Which Healthy Foods Promote Healthy Smiles?

Did you know it is possible to eat your way to a healthy smile? Oral health is not just about brushing and flossing your teeth twice a day. In many cases, what you put into your mouth has as much of an impact, as the routine care of your teeth.

Your body needs the right combination of nourishment from your daily meals and refreshments. The right food and beverages can help you avoid dental problems, and build an effective immune system. Your oral health depends on it, so does the rest of your body.

You Have Heard the Bad News

Many people know eating foods high in sugar, like candy and sodas, creates an environment in your mouth that makes it prone to more tooth decay and gum disease. Most dentists have noticed an increase in the number of cavities in children and young adults today, compared to previous generations.

Dental experts link the increase of cavities to the poor quality of food that is regularly consumed. The worst culprits are often both the fructose and other processed sugars found in sweetened drinks, and the snacks and sodas, often also devoid of nutrition.

It is one of the biggest problems, according to the American Dental Association, stating "When bacteria (plaque) come into contact with sugar in the mouth, acid is produced, which attacks the teeth for 20 minutes or more. This can eventually result in tooth decay."

It's Not All About the Bad

The nutritious foods can actually aid your body in restoring health to your gums and teeth. Passionate, Persuasive and Powerful Prevention, a health website, offers some great tips about how food affects not only your nutrition, but also your oral health.

    Avoid carbohydrates for snacks, and instead eat them during meals. Larger meals produce more saliva, and help to wash away the sticky sugar substance that carbohydrate-rich food contains.

    Replace sugary drinks with black or green tea. These teas are rich in the antioxidants that help prevent plaque buildup and reduce your chances of developing gum disease.

    Start the habit of taking at least 800 mg. of calcium each day, and you will be less likely to develop severe gum disease. Eating more calcium will build stronger teeth, since ninety-nine percent of the body's calcium is in the bones and teeth.

Healthy, nutritious foods give your body the support it needs to fight bacteria, and they can be more satisfying. This will help you to maintain overall bodily health. Just eating an antioxidant-rich diet, packed with vegetables, oils, protein and fruits, can improve your oral health. Try it.

Choosing Healthy Foods For Your Kids

Are you concerned about your child's eating habits? It can be challenging to feed toddlers a healthy diet every day, but I have a secret weapon. A homemade smoothie is an easy way to serve your child at least one serving of fruits, vegetables, and calcium every day. Follow these five simple guidelines to help your child eat a nutritious diet:

Five Effortless Nutrition Suggestions for More Nutritious Kids:

3+ portions of veggies, 2 portions of fruit, 3 portions of whole grain products, 3 food servings of calcium, 1/2 their entire body weight in grams of lean health proteins

One serving size of veggies is just one cup raw or 1/2 cup prepared. Even though it can often be difficult to get small children to eat raw vegetables, it's simple to include at least one portion of veggies in a delicious homemade smoothie. Spinach, mixed greens, and steamed baby carrots are specially effortless to conceal in mouth watering shakes. One of the best smoothie recipe with blended veggies is called Frog Juice, and my favorite recipe made with baby carrots is Bunny Juice. Your kids will happily eat their vegetables if you serve them inside a healthy smoothie!

It's substantially simpler and easier to persuade children to eat their fruits instead of vegetables. One helping of fresh fruit is one actual fruit (such as 1 apple or mango), or 3/4 cup of berries. Although fruits aren't necessary to make great drinks, smoothies taste better with a bit of sweet fruit added! Frozen bananas are very popular in smoothies, because they add cold and creamy texture to the drink. The preparation to add bananas into a juice smoothie is basically non-existent: just peel and throw in. Apples are another popular fresh fruits to add to smoothies. Apples are very nutritious and taste great.

Whole Grain Products have a greater nutritional value than processed, highly refined, white grains. Because children consume a relatively small amount of food day-to-day, it is imperative to ensure that they receive the maximum nutritional value for the amount of food that they eat. One serving of whole grains is equal to 1/2 cup cooked rice or pasta, 1 slice of whole grain bread, 1/2 cup dry oatmeal or 1 cup whole grain breakfast cereal (with less than 6 grams of sugar, and 3 or more grams of fiber per serving). You can easily add a serving of breakfast cereal to your child's drinks, or add dry oats if your vita mixer is effective enough. The whole grain cereal found in the baby section is one other option, though it will be challenging to find a baby cereal with at least 3 grams per serving of fibers.

Chances are your son or daughter will get nearly all of their daily calcium supplement by drinking milk, but calcium is also found in yogurt, cottage cheese, traditional cheeses, green veggies, legumes, and tofu, along with calcium-fortified food items including waffles and orange fruit juice. One serving of calcium is equal to 1 cup dairy, yogurt, or calcium-fortified juice, 1/2 to One cup beans or broccoli, or four ounces of tofu. You should seek out low-fat versions of dairy, yogurt, and cheese, which are healthier since they have less artery-clogging fat. Children over the age of 2 should always consume 1% milk, never the full fat variety. Smoothies made with low-fat milk, soymilk, citrus veggie juice, or even low-fat natural yogurt are specially scrumptious solutions to consume your calcium.

Lean proteins is another sticky point in children's diets. My own child weighs in at 36 pounds. It's ideal for her to consume one half of that in grams, 18 grams, of lean protein each and every day. Children can get protein from a assortment of sources: cooked chicken, poultry hamburgers, yogurt, lowfat milk, peanut butter, tofu, eggs, almonds, vegan burgers, lasagna, and string cheese are common proteins sources amongst this particular age bracket. You'll really need to look at nutrition facts for one's particular grams of proteins for each amount for each item. Try to consider that barbequed chicken along with turkey burgers are definitely the hefty hitters, averaging twenty-one gr of protein per helping that is the dimensions of ones palm. Natural yogurt, low-fat dairy, peanut butter, as well as tofu are usually fantastic sources of trim necessary protein that taste delightful in kid's shakes!