Soft food is still food... right?

May 6, 2006 11:13 AM

SoftFoodFilter: how do I retain a somewhat balanced diet?

I've just had my wisdom teeth (and a couple others) removed, I'll be having braces put in later this summer, and my jaw will be realigned at some point in the near future (thankfully, no breaking), so I'm doing a little research on soft food diets.

How do I get the "food pyramid" into a blender? Most things I can figure out, but I haven't got a handle on fiber (which is what this was originally about), and I'm also wondering what other tips and/or tricks MeFites may have.

also also: if this helps, 21, male, could lose a few pounds but I'm not sedentary, weakness for dark chocolate, no beef at all (Hinduism).

posted by heeeraldo to Health & Fitness (8 answers total)

Fruit smoothies are easy to get out of a blender.

Ground psyllium husk fiber suppliments are also easily consumed in liquified form.
posted by Good Brain at 11:17 AM on May 6, 2006

Soft Fiber, not necessarily requiring a blender: Apple sauce (comes in flavors for variety). Oatmeal. Bananas (frozen & mashed). Pulpy juices (orange, grapefruit, etc.). Spinach quiche (heavy on the spinach/mushroom/onion & chopped very finely).
posted by paulsc at 12:23 PM on May 6, 2006

I went through this for a couple of months after jaw surgery. For fiber intake, I found the best way to get it was through oatmeal, smoothies with high-fiber fruits (bananas and most berries are good sources), and high-fiber soups (lentil, split pea, etc. -- I had to blend them smooth enough to get through a straw). As I was able to chew a little more, I moved on to things like chili, scrambled eggs with avocado, and such like. Here's a good list of soft foods from a website for people with braces -- there should be some other good suggestions there.

Oh, I also ate a lot of cream soups with tofu blended in (a stick blender is better for that than a regular blender) to keep my protein intake up, too.
posted by scody at 1:06 PM on May 6, 2006

Beans are your friend, especially black beans. You can have them over rice, in soup, or refried.
posted by _sirmissalot_ at 2:37 PM on May 6, 2006

Is it soup yet?
posted by caddis at 5:01 PM on May 6, 2006

No snark: try some baby food. There's an amazing range of flavors now available, perfect for an adult who's temporarily reduced to gumming but misses foods like lasagna and sweet-potato soufflé.
posted by rob511 at 6:57 PM on May 6, 2006

I second the smoothies and bean soups and want to add a suggestion to add spinach to the smoothies and other vegetables to the bean soups. It is really good for you. A smoothie with spinach looks disgusting, but tastes great, in my opinion. I usually mix spinach, an orange, frozen strawberries and a banana. Doesn't need any added liquid. Add a date if you need more sweetness.
posted by davar at 1:32 AM on May 7, 2006

Don't forget that you can buy large diameter straws, which will make your blended meals greatly less incovenient.

As a gym-goer I also relied a lot on nutritional supplements when I had a broken jaw over christmas - whey protein powder and whatnot. There's a million different kinds of that sort of thing, even if you're not hitting the benchpress, and they can provide nutritional elements that you might not be keeping up with. Some of them even taste nice - but you might want to get some advice from someone who's tried them previously as when they suck, they suck bad.
posted by Sparx at 1:57 AM on May 7, 2006