Preventative medicine and health care starts with proper diet. Eating the right foods regularly can help prevent things like Glaucoma and other eye issues. These are some foods that are easy to include in your diet for healthy eyes.
Rutin is known to help reduce pain and pressure inside the eyes. It is a type of flavonoid that acts is an antioxidant with free radical-scavenging effects and helps prevent oxidative damage associated with diseases like cancer and heart disease. Rutin is also attributed with anti-inflammatory and blood vessel-strengthening effects.
Although you can get high doses in foods like buckwheat, peels of apples and asparagus, most homeopathic professionals recommend small doses throughout the day. Sweet potato and dark greens are great choices! A better strategy is a daily supply of citrus fruits and their rinds, cherries, apricots, bell peppers and dark berries such as blueberries, blackberries and mulberries, or if you want NONE of the natural sugar that metabolizes in your body with these, a simple tea works best.
Rooibos, yerba maté or green tea taken daily is an easy way to get a regular supply of Rutin in your diet daily.
Vitamin A and Carotenoids help keep healthy eyes and to improve night vision. When you want to find carotenoids in food, look for those with yellow, orange, and red colors. You will find that foods of these colors are also high in vitamin A - think of the orange carrot, red tomato, yellow, orange and red bell peppers and other foods with color. Carotenoids fight free radicals too - the molecules responsible for aging. Although vitamin A can be found in many animal-based food products like milk, cheese and eggs, finding vegetables that also contain the carotenoids gets you both.
Carotenoids help the retina and eye tissue and sometimes reverses many eye conditions.
Ginkgo Biloba is said to increase the delivery of oxygen and nutrients to the eye and it clears toxins. I use this to help memory, but like the idea of it helping my eyes too. Ginkgo Biloba trees can live over 1,000 years - an interesting fact many don't know. Two components of this tree include flavonoids and terpenoids. Flavonoids are plant-based antioxidants, and studies have revealed that flavonoids protect the nerves, heart muscle, blood vessels, and retina from damage. Terpenoids aid blood flow by dilating the blood vessels and reducing the stickiness of platelets.
Besides helping you avoid Glaucoma and Macular Degeneration (the most common cause of blindness in the United States), using Ginkgo Biloba regularly helps you avoid Dementia, Alzheimer's disease and Intermittent Claudication. Ginkgo Biloba is primarily known as a Memory Enhancer, but with all these other benefits, it is an easy add to any supplement list.
Vitamin E with Zinc removes particles from the eye lens, helps keep your eyes stay healthy and may decrease your risk of cataracts and age-related macular degeneration. Many nuts and seeds are a great source.
Because vitamin E is a fat-soluble vitamin, it can accumulate in the body and potentially cause unwanted side effects if ingested in high quantities. For safety, the tolerable upper intake level of natural vitamin E (d-alpha-tocopherol) for adults is 1,500 IU. (This tolerable upper intake level for vitamin E was established by the Institute of Medicine within the U.S. National Academy of Sciences.)
Bilberry strengthens and protects veins and blood vessels, protects the retina, reduces pressure in glaucoma and can stop the growth of cataracts. It also helps treat diarrhea, scurvy, menstrual cramps, varicose veins, venous insufficiency (a condition in which the veins do not efficiently return blood from the legs to the heart), and other circulatory problems. The Bilberry leaf is used for entirely different conditions, including diabetes.
High doses or extended use of bilberry leaf or leaf extract are considered unsafe due to possible toxic side effects, so using the berries as a food is best.
Fennel used in the kitchen for salads or as a spice is also very good for vision problems. It has a distinct taste that can be used in a variety of ways to flavor your food. Besides helping you avoid anemia, indigestion, flatulence, constipation, colic, diarrhea, respiratory disorders, and menstrual disorders, it is also great for your eyes.
Fennel protects eyes from inflammation, disorders related to aging, macular degeneration, etc. due to the presence of anti oxidants like vitamin-C and Arginine, which are very beneficial for rejuvenation of tissues and prevention of aging. It also has detoxifiers and stimulants in it, more specifically in its essential oils and minerals like cobalt and magnesium.
Marijuana is known to help your eyes. Many studies have shown that marijuana can help reduce intraocular pressure, but it is unknown how marijuana achieves this result. It's a real shame there is such a stigma around this plant. It is being used very successfully for a variety of treatments for ailments in the form of food - you get more of the goodness out of this plant eating it than smoking it.
Marijuana facts: usage among teens is the same or less than it was during the Nixon administration over 40 years ago - the War On Drugs has not affected teen usage.
Sweet Heat Dip: If you like hot sauce or dips, I have created a nice sweet mix of many of the foods that help eyes, the heart, skin, etc. as a something that can be used daily and goes with almost anything including eggs, meat, green veggies, and anything that needs a little something extra. It is cooked and then blended puree, like a dip with no sugar added. It includes sweet potatoes for sweetness and other health benefits, tomatoes, onions, garlic, bell peppers and a variety of spices good for the immune system. For the heat, I add hot peppers. It is a great addition to any food routine. If you would like a copy of my short eBook on this recipe, which includes the fun little story behind it and variations of the recipe, feel free to contact me and I will send you a copy.
PS - Unlike Marijuana, these foods are still legal, but hopefully the irrational legal prohibition will end in my lifetime!
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