Everyday Health Dilemmas Solved

Eat a Doughnut for Breakfast or Eat Nothing at All?

Better choice: doughnut 
You race out the door without a chance to eat breakfast, and when you arrive at your morning meeting the only food in sight is a tray of doughnuts.

"If you haven't eaten for upwards of eight hours, you probably feel hungry, and your low blood sugar can make it difficult to focus on your work," says Kristine Clark, Ph.D., R.D., director of sports nutrition at Penn State University, in University Park, Pennsylvania.

That's why Clark and other experts begrudgingly recommend eating a doughnut (the plainer the better). Studies have also found that those who skip breakfast overcompensate by eating more calories throughout the day.

But… To offset some of the doughnut's shortcomings (it's loaded with trans fats and sugar and contains few nutrients), drink a glass of low-fat milk with it. "At least that way you get some protein," Clark says, "which will help you feel fuller longer than the doughnut alone will."