Can You Lose Weight By Eating Bagels?

I want to eat a bagel for breakfast sometimes but I know they are bad for me. But if I do eat one, which is the lesser of these two evils, butter or cream cheese? – Nigel Anderson, New York, N.Y.

I don't let my four-year-old daughter go to McDonald's, but I do let her go to Dunkin' Donuts. I justify this with the belief that McDonald's represents an unhealthy way of life and Dunkin' Donuts is simply her favorite snack. I am fully aware of the hypocrisy in this (I point out my health hypocrisies a lot in this blog), but I tell you about it to illustrate how crazy irrational we can all be about food.

Are bagels the devil? If you start out with the premise that a food has the power of good or evil, you head down a very twisted and confusing nutritional road, one that usually ends in a dead end in terms of your diet and health efforts. Not that some foods aren't better for you than others, but when you put a particular food on your no-fly list, you are practically begging to crash and burn into a 3:00 a.m. binge.

The worst diet approach you can take is vowing to give up any food you absolutely love. Sooner or later, there is always a bagel with your name on it. If it helps in this case, bagels aren't the most nutritionally devoid item that can pass through your lips, although they certainly aren't the healthiest, either. There are smart ways to have your bagel and eat it too.

So here are five tips for Nigel and all you other bagel mongers [or insert name of favorite forbidden food here] out there:

Watch portion size: One serving of bagel is the equivalent of one serving of bread or about 120 calories. Not terrible until you note that a typical bagel is more than one serving -- way, way more. Some bagels I've seen displayed in the glass cases of delis are practically the size of Frisbees and actually deliver closer to five bread servings, e.g., 600 calories. And that's before you get out the butter knife. There are a number of ways to counteract this bagel bloat: You can buy mini-bagels, save half the bagel for tomorrow's breakfast, or -- my personal favorite -- gut the center of it so you strip out half the calories and create a moat for your favorite topping.

Consider high fiber: Rather than plain, salt or cinnamon-raisin, opt for whole grain, oat or any of the other special high fiber breads of bagel. It may not change the calorie count that much, but at least you're getting a little more of something good for your body and also, fiber helps to slow down digestion so you're less likely to feel ravenous again by 10:16 a.m. If you pair a higher fiber bagel with some fresh fruit or plain yogurt you can create a reasonably healthy breakfast. (Do keep in mind that I mean whole grain, not whole wheat which is often just white flour with a little bit of wheat flour.)

Skip the sandwiches: The new fast food breakfast bagel sandwiches make cream cheese seem like a virtue. My daughter's beloved Dunkin', for example, has bagel sandwiches that range from about 470 to nearly 700 calories with copious amounts of fat thrown in for good measure. Yikes. They're a better choice than the croissant sandwiches, but still!

Switch up your meals: Consider having your bagel for lunch or dinner if those are your larger meals. For better or worse, people in this country tend to eat their heavier meals later in the day. A bagel at noon or 6:00 p.m. can be your main dish. You can pile on some lean turkey, have it with a salad or compliment it with a bowl of vegetable soup. You still get your bagel fix, but now you've rearranged your day in a way that makes more caloric sense.

Go easy on the toppings: To answer the second part of your question, it really doesn't matter whether you're a butter or cream cheese man. Here again, it's portion control. Most people tend to use a higher calorie serving of butter than cream cheese because a schmeer of cream cheese stretches further than a pat of butter. Switching to a whipped version of either can save you half the calories and fat. And while you're at it, expand your horizons beyond the obvious and consider healthier options like hummus or cottage cheese. I have a friend who slices up fresh strawberries to put on her bagel. I've tried it and it's yummy.

So, what do you think? Any other suggestions on how Nigel can continue his bagelicious life without destroying his svelt waistline? I'd also like to hear what other foods have bedeviled your diets.

Tweet me (Lizzyfit@twitter.com) or post a comment here. You may also want to check out AOL's handy dandy "How Many Calories" column to see how many calories are in the foods you love. Again, I'm not saving to give anything up entirely. Just saying, you might want to save half for another day.