Doughnuts are a kind of fried dough food and are created in a number of ways as a sweet breakfast treat. They can be either made at home or purchased at bakeries or grocery stores. In most cases, doughnuts are deep-fried out of a flour dough and then molded into flattened spheres or rings that can even contain a variety of fillings, such as vanilla cream, chocolate cream or a fruit filling. You have many options for breakfast, but doughnuts may not be the best choice.

High in Calories

Doughnuts are most definitely not a healthy type of food for breakfast, or for any time, for that matter. They are high in calories, and eating something so early in the morning that meaningfully contributes to weight gain is not something that you would want to ideally commit yourself to. Though the amount of calories in a doughnut varies based on what type of doughnut you are eating and who makes said doughnut, you can rest assured that just one doughnut comes with at least a few hundred calories. For example, a chocolate doughnut includes 380 calories, a jelly-filled doughnut hits you with 250 calories, and even a basic glazed doughnut already nets you 229 calories. With all this caloric content, you will have to commit yourself to a lot of exercise to just work off one doughnut.

High in Carbohydrates

If you are on any kind of diet, eating a doughnut is a very big no-no, not only because of its calories, but also its high carbohydrate content. Specific diets like the Atkins diet strictly forbid consuming foods such as doughnuts, especially during the earliest and most important stages of said diet because of a doughnut's carbohydrates. While it is true that carbohydrates give you a lot of fuel for energy (which is why athletes load up on them for training purposes), this will have an adverse effect if you do not burn off these carbohydrates through lots of exercise. Chocolate doughnuts include 41 grams of carbohydrates, jelly-filled doughnuts give you 36 grams of carbohydrates, and glazed doughnuts get you with 25 grams of carbohydrates.

Not a Breakfast Food by any Means

While some people willfully throw caution to the wind and eat doughnuts for breakfast, doughnuts are still not a healthy option for breakfast. Breakfast is said to be the most important meal of the day, so loading your body up with hundreds of calories and lots of carbohydrates first thing in the morning is a questionable act to do unless you are an athlete who will immediately start your training regimen right after breakfast. Since most people are not athletes, however, the heavy calories and carbohydrates from doughnuts for breakfast will just settle around your waist and contribute to weight gain instead.