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Blenderized Diet for Jaw Wiring

These guidelines are for persons who need a blenderized diet after surgery for jaw wiring. This diet is well balanced with enough calories and protein to meet your body’s needs. It will help keep you from losing weight
and will help heal your wounds. 

General Instructions

All foods must be in a liquid form, thin enough to go through a syringe or drink from a glass. You should not need to chew. Food must be strained to remove chunks of seed or fibers that can get caught in the wires. Chunks of food can lead to poor mouth care, tooth decay or choking. Clean your mouth after each meal to prevent infections.

Preparing Blenderized Food

Supplies:

  • Blender, or food processor or food mill
  • Fine wire strainer
  • Wire whip or fork
  • Plastic container with labels for freezing
  1. Use cooked foods. Avoid fresh fruits and vegetables, and tough or gristly meats, as they are difficult to puree.
  2. Avoid nuts, seeds, whole grain or bran cereals, starches, and foods with tough skins or hulls. These foods leave particles that can get trapped in wires.
  3. To liquefy in a blender:
    1. Put small pieces of solid food in blender (one serving = 1/2 – 3/4 cup)
    2. Add a small amount (1/4 cup) fluid
    3. Blend until pureed
    4. Strain through jelly strainer to remove particles
    5. Liquids to use
      • Cream soups, strained
      • Fruit juice
      • Tomato or vegetable juice
      • Ice cream without nuts
      • Smooth yogurt without fruit or nuts
      • Clear soups
      • Broth
      • Half & half
      • Sour cream
      • Cream
      • Milk
  4. Strained baby food and baby cereal may be used from the jar without further blending or straining. Junior foods should be blenderized.
  5. Solid fats and cheese blend more easily if they are first melted. Oil, salad dressing and cream can be added directly to the puree.
  6. Frozen desserts and gelatin must be melted to a liquid before they can be eaten.
  7. Eat balanced meals that are adequate in calories, protein, vitamins, minerals and fluid. This is not the time to lose extra weight. Surgery is a stress that causes extra work for your body. To fight infection and heal wounds, your body needs more calories and protein than it normally would. This includes 8-10 glasses of fluid a day and all essential vitamins and minerals.
    • Eat various foods from all the food groups in order to get a balanced diet adequate in vitamins, minerals, and protein. If you are unable to eat an adequate variety of foods daily, you should consider taking a liquid multivitamin/mineral supplement which provides 100% of the RDA.
    • For additional calories, eat extra servings from the four food groups and include fats, sweets, desserts and supplements.
Basic Food Groups

Milk Group:

(2 cups or equivalent a day)

Drink whole or skim milk, low-fat buttermilk, or smooth yogurt. Milk is used as a beverage or to thin cream soups or ice cream for milkshakes. Make pudding and custard with double the usual amount of milk so it is thin.

Meat Group:

(6 ounces of meat or more, or 3 jars of baby food or 1½ cups strained pureed meat a day)

Meat, poultry, fish and eggs are part of the meat group. Cook meats until they are soft. Liquefy in a blender until the desired consistency. Avoid using raw eggs to prevent the chance of food poisoning; use a pasteurized egg product instead of fresh eggs. Cottage cheese must be blenderized. Melt pasteurized processed cheese, cream, Parmesan or cheddar cheeses before serving. Some cheeses may be too stringy when melted to pass through the jaw wires.

Avoid fried meats or eggs, meats or cheeses with casings or whole spices or seeds, and tough meats with a lot of cartilage.

Fruits and Vegetables:

(2 cups or more a day)

Fruit juices provide the easiest way to include fruit in the diet. Include a serving (1/2 cup) of orange, grapefruit, or tomato juice each day for Vitamin C. Liquefy soft fruits or canned fruits in a blender. Strain and thin these fruits with compatible fruit juice. Cook vegetables until tender and liquefy in a blender. Strain and thin them to the desired consistency.

Avoid fruits and vegetables with seeds, such as berries or tomatoes. Tough skins or hulls on vegetables should be avoided. This includes corn, lima beans, and dried or raw fruits and vegetables.

Breads and Cereals:

(4 servings a day – 2 cups)

Thin refined, enriched cooked cereals such as Farina, Grits, Malt-O-Meal, Cream of Wheat, or Cream of Rice with milk. Mash cooked white or sweet potatoes and thin with milk. Soups with noodles, rice, or vegetables may be liquefied in a blender. Use gravy, strained sauces or soup to thin enriched white rice and pasta made from refined, enriched flour.

Avoid whole grain or bran cereals and starches with nuts or seeds. Do not eat cooked dried beans unless they are split and the hulls removed (split peas, split lentils).

8.  Weigh yourself weekly. It is common for weight to vary 2-3 pounds a week. If you lose 5 pounds or more in one week call your doctor or dietitian. You probably are not eating or drinking enough.

9.  Supplements: Use one of the following supplements available in most grocery or drug stores if you need high calories. These are:

  • Drink skim milk powder used in:
    • High protein milk
    • High protein eggnog
    • High protein milkshake
  • Instant Breakfast drinks
  • Resource and Resource Plus (Novartis)
  • Ensure and Ensure Plus (Ross Laboratories)
  • Sustacal (Mead Johnson)
  • NuBasics Drink (Nestle)
  • Add 2 tablespoons powdered milk to each cup:
    • Mashed potatoes
    • Cooked cereals
    • Soup
    • Puddings
    • Milk drinks
    You can also increase calories by adding any of the following to blenderized foods:
  • Melted butter, margarine, cream cheese or shortening
  • Vegetable oil, mayonnaise and smooth salad dressing
  • Strained gravy and cream sauces
  • Sugar, honey, plain syrups
  • Melted smooth peanut butter

10.  Season blenderized foods with salt, ground pepper, any ground spice, and seasoned salts. Use condiments that don’t have whole spices in them such as prepared mustard, catsup, steak sauce or Tabasco sauce. Avoid anything that has bacon bits, whole spices, seeds, nuts or coconut in it.

11.  High Protein Milkshake Recipe

  • ½ cup ice cream without nuts
  • ½ cup milk
  • 2 Tbsp. skim milk powder

    Make a paste of the milk and powder. Mix until smooth. Add ice cream and beat with mixer or blender. Flavor as desired.

12.  Foods should be refrigerated or frozen within an hour after preparation. Blenderized foods are an excellent medium for the growth of bacteria. Extra portions can be frozen in meal size amounts in covered ice cube trays.

13.  If straws are allowed, plastic straws that have flexible tips are easier to use and are wider in diameter. It may be helpful to cut 1-2 inches off of the straw because shorter straws require less suction.

For Questions or Emergency Care
Call the office at 601-984-5160. You may need to speak with the doctor on-call.

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