A Recipe for Healthy Eyes

By Larry Oz

Age-related macular deterioration affects the part of the eye responsible for central vision, leading to progressive visual loss and doing every day tasks like recognizing faces, reading, driving and doing detailed work difficult. You are more likely to develop the disease in case you have a family member with this condition, are a smoker, have light colored eyes, are older, are female, or have heart disease. The antioxidant nutrients vitamin C, beta-carotene, zinc, lutein, and vitamin E hold promise for halting the progression of early macular degeneration.

A healthy eating habits could be the most important aspect in building, supporting, maintaining, and also improving vision. Although there is no single diet that is perfect for everyone, specialists agree with the fact that a healthy diet high in vegetables is essential for eye wellness. Choose to help make each meal an opportunity for enjoying more vegetables (preferably organic). Steam, stir fry, or simply eat them raw.

In a perfect world, we would get all of our vitamins from food. On the other hand, advanced farming methods and the depletion of nutrients in soil often results in fruit and vegetables having drastically less minerals and vitamins than they used to, when everything was 'organic'. Foods sold and labeled as organic nowadays have a tendency to have more iron,vitamin C, phosphorus and magnesium and less of the harmful nitrates and other residues from pesticides.

However, not everybody has all set access to organic food, or the money to buy it for the whole family. Hence, vitamin supplements are a great choice to help us get our missing nutrients.

Here is a list of the top 6 phytonutrients ,vitamins and herbs to help alleviate the problem of dry eyes, sore and sustain good vision:

1. Bilberry - is a herb used for both gastrointestinal and eye health. The productive ingredients are called anthocyanosides, which are a type of flavanoid. Anthocyanosides are antioxidants that help improve the flow of blood through the capillaries in eyes. They help eyes adjust quickly to variations in light, and enhance sharpness of vision.

Bilberry has also been presented to be helpful in stopping the development of cataracts when consumed with vitamin E. It is also used to treat diabetic retinopathy, and macular weakening.

2. Vitamin A - Vitamin A is important for good night vision, and may perform a role in stopping cataracts.

3. Grapeseed - Grapeseed is great for the peripheral circulation in our eyes. It also strengthens the capillaries.

4. Eyebright - Eyebright makes a great eye home solution. Steep it in hot water to let the herb infuse, then get rid of the herb and cool the excess liquid. You could place it in the freezer to cool it down easily if you don't have any infused eyebright on hand in the fridge. Once its cool, use it as an eye bath, or a compress. It is great for sore eyes, and has an anti-inflammatory and soothing action.

5. Omega 3 Fatty Acids - Study from Harvard Medical school has found that taking omega 3 oils minimizes the possibility of getting dry eyes. Try taking 3 to 6 grams of a great quality fish oil supplement daily. Researches showed that eating more long chain omega-3 fatty acids was associated with a drastically lower risk of macular weakening amongst people with a lower-than-average consumption of linoleic acid (an omega-6 found primarily in nut and seed oils). Those who ate one to two servings of nuts each week lowered their macular degeneration risk by 35%.

6. Lutein - Lutein is one illustration of a kind of plant nutrient known as carotenoids. Better known examples add beta carotene and alpha carotene. Carotenoids are liable for giving fruit and vegetables their unique colors, and the brightness of a fruit or vegetable is a good sign of how much carotenoids it has in it. Those with a rich color have a higher concentration.

Lutein, beta, and alpha carotene are converted by the body into vitamin A. And lutein is discovered in very high concentrations in the macula of the eye. Lutein is used to help prevent macular degeneration, which is a big problem for people over 40 years of age. Macular degeneration can lead to blindness. Lutein is thought to work as an antioxidant in this capacity.

Other solutions for dry eyes add soaking chamomile tea bags and putting them on both eyes when they're cool. Chamomile helps reduce redness and swelling around the eye. Iced milk can also be used on a shrink for sore eyes. Soak cotton wool or gauze pads with very cold milk (the coolness helps narrow blood vessels), and the fat in milk is very soothing for dry skin.

Get a lot of dark, green leafy vegetables like spinach, kale, collards and chard in your body. Beyond dark greens, go for colored vegetables, including carrots (orange), squash (yellow), beets (red), and red cabbage (purple). Colors indicate phytonutrients, numerous of which are antioxidants and eye-specific nutrients in a position of supplying super nutrition for your eyes. Fruits can help vision, too. Select dark fruits that are high in antioxidants like blueberries and blackberries, as well as dried fruits like raisins and prunes.

Drink carrot juice and fresh organic vegetable juices:

You likely have heard that carrot juice is great for the eyes. Carrot juice works extremely well for this purpose, partly by supplying large amounts of provitamin-A beta-carotene. Get a quality juicer and make at least 16 oz of juice every day. While you are making carrot juice why not add some spinach leaves, beets, celery stalks, parsley greens, or cucumber pieces into the mix?

Fresh vegetable juices truly are the #1 way to improve vision. After my 5 day juice fast my vision improved so much that I was able to stop wearing glasses and used just reading glasses sometimes.

Superfoods for stronger vision:

For boosting core nutrition that helps superb vision, the best foods are superfoods. Superfoods add goji berries, chlorella, spirulina, nutritional yeast, chia seeds, and other foods. Superfoods provide greater quantities of nutrients than are typically found in foods. For example, chlorella provides a large amount of chlorophyll, but also offers essential fats, nucleic acids (DNA and RNA), and vitamins.

As always please check with your physician before adding or changing anything that might have an effect on your current treatment.