Bagel Maker puts the hole in whole wheat

PANAMA CITY, FL — Paula picked up her crisp, white bag, folded over at the top, and made for the Bagel Maker’s door.
   
“Are you a regular customer?” she was asked.
   
“Yes,” she said hesitantly. “But this is my first time with the new batter.”
   
“No, no,” Bagel Maker owner Jim Hayden said to her, wiping cream cheese off his own lips. “You’ve been eating it for months.”
   
Paula headed for the door, clearly uncertain of what she would find in the neatly creased and quickly heating bag that contained her bagel. Probably, Hayden said, what she’ll find is what she always has found when she comes to the shop: her favorite bagel.

“That’s the thing,” Hayden said, “no one can tell the difference.”

Over the last few months, quietly and deliberately, Hayden, the owner of the 5-year-old Bagel Maker franchise in Bay County, has switched from the traditional blanched flour to a healthier whole-wheat variety. It has done nothing to change the taste, texture, cost or variety of the bagels he sells, but health experts say it could have surprising benefits to his customers.

“It doesn’t change the calories, but it gives you back all the goodness that’s in wheat,” Hayden said. He made the change after talking with a customer who mentioned that the most recent health trend was to go to whole wheat.

“I listen to my customers, my friends and my employees and use anything that has a shred of merit,” Hayden said.

White wheat is made from only a small portion of the wheat plant, while whole grain, as its name implies, is a ground mixture of the edible portion of the plant.

Cindy Shipman, a registered dietician at Bay Medical Center, said whole grain is a good source of fiber, good for intestinal health, reduces blood cholesterol and lowers the risk of heart disease.
   
“It also gives a more satisfying feeling; people get fuller faster,” Shipman said. “I tell people to stick with whole grain to get full before you get fat.”
   
Studies have shown eating whole grain wheat can be as important as counting calories in weight loss efforts. Whole grains, which are a staple of Mediterranean cooking, recently have been incorporated into a number of diets, including The Sonoma Diet.
   
“An excellent program,” Shipman said. “It shows you how to incorporate whole grains into a very low calorie diet. I’ve personally tried it and the outcome is very good. It’s very satisfying and tasty food.”
   
She said whole grains, vegetables and fruits are the staple of a healthy diet.
   
But is it possible that bagels, dense little calorie bombs, could be considered health food?
   
“That’s a good question,” Bay County Health Department registered dietician Claire Henninger said. The whole-wheat variety “should be healthier because they have more nutrients in them.”
   
Henninger said calorie counting is essential in weight loss programs. She said the body burns a certain amount of calories every day. Taking in more calories than are burned will result in a surplus, which the body stores. Taking in fewer calories than are burned will result in a deficit and a withdrawal from the surplus calories stored in the body to make up for it.
   
Small portions, she said, is one way of limiting calories. People also should watch what they top their bagels with.
   
“Bagels are denser,” Henninger said. “But a half a bagel could be about the same as one piece of bread.”
   
She said it is recommended that people eat about six servings of grains a day and half of those servings should be whole grains. Whole wheat, she said, is being studied for its benefits in preventing some chronic diseases.
   
Julia Ruschmann, Health Department spokeswoman, said processed wheat is stripped of nutrients that the body needs. Eating whole wheat, she said, will be more satisfying to the body.
   
“Without the proper nutrients, the body won’t function as well,” Ruschmann said.