z")

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Yes, this is a question to which I want to know the answer!!! I also have gone to the Dunkin Donuts website, and checked out their nutritional facts… And it would seem that a bagel (especially with cream cheese) is actually MORE FATTENING than a donut!!! How can this be? Are the Dunkin Donuts people just outright lying to us, trying to up the sales of donuts?? Are they being tricky, and not counting the LARD that the donuts are fried in, when calculating the fat and calorie content?? I wonder…  
If what appears to be is true… then this just shatters my whole view on life!!! All these years, what I thought was ‘going for the healthier option’… I am now finding out is WORSE for me than what I thought was the Ultimate Dietary Sin??? Good Lord, I don’t know what I’ll do…