Are Bagels Healthy?

Are you really looking for a yes or no answer to this question? You won’t find one. The relationship between health and diet is an infinite web. What does healthy mean? Looking for an answer on what to eat is almost an information overload. While our answer is ultimately yes, bagels are healthy, you have to come to your own conclusions—you can’t just Google it. That being said, let’s highlight a few things that might inform your opinion.

One NY dozen of Gotham’s hand-rolled bagels.

It’s not the gluten

A lot of the bad rap the bagel gets involves its composition from wheat flour. But we’ve said it before and we’ll say it again, we love gluten. Here you need to be weary of witch-hunt-style health trends. Gluten is a protein that has featured heavily in our diet for thousands of years. If consuming the amount of gluten present in our modern diets is as detrimental as some claim, then our bread-based ancestors of the peasant variety must have been cripplingly ill. What likely matters more than gluten content is excess sugar that finds its way into bread products, and bad eating habits involving wheat-containing foods.

Mideval bakers (Source: British Museum)

The whole picture

In a similar way, refined white flour is another problem people have with bagels. At this point in history, everyone is aware of whole wheat flour and whole grain bread products. Food trends travel quickly in our culture, especially when a health benefit is involved. The basic argument starts from a place of back-to-nature ethics. Food that bears the strongest resemblance to its basic elements is highly valued in the health-conscious school of thought. However, this doesn’t necessarily disclude white flour—to make white flour from whole grain, more of the kernels are removed. In terms of excess processing, that’s barely on the map. As we’ve previously stated in our exploration of sustainable grain production, flour can be done right. And as long as your bagel shop is taking the right steps to sourcing high-quality unbleached flour, whether your flour is milled into either white or whole grain varieties is a nonissue.

Sheafs of wheat. (Source: Pixnio)

Mind-body connection

Maybe it’s not so much that “you are what you eat,” but rather “you are how you eat.” People talk about calories to the point of abstraction. Empty calories, calorie deficits, calorie counting. Outside of America, assigning numbers to food like that is something many would scoff at. It has been proven time and time again that wellness depends on your mindset. Engaging in meaningful meals is a huge part of a healthy diet. Bagels, as a traditional baked product with a lot of cultural value, encompass a ton of meaning. Well, maybe not every bagel–but certainly the fresh-baked bagels from your bagel shop. Essentially what we’re saying is, bagels are healthy because bagels have soul.

Friends sharing bagel sandwiches together. (Source: Gotham Bagels)

Schmeared

When all else fails, blame the toppings! What exactly are you loading your bagel up with? That’s one thing about bagels that might not exactly be on-target, health wise…

The OMFG sandwich from Gotham Bagels: bacon, egg, cheddar, and Nashville fried chicken on an everything bagel.