The Beauty Behind Our Eyes: Can You Eat Your Way To Healthier Vision?

I don’t know about you, but the first thing that I tend to notice about a person is their eyes. I find that a person’s eyes tell me a lot about who they are – after all the eyes are the window to the soul. Just by looking at a person’s eyes, I notice things like attractiveness, if they are sad or smiling eyes, radiant or dull, tired or awake, youthfulness or if they are showing their. Being a beauty maven, it will come as no surprise that can’t help but notice and admire fabulous eye make-up, like a stellar cat eye

or a perfectly sultry smoky eye

When I was younger, I really only thought about my eyes on a surface level and gave very little thought to eye health. However, as I have gotten into my forties my vision has started to change, in fact it can even fluctuate from day to day (which was scary at first.) These changes have gotten me to literally ‘take a closer look’ at the things that I can do to improve the health of my eyes.

Since I recently began a healthier eating/wellness journey, the first place I started to look was at the food that I’m eating and how it can impact my eyes. The question I started to ask was: Can I eat my way to healthier vision? In order to answer this question, I sought out the expertise of the American Refractory Surgery Council (ARSC & my partner on this blog post), an organization that is way more informed than me on this topic and I wanted to share my interesting discoveries with you.

First of all, one of the most surprising things that I learned during my research was this: If you already have an existing vision problem and wear glasses or contacts to correct the vision you were born with,  there is no amount of healthy food that you can eat to correct your vision and get rid of glasses.

However, while healthy foods cannot correct your vision, current research has shown that a healthy diet can help slow down the effects of aging on the body – including the eyes. In other words, if you eat foods that have been shown to slow down the aging process at the cellular level, these healthy foods may contribute to longer lasting clear vision. I like the sound of that – healthy foods can preserve your health and vision.

So what foods should you be eating more regularly, if you want to impact the longevity of your health and vision? I uncovered three food groups that can potentially have a positive impact on the health of your eyes and the longevity and clarity of your vision, and they include

• Antioxidants – Think vibrant colored fruits and vegetables like blueberries, strawberries, kale, spinach, beets and green tea. All of these beautiful hued foods contain antioxidants which are nutrients that can help protect your cells from stress and wearing out. When it comes to your eyes, studies have shown that antioxidants can both lower the risk and slow the progression of the two leading causes of age-related vision impairment: Macular degeneration and cataracts.

• Omega-3 Fatty Acids – Think fresh and wild caught fish, walnuts, almonds and avocados – personally some of my favorite incredibly satiating foods! Eating a diet rich in Omega-3 fatty acids can help protect against dry eye syndrome and macular degeneration. There is also some evidence to suggest that eating Omega-3 rich foods may help maintain proper fluid levels in the eyes, which helps decrease the risk of glaucoma.

• Carotenoids – Think gorgeous orange hued foods like carrots, pumpkin, yams, and orange peppers. These foods are packed with beta carotene and their pigment molecules have the ability to absorb the harmful energy of blue and ultraviolet light which has been shown to cause damage to your eyes and can potentially cause macular degeneration and cancer in some people.

Interesting information, right? So basically to recap: We learned that healthy foods like those mentioned above can help prolong clearer vision, but they cannot correct it. And the only way to truly correct and improve your vision is by wearing contacts, glasses or considering vision correction surgery like LASIK.

On behalf of the ARSC, I wanted to wrap up this post by sharing some of the latest facts about LASIK as well as debunk a few of the most commonly held myths about this transformative procedure:

• FACT: LASIK is a safe and effective option in vision correction. It can correct the vision you have today, but it doesn’t prevent the changes to your vision that happen as we age

• Myth: LASIK is the same today as it was when it first came out 20 years ago
  FACT: There has been a tremendous amount of innovation since LASIK was first introduced in the 1990s. Today, two lasers are used – not just one – to complete the procedure, which is driven by high-definition data about your eyes and vision prior to the procedure

• Myth: You can’t have LASIK if you have astigmatism
  FACT: The result of all of the tech advancements in LASIK and other vision correction procedures is that more people and different kinds of vision prescriptions can be treated than ever before. The fact is, LASIK is now approved to treat people with astigmatism

• Myth: LASIK is so standard these days, it’s easy to find a good deal
  FACT: LASIK is incredibly popular – so much so that many people THINK they know everything there is to know about it. Many new LASIK technologies and techniques have been introduced in the past few years that deliver important benefits in both safety and visual outcomes. However, although you may want the best for your eyes, it is natural to want a good deal/to save money when looking into LASIK treatment – “bargain” vision correction surgery isn’t in your best interest!

To find out more information and get all the answers to your questions about LASIK and other refractive surgery procedures please visit

www.americanrefractivesurgerycouncil.org

Disclosure: This post is sponsored by the ARSC, however all opinions and beautiful green eyes and glam lashes are my own.