There are many ways to improve one’s health these days, and one of those ways is to eat foods that can help whiten teeth. Whiting teeth may not be the first thing that comes to mind when thinking about how to work on healthy habits, but tooth disease is something serious. To make healthy habits, it’s a good idea to know what type of food can counteract tooth decay, which we discuss below. Sometimes it’s hard to stay healthy, which is why we discuss in the Body Reboot book ways to not only make healthier life choices but find a diet that can help you reach all of your goals. Below are some food items that can naturally whiten teeth!

Cheese

Cheese is another tasty thing to eat, and it can also whiten your teeth! Greatist recommends eating cheese to help whiten your teeth, but if you combine it with alcohol, it might be a bit of a challenge to let the cheese do its work.

Like yogurt, it’s rich in the enamel strengtheners calcium and phosphorus. You’ll get the biggest bang for your buck from hard cheeses like cheddar, Gruyere, and Parmesan. Of course, you might not notice as much whitening action if you wash down your cheese plate with a glass of red wine.

Delish says that the harder the cheese, the better:

Hard cheeses, like the ones you might find on a cheese plate, contain high levels of lactic acid and calcium, which helps keep your teeth nice and strong. Even better, chewing on cheese increases saliva production, which washes away leftover food debris from between your teeth.

Seaweed

Seaweed tastes delicious, and according to Fox News, it also happens to work well as a teeth whitener.

Searching for an excuse for sushi night? Now you have one. The bacterial enzymes in seaweed can help fight plaque and produce a whitening effect on teeth. If you don’t like sushi, you can nosh on baked seaweed snacks to get the same benefit — and enjoy a healthier alternative to traditional potato chips, which are packed with sodium and oftentimes artificial ingredients.

Sesame Oil or Virgin Oil

Oil happens to be great for losing weight on a low carb diet, and it also happens to be a great way to whiten your teeth.

Oil, or more specifically, oil pulling, is when oil is used for gargling, not cooking. Sesame oil or virgin coconut oil is swished around inside the mouth and then spat out after fifteen minutes. As the substance is vigorously “pulled” back and forth between your teeth, the mucous membranes inside your mouth absorb nutrients from it.

Sesame oil has omega-3 fatty acids, iron, calcium, and vitamins A, B and E; while virgin coconut oil has antibacterial properties that promote healthier gums and cavity-free teeth. Just make sure not to swallow any of the spittle that will form as you gargle.

Spoon University also explains Coconut Oil can help your teeth:

I know what you're thinking, coconut oil already has all these great benefits, and now it also can help with teeth? There's multiple different ways you could go about using the oil. You could swish the oil around between your teeth, or brush your teeth with a little bit of the oil. You could also rub the oil into your teeth and gums, the oil has anti-microbial properties that will protect the healthiness of your gums.

Milk

If you love milk, then you’re in luck because it can also help keep your teeth white, at least that’s what Greatist claims. If you’re on a low carb diet, just be mindful of the carbs. There are milk substitutes such as Almond Milk which have fewer carbs but still has plenty of calcium.

Drink up for stronger bones—and whiter teeth. Milk is another top source of both calcium and phosphorus. Keep in mind that the mineral content goes up as the fat content goes down, so you’ll get the most of both nutrients from skim milk. (A cup of skim milk has 316 mg of calcium and 255 mg of phosphorus, while a cup of whole milk has 276 mg of calcium and 205 mg of phosphorus.)

Listerine also explains how milk can help whiten your teeth:

Your mother told you to drink your milk for strong bones and a sparkling white smile. And she was correct. Dairy products, such as cheese, yogurt and milk, contain lactic acid and the enamel-fortifying mineral calcium, which strengthen teeth while also whitening them. Chewing on cheese also prompts production of saliva, which washes away staining food particles.

Broccoli

Broccoli is an excellent veggie to incorporate into your diet, and it just so happens it’s also excellent for brushing (and cleaning) your teeth. Redbook mentions the following:

High-fiber, coarse foods act as scrubbing agents for teeth. Toss them on your salad for a quick, natural mid-day brush.

Lifehack and Delish further explains how broccoli does the whitening trick:

When eaten raw, this vegetable gently abrades tooth surfaces, which removes unsightly stains. The iron found in broccoli protects tooth enamel by coating it with an invisible barrier that keeps cavity-causing acids away.

Broccoli is a really beneficial food in terms of reducing bloat in your body, which includes inflammation in your mouth. Additionally, the little green trees are good for polishing your teeth and contain iron, which helps with enamel protection and leads to a whiter smile.

Strawberries

Greatist tells us that despite the belief that some people think that berries will stain teeth, it’s quite the opposite. Strawberries can help teeth appear whiter, and it’s due to an acid which gets explained below:

Not only will they not stain your teeth red, but strawberries may also help make your teeth appear brighter and whiter. “They contain an enzyme called malic acid that works as a natural astringent to remove surface discoloration,” says Steven Freeman, DDS, owner of Elite Smiles in St. Augustine, Florida.

For even more whitening action, try applying mashed strawberries to your teeth like a paste for five minutes then rinsing and brushing as normal, he suggests. One study found that this method can help remove plaque to give it a whiter appearance without actually bleaching the teeth.

Redbook also mentions that strawberries are excellent for whitening teeth:

Don't let the red color fool you. Malic acid, a chief component of strawberries, acts as a natural astringent to remove surface tooth discoloration, says Dr. Irwin Smigel, president of the American Society for Dental Aesthetics. No matter how you eat 'em — in salads, desserts, cereal — you'll be whitening your smile in the process. You can even mash one up and put it on your toothbrush.

Seeds and Nuts

Redbook and Delish also tells us that seeds and nuts are an excellent way to remove stains on your teeth because they act as a teeth exfoliator:

The abrasive texture of sunflower seeds, almonds, walnuts, and cashews works to remove surface stains — kind of like an exfoliator for your teeth.

While your crunching away on a granola bar, the rough texture of the nuts and seeds inside are working to remove plaque and stains from the surface of your teeth. Less plaque and surface stains = whiter teeth.

Water

Of course, let’s not forget about water, which Delish says can help your teeth. Also, we all know that water is a must for your health and can also prevent you from getting dehydrated.

This shouldn't come as a surprise, but drinking water flushes leftover food particles from your mouth, keeping your mouth clean and your smile bright.

What to Avoid:

So what should you avoid when trying to keep your teeth clean and maintain a healthy body? Aol reveals what we should not be eating and why that is the case.

Sugar and acid are your teeth's worst enemies. It can take 30 minutes to two hours for the mouth to recover from enamel-harming acid. So if you're eating or drinking acidic or sugary things more than every 30 minutes, there's no chance for the mouth to recover. Foods that stick to the surface of your teeth are also particularly bad – so avoid chewy sweets and limit how often you eat dried fruit.

You can find products that promise to make a smile bright at the dentist’s office, but it turns out you can find tooth-whitening alternatives in the most unexpected places. At the time of writing this post, we're giving away free copies of the Body Reboot book, which discusses the many benefits of the keto diet. Help us cover the cost of shipping, and we’d be happy to send you a FREE book. Head to this page right away to see if there are any remaining copies.

Sources: Greatist, Redbook, Listerine, Lifehack, Fox News, Delish, Spoon University, Aol.