I have a friend that says bagels are good for you. Is this true? If it is, I think I might start adding a bagel or so to my breakfast to get another 200 calories. I need more calories in my breakfast anyway.
Friends are idiots. Bread is bread, it doesn’t matter what shape it’s in. If you can handle the carbs go for it.
Define ‘good for you’. Those from the ‘only eat what you can grow or kill’ school of thought will say no, while others will say yes. If you’re trying to cram in the calories like myself you can’t really afford to be picky and a decent wholemeal bagel is a good way of doing that. Personally I have one with about 60g of peanut butter which provides around 500 calories in total.
Cool. I’m not trying to keep carbs low, so I think I will add a bagel to my breakfast. I need more calories anyway.
If you trying to gain than white carbs are better in the morning (wake up meal) and post work out.
plain bagel is better than whole wheat in the morning. Adding PB and a banana will only help.
Bananas are a two for one zapping away the catabolic state which occurs after eight hrs w/out food (sleep) while giving you a slow burning low GI carb.
You said you were not trying to keep low carbs so that is fine but just so your know a bagel is about 360 calories and 70 carbs with almost no dietary fiber. I don’t know what your goals are so eat what you want and bagels are horrible for almost anyone.
"Does a bagel fly, swim or run? Does a bagel grow out of the ground? Is it green?
Then you ain’t eatin it!"
I forget which coach on T-Nation said that (paraphrased, of course), but it’s always a good laugh I throw between friends of mine.
Cross-posted here (re: Oatmeal: Good/Bad):
http://www.T-Nation.com/tmagnum/readTopic.do?id=2346889&pageNo=0#bottom
There is another “Food: good or bad?” thread floating around and maybe more.
My first instinct was to post a smartass response (because that’s why I get paid the big bucks).
But seriously, I don’t know how anyone, at face value, can answer this question without the context of their goals, exercise regime, body comp, and how they generally react to certain types of foods (like the Poliquin and other refs laroyal posted).
I don’t see how any whole food can be inherently universally “good or bad”. Oatmeal is oatmeal. If you are tolerant to carbs (and, really, if you’re not) and are trying to gain mass, then I don’t see why oatmeal can’t be part of your diet if you like it.
Ditto with losing weight. Many people have lost fat with oatmeal in their diet. Granted, they probably weren’t eating tubs of it a day, but it has a place, like apples and milk and even (gasp!) glucose has a place.
Personally, I don’t eat a lot of it, but I love it and it does have a place in my goals, and I’m the kind of dude who bloats up just thinking about carbs (my pants are getting tighter as I type).
Sometimes I think these types of threads fuel the misconceptions that certain whole foods are at face value, bad. ("Well I (mis)-read that Poliquin said… and (mis)read that CT said…). I think that most would agree that there is absolutely no place in our diets for mass quantities of trans-fats.
That’s not a dig on the OP, just a reminder that these kind of conversations must include context, goals, and individuality.
I eat bagels, usually 2-3 per week with breakfast.
Natural Ovens Bagels are the best, and are high in protein to boot:
I haven’t eaten a bagel since 1999. Muffins on the other hand…