Avoid These Foods For A Brighter, Whiter Smile

Are your pearly whites not as bright since you joined the world of coffee and wine-drinking adulthood? Sadly, the foods to avoid for white teeth are delicious and, speaking from personal experience, pretty dang hard to give up. Fortunately, knowing what they are means you can try to cut back on them (or at least nom more responsibly!).

Food and beauty are intrinsically linked, and tweaking your diet to best serve your body is a good habit to get into. Struggles with your hair? Try eating these foods for naturally shiny, healthy hair. Annoying pimples that won't seem to go away? Consider dodging these foods that cause breakouts and start chowing down on the foods to eat for gorgeous skin!

And before I get into the foods you should try to cut down on for whiter teeth, lets talk about what you definitely should be doing to achieve a bright, selfie-perfect smile! Nom on the 11 foods that whiten your teeth naturally, consider oil pulling, and learn how to incorporate baking soda into your teeth whitening routine. And, for a way to instantly brighten your smile, pop on one of the lipstick colors that make your teeth look whiter!

Fellow coffee lovers and winos reading this list, I promise there's still hope for us all!

1. Soy Sauce

Sorry, sushi addicts, soy sauce's dark colors will gradually cause stains, according to The Daily Meal. Eating sushi the Japanese way means barely dipping your bites in soy instead of dunking, so gradually try to use less. The nuanced flavors of your fish and vegetables will come through more!

2. Coffee

You saw coffee coming. Luckily, Everyday Health shared that adding a splash of milk to coffee lessens its staining effects. And let's be real, creamy, foamy coffee is the way to go!

3. Pickles

It might be hard to imagine skipping pickles on your sandwich every once in awhile, but those suckers are super acidic and, as shared in Women's Health, can erode your enamel.

4. Red Wine

Also obviously (and depressingly) on this list is red wine. Similar to pickles, the high acidity in red wine chews away at your enamel and those oh-so-delicious tannins can cause stains. Avoid this by pretending it's not true and enjoying your glass anyway because, duh.

5. Berries

Another thing not to be avoided completely but simply consumed with caution are berries. All those little seeds can get caught in your gums and cause infections, while the bright pigments stain enamel. I would definitely never tell you to avoid these antioxidant superstars, just brush your teeth and floss after munching!

6. Dark Soda

Cola is like, impressively bad for your teeth. Every sweet, bubbly sip is full of enamel-wrecking sugar and phosphoric or citric acid. If cutting soda out completely is impossible, try drinking lighter-colored ones, sometimes! I'm all about that cream soda with a scoop of ice cream life.

7. Gummy Vitamins

But, but, why?! Sadly, gummy vitamins are delicious, but according to USA Today, the high levels of sugar and the texture make for a great cavity inducing combination. That's because they're basically just vitamin-infused candy. Health recommends swapping chewables for actual pill vitamins. Why must adulthood be so hard?

Image Credit: Alex, Kate Sumbler, Michael Allen Smith, Mike Bitzenhofer, dorena-wm, Laura Dahl/Flickr