How to Gain Weight When Your Jaw Is Wired Shut

When surgery or an injury requires the jaws to be wired shut, getting enough calories becomes an important issue. Subsisting on an entirely liquid diet often causes a dramatic decrease in body weight. This is fine for those who can afford to lose a few pounds. For others, it can be a cause for great concern. It's possible to recover lost pounds and maintain a healthy weight during this period, however. You just need a good blender and a bit of kitchen creativity.

Things You'll Need

• Blender
• Fortifying agents (malted milk, milk powder)
• Vegetable broths, meat broths

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Instructions

• 1

  Fortify milkshakes with malted milk powder. Malted milk contains barley, wheat flour and whole milk, which will add density to the milkshake and raise the calorie count. More important, the calories are grain-based, which makes for a healthy choice. Other fortifying options include yogurt, cottage cheese and vegetable oil.

• 2

  Incorporate nutritional supplements into your daily regimen. Popular brands include Ensure and Carnation Instant Breakfast. They should be consumed in addition to regular meals, not used as meal substitutes.

• 3

  Consume high-calorie beverages with meals. Eggnog is a popular choice. Recipes for eggnog can be found when it is not seasonally available. Boiled custard and whole milk are good choices as well.

• 4

  Put your favorite meals into a blender. Just about any food can be liquefied for wired-jaw consumption. It's just a matter of thinning the foods with liquid for the process. Since water can decrease the flavor of liquefied foods, it may be best to use one of the following alternatives: meat or vegetable broths, gravy, vegetable juice, milk, whole cream or baby food.

• 5

  Try to consume six to eight small meals a day, each consisting of high-calorie liquids.