How to Start a Bad Breath Diet

If you have chronic bad breath that just will not go away, you may be in need of a bad breath diet. No, this is not a diet that will give you bad breath. On the contrary, this is a diet that will help you fight halitosis (chronic bad breath) and get some relief from your odorous problem. You see, dental hygiene depends a lot on what we eat (which makes sense, since it has to go through the mouth). By modifying your diet, you can actually help treat your bad breath and develop good oral health at the same time. And most people think diets are just for losing weight!

Before we begin, I have to make one point. Diet in this article does not mean a reduction in food, like how it is most commonly used. Diet also means the sum of what you eat; a healthy diet, for example, is full of good, nutritious foods that benefit your body. With that being said, what you eat can directly affect how your breath smells. This seems obvious, to a degree; we have all eaten onions or garlic and have noticed that our breath took on a distinctly unpleasant smell, to say the least. But there are other foods that negatively and positively affect your breath. Knowing what these foods are is vital to finding an effective bad breath cure.

Halitosis is usually caused by bacteria that live in your mouth and put off very nasty waste products called volatile sulfur compounds. The ‘sulfur’ in the name gives it all away – these are quite noxious and make your mouth smell terrible. When you (or your partner) smell your breath, you are smelling the by-product of hundreds or thousands of VSCs on your tongue. You can tell by looking at your tongue; if it is covered by a thin white substance, bacteria has begun to flourish. Changing your diet and adjusting the foods you eat can help with that.

For starters, avoid eating onions, garlic, dairy products, and foods that are high in sugar on an excessive basis. Every now and then is fine (and dairy products are healthy for you), but overdoing it will cause your breath to smell. This is because they either contain sulfur compounds (like onion and garlic) or are loaded with substances that cause bacteria to grow. Coffee, tea, cola, and tobacco can stain your teeth and make your breath smell equally bad. Modifying your diet will help with your oral hygiene problems. After all, the less you take in foods that smell bad and promote bacterial growth, the less of a problem you will have with odor-causing bacteria.

Now we can discuss the foods you should be eating. Green tea is a marvelous beverage that is antibacterial, meaning it actually inhibits the growth of bacteria in your mouth. Yogurt is another great choice; eating (non-processed) yogurt daily will not only help with your bad breath, but will give you plenty of vitamin D. Yogurt basically makes your mouth a very unfavorable climate for bacteria – and it tastes good, too. Finally, any crunchy food that has fiber – such as apples, celery, carrots, pears, or other fruits and vegetables that are high in fiber – is terrific for bad breath because it helps remove plaque that forms on your teeth. This plaque not only eats into your teeth, but gives off bad odors as well and is a major bad breath cause. If you are hungry for a snack, reach for a delicious apple or other crunchy vegetable and chow down.

Bad breath does not have to stay with you forever. It can be treated by something as simple as changing your diet. Just take advantage of the natural remedies we looked at above and you will be fine. Now you are armed with the information you need to go to the grocery store and start your bad breath diet today.