T1 (Thing 1 – age 14 broke his arm and jaw mountain biking in March) has survived and even thrived with his broken jaw.  Instead of losing weight he actually gained a pound.  🙂

Here are some tips to help if you or someone you love breaks a jaw.

Mental State

• If you haven’t had surgery yet – Tell everyone who will be in surgery to speak only positively. Saying such things like – “your stomach will feel calm and comfortable.”  “You will heal quickly and easily.”   I did this with T1 and the staff was very accomodating and amazed at how quickly his recovery after surgery was.
• Believe that your body can easily heal itself!  IF you struggle with this hypnosis may help you to recover more quickly.

Supplies

• Borrow or buy a good quality blender.  You can spend $400 on a blendtech and if you have the money, go for it.  But we had our handy $100 Kitchen Aide and it did what I needed it to do.
  I used it at LEAST once a day.  I would blend up a nice BIG smoothie each morning and freeze half for later in the day.  I would sneak in spinach and other healthy things too – see later tip for more info.  (Edited to add, my blender broke just as T1 got his jaw unwired.  So maybe it is worth it to spend more money, though my magic bullet still blends just fine!)
• Get a Magic Bullet.  We used ours numerous times a day.  If I had to choose between getting a blender or a magic bullet, I would get the magic bullet.  What I LOVED about it is that if I made a big smoothie in my big mixer, I would freeze half in a magic bullet cup.  When T1 wanted more I could pop it in the microwave, add a bit of milk and blend it up.
  Super easy.  I would also blend up soups using this and heat in the cup.  The cups work great from freezer to microwave and are easy to clean.  I would just rinse off the blade as I used it throughout the day and pop it in the dishwasher at night.  Everything cleaned up so well, unlike some of my other cups which would leave smoothie residue in them after the dishwasher, but these cups were CLEAN.
• You need straws and get the thicker ones.   Some are pretty skinny and it is harder to suck soup thorugh those.  Also if you want get a cute straw holder! The straws in here are not super thick – but it is fun to get the straws out of here and makes me smile a little bit each day.  Let me tell you, straws are used ALL day long!
  We go through at least 10 a day.   Note to self – if you have also broken an arm – skip the cute straw holder, you need 2 hands to work it, one to open and one to grab a straw.  I should have thought that through better.  But you probably don’t have a broken arm too, so you can count your blessings as you easily use your cute straw holder.  🙂

Main Food “choices”

I will be honest, my biggest concern when T1 broke his jaw was how to keep him full. He is a HUNGRY 14 year old growing boy, I knew I was in for a challenge.  Here is how I did it and I did it so well, he gained a pound instead of losing weight!  Man can not live on Ensure alone.  So I made sure we had each of these other items at least once a day.  One cream of wheat, one soup, one shake and one smoothie along with unlimited Ensures.

• Ensure –  T1 had at least 5 of these a day.  Wow, and they aren’t cheap.  You can find coupons and Costco has them too.  At Costco they are about $1 a bottle.  Sometimes on sale and with a coupon I could get them for a little less.  I also got the generic kinds, especially if they were on sale.

• Soups – I started with just tomato, but quickly realized these were easy to blend up and add variety to his diet.  His favorite was the Sweet Potato Chipotle soup.
  I would mix with some milk in the Magic Bullet cups and heat up for 1-2 minutes in the microwave.  Easy meal.
• Instant Cream of Wheat – Fast and Easy breakfast.  I would heat in microwave, stir well and then add milk to desired texture.
• Healthy Shakes – Carnation Instant Breakfast – I would blend with frozen banana, milk and bluebonnet calcium and it made a fast and easy shake.
• Smoothies —  Endless variety of these, they have mixes in the freezer, but you can easily create your own.

Things to add to your “smoothies”

• Liquid Calcium – this is a must as your bones are healing.  Bluebonnet Liquid Calcium is the best and its fruity flavors make it easy to add to smoothies.
• Protein Powder – You need protein too, so get a good powder.
• Veggies – Go to Green Smoothie Girl to learn all about incorporating veggies into your smoothies, this may revolutionize your life!

Wild Meals –

There comes a point where you just need something MORE or DIFFERENT to eat.  It can be done!  We have blended up In N Out burgers with beef broth, we have blended up eggs and bacon.  Your imagination is your only limitation.  Dinner Through A Straw has a great cookbook which helped inspire us.  Our Doctor gave us a copy, but it is worth buying if you don’t get one.

You will Survive!

Before you know it you will be back to your old self. The stories you can share will be worth the challenge.  I have linked to some items from Amazon and I am an affiliate with them.  Feel free to shop around and find these items at different places, borrowing some things makes more sense if you can.   But again if I was to only buy one supply it would have been the magic bullet, that was our go to tool.  🙂