Navigating Breakfast with Braces: Tasty and Safe Options for Kids
Kids can be picky eaters. How often have you seen your child try to hide the peas under a mound of mashed potatoes? At Marina Milstein Orthodontics, Dr. Marina Milstein and our team understand how hard it can be to get your child to eat the recommended daily allowance of fruits and vegetables. Providing fun, nutritious meals becomes even more challenging if he or she wears braces. It’s an age-old saying that breakfast is the day’s most important meal. These five braces-friendly recipes are not only nutritious but will have little Jimmy flashing his “tin grin” when he sits at the kitchen table in the morning.
1. Super Soft Scrambled Eggs
Scrambled eggs are soft and easy to eat if you have braces. If you drown them in ketchup (which many kids love to do), eggs become even mushier. Minimal chewing is required, and that’s the key to a braces-friendly recipe.
2. Energizing Breakfast Smoothies
A healthy breakfast provides energy and jump-starts metabolism. A smoothie is not only a good source of fruit, but it’s also gentle on braces. More importantly, smoothies are fun to create. You can toss anything in the blender (bananas, mangoes, strawberries, spinach) and create a drink that’s loaded with vitamins and antioxidants.
3. Oatmeal: A Warm and Mushy Breakfast
If you wear braces, eating crunchy cereals or granola for breakfast is out of the question: Bite down the wrong way, and you might snap the wires or dislodge the brackets. However, you can get your grains and oats by substituting oatmeal for cereal. This mushy breakfast treat has a host of health benefits.
4. Pancakes with a Healthy Twist
Pancakes are not the healthiest breakfast choice. Still, this Sunday morning favorite is braces-friendly. The idea is to make it healthier by hiding blueberries in the pancake batter like your child hides peas in the mashed potatoes.
5. Safe and Sweet Toast Alternatives
Toast with jam is ok, but skip slathering peanut butter on the bread. If you have braces, the general rule of thumb is to steer clear of hard or chewy foods. These types of foods can break wires. Of course, most kids will agree that toast isn’t the most exciting breakfast recipe. Make it a Pop-Tart instead!
Let’s Keep it Braces-Friendly
For more braces-friendly recipes, please call us at our convenient Granite Bay or Auburn office!
