Thoughts on doughnuts By Barbara Quinn - Monterey Herald My daughter — who loves doughnuts — forwarded an article to me titled “12 Reasons Doughnuts are Good for You” (www.thrivegloable.com). I chuckled and promised her I’d do some “research” on it. She responded with a link to another piece, “Do Donuts Really Make Me Happy? Mental health and the gut microbiome” (www.businessgrit.com.au). Now I’m fully engaged. First, though, I had to find out why one writer calls them “doughnuts” and the other “donuts.” According to Wikipedia, “doughnut” is the traditional spelling, while “donut” is the simplified version.