Bagels can be a healthy snack, depending on the type of bagel and its ingredients. A plain, whole-wheat bagel will generally be more nutritious than a bagel that is loaded with high-fat cream cheese and other various toppings. Bagels come in several varieties, withy varying calorie counts. Lender's is a leading bagel company and provides numerous varieties of bagels with several ingredients.
Types
Bagels come in all different types and sizes. Some companies top bagels with cheese and some bagels have blueberries, raisins or onions in them. Furthermore, bagels can be made in miniature varieties such as those produced by Lender's, while others are notoriously gigantic such as those made famous by delis in New York City. Each of these factors affects the calories and nutrition in a bagel, but most bagels are made from a gluten-based or gluten-free wheat flour dough.
Calories
One plain wheat bagel from Lender's contains 230 calories. The Lender's whole-wheat variety contains just 210 calories, and the blueberry bagel checks in at just 150 calories per serving. The plain miniature Lender's bagels have 140 calories per serving, while the cinnamon-flavored mini's contain 160 calories. No matter which bagel-type you choose, bagels are a fairly low-calorie snack, accounting for around 8 to 12 percent of the daily recommended 2,000 calories by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
Calories From Carbohydrates
Carbohydrate counts range from 32 g in the Lender's blueberry bagel to 51 g in the cinnamon raisin variety. A plain miniature bagel contains 29 g of carbohydrate, whereas the cinnamon raisin mini contains 32 g. Carbohydrates contain 4 calories per gram, therefore a bagel has approximately 120 to 200 calories strictly from carbohydrate sources.
Calories From Fat
Most bagels are naturally low in fat. The amount of fat in some common bagels ranges from just .5 g in the plain miniature type to 2 g in the cinnamon mini. Fat has the highest calorie count of the three macronutrients at 9 calories per gram. Therefore, a bagel has between 4.5 and 18 calories from fat sources.
Calories From Protein
It may be surprising to know that breads and whole grains such as bagels can be very high in protein. Lender's brand of bagels vary from 5 g of protein in the plain mini, cinnamon mini and blueberry selections to an impressive 10 g in the 100 percent whole wheat bagel. Like carbohydrates, protein contains 4 calories per gram making the total calories from protein span from 20 to 40 calories per serving.
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