Hungry

[x_Ashley_x]

Does anyone have any other food suggestions of what to eat? We have currently stocked up on applesauce, yogurt, top ramen(to cook), soup, pudding, and ice cream...these arent all healthy....but any others to eat? wut foods and/or drinks should i stay away from? can i have coffee drinks like frapps or mocha drinks? i am new so i have no clue!

and how long do people usually have braces for?

[Chocoholic]

Hiya,

First of all, buy a blender, then you can make awsome smoothies with tonnes of fruit. After having my braces for a few months, I discovered that when my teeth aren't hurting not much is in the no go area, apart from hard foods where I;m scared I might pop off a bracket, or stuff that's irritating and gets stuck like bagels and sandwiches.

[Eleni]

Great link to the archwired site:
Soft Food Suggestions article


My faves:
=======
Cold cuts, eating thin slices of turkey or ham is quite easy; just forgo the bread.
Cheese omelets are yum!
Pasta dishes – spaghetti, lasagna, etc.
Baked potatoes are quite good.
Any fish – I find fish to be one of the easiest foods to eat as it’s so soft.
Mexican, Chinese food, etc.


Stay away
========
Salads – I find it’s too much chewing
Lightly steamed veggies can also be hard on the teeth
Spinach is a pain to clean and clings to brackets easily
Mustard is a hard stain to get off ligs

[gracie381]

I've been eating a lot of rice. There are lots of flavors out there so I can switch it up a bit. I also love macaroni & cheese so I eat a lot of that too. I've had my braces on for a little over a week. I started with mashed potatoes, apple sauce and jello. Now I am eating pretty normally again, except for anything real hard or sandwiches, which I can't really bite into. I have been piecing everything up. It takes a little longer, but well worth it. Also try chili. I can eat that pretty easily. I also cooked some brownies the other night and I just pop them in the microwave to get them soft and I can eat lots of them!! I don't really avoid anything. I just make sure if I drink a coke or anything that might stain my teeth, I brush right after and rinse with mouthwash as soon as possible after. I have metal on upper and lower so I haven't worried too much about the staining. Just brush regularly and you'll be fine.

[swan]

For the days when the teeth are sensitive:
Scrambled eggs
Mashed potatoes
Smashed banana (smashed with a fork)
Chocolate (break off a small piece and let it melt in your mouth)
Anything from the food processor (You can even blend your veggies, pork chops or anything else) if you're hungry and the stuff that usually comes mashed just doesn't cut it.


For the days when the teeth are less sensitive:
Hamburger
French fries that are not too much on the crunchy side.
Soft cookies or those that "melt" in your mouth with the saliva.
Three Musketeers candy bars
Banana.
Any pasta dishes with just sauce (tomato, pesto, etc).
Croissants
Any bread that doesn't have a crust or seeds.

Often I can eat anything that's not hard or chewy, even some kinds of potato chips.

[amychelle]

I guess I'm lucky because I haven't had to avoid much of anything. Two days after I was attacking fried chicken (pulling it off the bone w/ my fingers.) I find with enough wallowing around in the mouth that you can eat about anything. Essentially the same as "gumming it" just gently with your teeth and/or tounge.

My least favorite is tortilla chips, but I still munch away, just carefully.

But if you aren't as lucky as me, some of the less painstaking to eat but still filling (unlike yoguart!) are:

Hotdogs - I haven't heard many people mention this one surprisingly. (no bun)
Grilled Cheese - Gets stuck, but is soft.
Baked Potato - You can even throw on some bacon bits!
Noodle Pouches - "Lipton Noodles" -as easy as ramen, but more varitey.
Soft burritos - use a fork and "gum" it to death"

Your life isn't over, just be careful and take your time. Think of it as having more time to taste the food than taking more time to eat it.

[swan]

Hotdogs - I haven't heard many people mention this one surprisingly. (no bun)

You're right. I forgot about those. Of course the same goes for any kind of frankfurters, bratwurst and other sausages that don't have big pieces of stuff inside).

[privatepilot]

Here's my list of what soft foods to eat:
French Toast
Pancakes
Yogurt
Oatmeal
Crackers in soup-make sure they are soft-I broke a bracket on a dry one!
Omelets
Soft Crust Pizza(-with knife and fork)
Bean Burrito with chees-again, knife and fork it
Taco Bells Pintos and cheese and rice-YUM
Pasta-any type
Olive Garden -Faglio soup
Soft warm sugar cookies
Appletini's!!!!!!!!!

[Yeatsmom]

I got braced Monday morning. Dumped some good old Jameson's Irish into my Starbucks. Discovered eating a small soft Danish in tiny pieces still gunked up the works. Had very tender pork chops and tons of wine for dinner Monday night and it has gone downhill from there. Not that I have a lot of pain. I don't. A little tender on those molars, but not bad. Willing to chew. Even tried biting soft buttered toast with the back of my front teeth. Hmmm....not great. And my front teeth are really tender.

However, I just don't enjoy eating. Not at all. The flavor isn't there, or maybe I'm not hitting the taste buds, what with protecting my tongue from the vicious little cleats on the inside of the bottom molar bands. What are those for, anyway? He has already told me about lots of elastics (don't know when)....so guess for that, along with the upper and lower molar hooks. And it just feels as if I'm chewing with jackets on my teeth, jackets with pockets that fill up with food. Egad.

My question is: does one ever get back to enjoying eating? I LOVE to eat, I LOVE to cook. I don't expect to be biting bagels or a big old New York pizza (although by cutting it up rather than folding and biting, I will probably be drummed out of the Native New Yorker Society. That's really sad. ) But will I ever look forward to a meal?

Thanks for any and all information, good or bad.

[Dadio]

My almost 2 weeks with spacers was smoothie time. I kept bananas, blueberries, and cantaloupe in small bags in the freezer. Couple of those, some milk (whatever you like, I used fat free organic), and some soy meal replacement (french vanilla) and that makes great smoothies.

For real food, I've been making shepherd's pie (meat base, some veggies, mashed potato, then cheese). Meatloaf is also good and satisfying. Then, some easy one dish lasanga kind of things. You can play around with meat base, say ground lamb with some beef in the shepherds pie to add some interest. Some italian sausage with beef is good in meatloaf or the lasagna.

I found after I got over the first week, boiled shrimp was good. Tater tots were fun, they gave me a little texture and were easy to eat. This was out with friends, it now takes me as long to eat 1/4 lb shrimp and tots in about the time I used to snarf down a dozen wings.

I love to cook, but it's really hard to cook dinner and then find out you can't eat it. I miss raw veggies and have a fit trying to eat spinach now. I find things I miss, like burritos that I can't seem to make work now, but the filling works great in or on a baked potato.

I got real bent out of shape a few nights ago when I grilled burgers, figuring I can eat that. I couldn't, one of my front teeth is very tender and I kept hitting it. Hmmm, spinach I can't eat, burger I can't eat, what's a body to do? Haul out the food processor, scoop out the baked potato, throw in my burger, add some spinach, and process baby! Ewww, looks gross, but, oh my, is so tasty! Top with a little parmesan and it's wonderful.

Bon appetit!

[redjunebug]

ive had my braces on for about 6 weeks now and i still hate eating. its not fun, it hurts, and you can't enjoy the taste of anything due to the pain or the distraction of concentrating on your chewing. my only luxuries left in life right now are red wine and mcdonalds vanilla milkshakes. i have lost about 15 lbs thus far...which does give me an excuse to do a little shopping...but as im shopping and i pass the candy shop (chocolate covered pecans with caramel) i lose that "lovin" feelin'. i was at a fair a couple of weeks ago and they were roasting these wonderful salted almonds RIGHT THERE IN FRONT OF ME!!!! i almost had a meltdown...

[TuZZi]

hmmm lets see.... since I'm still on a severely soft-food and liquid diet, I've been eating: mashed potatoes n gravy (sidekicks are good and fast,) lots of soup with tea biscuits or crackers mashed up inside, canned tuna (great with mayo and tomato, oregano and basil salad dressing,) rice noodles, any kind of pasta dish as long as it's fairly plain and overcooked so the noodles are super soft, boiled weiners, scrambled eggs, chili, pumpkin pie, really soft cookies, really soft honey crueller donuts, fruity oatmeal, oat bran cereal, cream of wheat, yogurt, tapioca pudding, applesauce, yams, freezer smoothies, and Boost.

Yes, Boost. I know I'm about 40 years too young to be the typical Boost drinker, but it's actually quite enjoyable with the 8 flavors they have. I have 2 cans a day.... and it has worked to get a lot of the vitamins I haven't been getting from food lately.