Showing posts with label Vision and Eyes. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Vision and Eyes. Show all posts

7/17/12

Foods for Vision: 10 Top Picks for Your Eyes


Americans have a problem with the health of their eyes. Studies have shown that about 21 million of the people living in the United States suffer form at least a single eye condition. In fact, blindness is a part of the top ten disabilities of the adults in America.

And while most of the eye problems that we are facing right now are critical and not avoidable, there are actually some things that you can do to support good eye health and somehow lessen or stop the amount of damage that it is inflicting. One of these is through healthy eating.

Numerous researches have suggested that consuming food items that have high amounts of lycopene, lutein, and omega-3 fatty acids lowers a person’s risk to up to 25% in acquiring macular degeneration. Judy Caplan, spokesperson for the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics and a registered dietitian, explained that the food that we eat positively affects the whole body. She added that whatever works well for our eyes is bound to also work well for our body.

Let’s take a look at some of the healthiest food for our eyes.

Carrots. This vegetable is one of the richest sources of vitamin A, a nutrient essential in maintaining the good health of your eyes. Lettuce and cabbage are also great sources of this vitamin. The lack of this vitamin has been known to cause night blindness.

Spinach. Containing a powerful carotenoid called lutein, spinach is a great food that will lower your chances of acquiring eye diseases, protecting your eyes from cataracts and macular degeneration.

Fruits. Wolfberries, oranges, and kiwis are great sources of vitamin C. Otherwise known as ascorbic acid, this vitamin helps in the elimination of free radicals that can cause undue damage to the eyes.

Soy. Products that are made of soy such as soy milk, beans, and yoghurt are very good for the eyes. They contain natural inflammatory agents, phytoestrogens, and fatty acids. Corn and olive oil are also great choices in maintaining eye health as they contain good amounts of vitamin E.

Garlic. This food contains sulfur which is very helpful in maintaining the strength and resiliency of the lens. Aside from garlic, onion is also a great source of this compound.

Apricot. This fruit have a high amount of vitamin A for fighting the damaging free radicals. It also has carotenoids which help with better vision.

Eggs. These food items are great sources of the nutrients lutein, lecithin, cysteine, sulfur, and amino acids. They also protect the eyes from developing cataracts.

Fish. One of the best nutrients for the health of the eyes is omega-3 fatty acids, which are found in hefty amounts in fish, particularly in sardines and salmon. These two fishes are great sources of Docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), a kind of omega-3 fatty acids.

Broccoli. Aside from improving eyesight, this vegetable also decreases your chances in acquiring cataracts. It contains the carotenoids zeaxanthin and lutein which improves the health of the lenses. These compounds also protect the cells found the eyes from free radical stressors.

Dark chocolate. These sweet desserts contain flavonoids that will protect the blood vessels found in the eyes, ensuring that your lens and cornea remain strong. You just have to make sure that you are consuming pure dark chocolate.

Aside from the above ten food items, there are still so many foods that will be very good for your eyes. Some of them include almonds, black currant, grapes, lemons, ostrich, and squash. Incorporate them into a good and balanced diet and you should be on your way to healthier eyes and clearer eyesight.

Amy C. is health writer, mostly focusing on talking about tips on the care of the eyes. She also offers her services for Lasik Houston, giving consultations and recommendations for Houston best Lasik. Stay tuned for her next post fore more tips on how to better take care of your eyes and vision.

7 Ways to Help Your Eyes Naturally


People are placing a greater demand on their eyes today than they ever have before.  Staring at a computer screen and watching television for hours has become commonplace.  Even people who read books are constantly straining their eyes to read small print.

As the demand on our eyes has increased, science has come to their aid.  Every town has an eye doctor’s office, and many local and online businesses sell glasses and contacts.  Lasik surgery, which is the latest development in medical eye care, has quickly become popular.

However, people do not need to rely solely on modern medicine to help their eyes.  There are many ways people can strengthen their eyes naturally.  Here are seven natural ways to improve or maintain your vision.

Take a Multi Vitamin

Vitamins and minerals, as the following tips will show, are essential for good eyesight.  In general, vitamins A, C and E, as well as zinc and copper, help eye sight.  These are often found in vegetables, but the easiest way to get them all is to take a multi vitamin.

Eat Foods Like the Baylor Bears

For most people, eating like a football player would be unhealthy.  However, reproducing the Baylor Bear’s uniform colors on your plate might help your eyes.  Baylor University’s colors are dark green and yellow, and vegetables that are these colors contain important nutrients that protect the macula from sun damage.  Spinach and other dark greens, as well as pumpkins, carrots, yams, egg yolks and yellow peppers all contain essential nutrients.  Specifically, they have lutein, zeaxathin and beta-carotene.

Sacrifice Your Breath for Your Eyes

Eating foods that give you bad breath, such as onions and garlic, can help your eyes’ lenses.  These foods have sulfur, lecithin and cysteine.  Capers and shallots also have these nutrients, and they do not have the side effects of garlic and onions.

Go Fishing…In Cold Water

Cold water fish have several fatty acids, including DHA.  DHA helps all cell membranes, including those in the eyes.  Salmon, sardines, cod and mackerel all have DHA.  In addition to DHA, many of these fish have omega-3 fatty acids, which are regarded as another healthy fat.

Sleep

People sleep because their bodies need rest, and eyes are part of the body.  Eyes benefit from sleep, just as every part of the body does.  Even though they move rapidly at the advanced stage of sleep (the REMS cycle), aiming for at least seven to eight hours of shuteye a night can help the eyes.

Take Breaks During the Day

Many people work on computers for most of their day.  Even those who use a computer sparingly can easily spend several hours on one each day.  Taking a break every hour can help ease the strain on one’s eyes.  People should be intentional about periodically looking away from their computer screen for several minutes.

Exercise the Eyes

Like any muscle, eyes can benefit from exercise.  Warming them with one’s palms, after rubbing the palms together, can help the eyes relax.  Rolling them several times clockwise and counterclockwise is also helpful.  The eyeball should not be massaged, but the temples can be gently massaged.  Finally, focusing on a specific point while it moves toward and away from your eyes is good.  Try holding your finger out at arm’s length, focusing on it and moving it towards your nose.  Then move it back out and repeat.

These are some suggestions for naturally maintaining one’s eye sight.  In some cases, they might help improve vision or delay age-related vision problems.  In every case, they make one’s eyes happier.

Jamie Lechler writes for EZContactsUSA, which helps people find the right contacts.  More information about vision-related health is available here.

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