The Good, The Bad and The Bagel

Anyone who has that craving in the morning for a heavy, stomach-filling food, and doesn’t want to spend more than 30 minutes in the kitchen, may seek the ever-popular breakfast favorite: The bagel. Where we live, there is little bagel place about five blocks down that bakes the bagels fresh — and you can’t beat the cream cheese. But how good are bagels for you, anyway? Let’s take a look at some of the pro’s and con’s, shall we?

The Good

Bagels are filled to the brim with fiber, so if you need to get going, then wolfing down an everything bagel might be the best thing to do. It’s no Ex-lax, but I can guarantee you that it will taste a thousand times better.

Bagels are also great for getting a good night’s sleep. They are loaded with carbohydrates, and if you eat one a few hours before bed, then your body will be coming down from the energy rush and ready to go down for a long winter’s nap.

Let’s not forget that they taste great and come topped with everything from chocolate chips to garlic and onion. They are also incredibly filling, and one bagel is usually enough to satisfy those hunger cravings. You don’t need a plate full of bacon, eggs and toast when you can have a bagel with a little cream cheese.

Kids love bagels for the bagel pizza combination. Top a bagel with cheese and some pizza sauce and you’ve got a quick treat that everyone will love. It’s also small enough that you don’t have to worry about overeating.

The Bad

Ok, so there are a few pitfalls in the bagel world. The first is that just because it’s a bagel doesn’t make it healthy. Lets face it, a chocolate chip bagel with honey walnut cream cheese is not going to be light on the calories. There are many varieties of bagels and each one has a different calorie and fat count depending on what they put in it.

The biggest issue that many people have with bagels is they are loaded with carbs, which get transformed into sugar in the blood. Anyone on a low carb diet should avoid them like the plague, but the other consequence is sudden rise in blood sugar.

While I mentioned them being good for getting some sleep, it’s because bagels raise and lower your blood sugar quickly. It’s not a good idea to eat a bagel if you have a lot of work to do or plan on driving, because you’ll have a short burst of energy and then be very tired.

So which side of the bagel are you on? The good, or the bad?

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