Do you eat with your eyes or for your eyes?
Truth be told, we all are attracted by the way food looks to us. If it looks particularly appetising we will most probably eat it, regardless of whether it’s actually good for us. It’s what the food industry uses as a very powerful marketing tool.
But that’s not really what we are concerned with here. The question we really want to consider is whether we are eating a diet that supports the health of our eyes now and into the future. I read somewhere from a professor of optometry that ‘once disease starts, it’s like slowing down a moving locomotive.’ Prevention is certainly better than cure.
So what’s the problem with our average diet?
It is packed with saturated fats, refined grains and sugar, unnecessary calories, additives and salt – the foundations of our ultra-processed modern diet. Ready-to-eat store-bought foods are essentially unbalanced right from the outset, and fast foods are, frankly, worse.
Of course, we don’t just eat for our eyes in isolation! What we eat has an impact on our health generally, and eye health is a subset of a healthy body. Chronic health issues such as diabetes, hypertension, and high cholesterol are all contributors to serious eye problems into the future, and need to be dealt with holistically. As you are no doubt aware, those are also related to our diets, so it all hangs together perfectly.
What might healthy eating look like? It’s the same old story. Eat more fruits and vegetables, whole grains, adequate protein and the good fats, and radically reducing saturated and trans fats, added sugar and salt and other additives.
Interestingly, many people claim that they do eat a wholesome diet – but when they actually take a log of their intake over a few days they are appalled by how badly they are really eating. Try it out for yourself!
The main course and the side dishes
We have just broadly discussed the general aspects of a good main course, meaning what our ideal diets should lean towards and eventually achieve.
The side dishes that I am referring to are supplements, designed to fill the likely nutritional gaps that can affect our eyesight adversely. Clinical trials have shown that supplements of certain vitamins (A, C ad E, for example), minerals such as zinc and copper, carotenoids such as lutein and zeaxanthin and omega 3 oils are very valuable. For example, they can reduce the risk of advanced age-related macular degeneration (AMD) by 25% over a period of 5 years. The early stages of AMD and other eye diseases such as night blindness, dry eye, cataracts, glaucoma and diabetic retinopathy can also be helped by means of the supplements.
Indeed, this is what Dr Gerson (Advisory board member of the USA Ocular Nutrition Society) says:
“If I’m talking to someone with macular degeneration, I talk to them about five things-four of which are no different than what any other doctor they see will talk to them about-weight loss, smoking, exercise and healthy diet, and then the one thing I’ll add is the importance of taking eye health supplements.”
These eye doctors, and others are discussing how important their role is in teaching their patients about good nutrition and important supplementation. That’s pretty amazing, and augers well for improved health into the future!
But we need not wait. We have the information and I can definitely tell you about supplements with a long-proven track record. Please get in touch if you are interested!
084 506 3643
andre.positiveoptions@gmail.com
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