Whether you’re a child, teen, or adult adjusting to wearing braces on your teeth, you might not consider now the ideal time to focus on eating healthy. Reaching for things like buttery mashed potatoes and sugary milkshakes might seem like the only option to get calories into your body, without compromising the integrity of the new brackets and wires on your teeth. However, there is no need to deplete your body of nutrients just because you have braces.
Healthy Eating Tips
Lake Country Orthodontics encourages our current and future patients to consider these healthy eating tips:
Many Healthy Options Are Actually Quite Soft
Consider bananas, applesauce, melons, cottage cheese, and yogurt.
Get to Chopping and Steaming
You may not be able to bite into an apple, whole carrot, or celery stalk, but most whole foods will be just fine if you cut them up into small pieces and chew them with your back teeth. Steaming vegetables will soften them, while still maintaining some nutritional integrity.
Mash Your Veggies
Mashing isn’t just for potatoes. The same process can be used for broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, and a variety of squashes. To certain palates, vegetables taste even better when given the mash treatment.
Go Green With Your Smoothies
Smoothies are an easy way to get several servings of fruits and vegetables into your system without having to chew a thing. Throw your favorite combination of fruits, water, and ice into the blender, and then add handfuls of spinach, kale, or your favorite greens. Your smoothie might have a green appearance, but you’re unlikely to taste the vegetables as you sip on your refreshing and highly nutritious beverage.
Try Juicing
Extracting the natural juices from whole fruits and vegetables with a juicer is a fantastic way to get nutrients without the sugar that accompanies most store-bought and highly processed versions. Just as with the smoothies, you can juice equal amounts of whole fruits and vegetables together in any number of combinations.
Contact Us for a Consultation
If you haven’t yet explored the benefits of orthodontic treatment, contact Dr. Ciro Cabal at Lake Country Orthodontics in Lake Worth, TX. Our number is (817)236-7846 and we serve adults, teens, and children from Azle, Saginaw, Springtown, Weatherford, Haslet, Lake Worth, and surrounding cities.
