Diet makes a bigger difference than you think. In fact, your eyes need plenty of nutrients to function at their very best, even impacting the quality of your eyesight. So, let’s get into how diet can affect your eyes:
Cellular Damage and Oxidative Stress
Lacking essential nutrients and antioxidants like vitamin C and E leaves your eyes vulnerable to the effects of oxidative stress, AKA free radical damage. These molecules can contribute to eye conditions and even cause cellular dysfunction!
Weakened Structural Integrity
Your eyes need vitamins and minerals to maintain the structural integrity of various eye tissues. Your eyes have a very unique system that requires an adequate supply of nutrients to perform their best. Corneal degeneration, weakened blood vessels, eye twitching, can all be caused by this!
Reduced Defense Mechanisms
Your eyes need protection from environmental stressors (such as pollution), UV radiation, and oxidative damage. Lutein and zeaxanthin help protect your natural defense mechanisms, but deficiencies can make you more susceptible to damage.
Impaired Vision and Function
Your eyes function via a complex cellular network to capture and process visual information. Without proper nutrition, you may have trouble that results in issues like impaired night vision, reduced visual acuity, and even vision loss!
Increased Risk of Disease
Having an improper diet is linked to conditions like age-related macular degeneration, cataracts, dry eye disease, and diabetic retinopathy.
What to Avoid
In our world where ultra processed foods like hydrogenated oils are common, the lists of foods to minimize and cut from your diet are long. You’ll want to avoid inflammatory foods such as:
- Processed and ultra processed foods: chips, crackers, cured, smoked, and other deli meats including things like hot dogs.
- Deep fried foods create free radicals in the body which damage and destroy cells.
- High linoleic oils including safflower, sunflower, corn, rapeseed/canola, soybean, and sesame oil. Also avoid trans fats and hydrogenated oils.
- Sugary drinks: sodas are a sneaky one, but energy drinks and the like can raise blood pressure which can cause eye problems.
- Fast foods: skip the excess sodium, saturated fats, and calories.
- Margarine: though it’s higher in unsaturated fats, it contains trans fats which are a big skip.
- Alcohol: study after study shows alcohol offers minimal benefits to the body, and it is linked to cataracts and can cause blindness.
- Excess caffeine: your morning cup of joe may be raising your intraocular pressure!
- Simple carbohydrates: breads and pastas are linked to age-related macular degeneration and cause blood sugar spikes.
- Aspartame: found in artificially sweetened beverages, gum, and more, this ingredient is linked to blindness, vision issues, eye pain, dry eye disease, bulging eyes, and contact lens discomfort.
What to Incorporate into Your Diet
Simple, whole foods have kept humans healthy for generations. You can’t go wrong with a diet rich in fruits and vegetables. Making healthier choices is easy: swap processed grains for whole grains, incorporating foods like quinoa, brown rice, and whole-wheat pasta. Eat wild-sourced fish two to three times per week and make nuts and seeds like pumpkin a regular part of your diet. You can also easily up the greens in your diet by tossing spinach, kale, and collard greens into stir-fries, smoothies, and soups: a simple green juice never hurt!
Nutrients You Need
Let’s break down some essential nutrients necessary for optimal eye health functioning.
- Vitamin A: this essential, fat soluble vitamin prevents night blindness and is necessary for eye health. It is found in bell peppers, kale, carrots, and liver.
- Vitamin C: this antioxidant prevents free radical stress and supports blood vessel health. It’s notably found in citruses, kiwis, and broccoli.
- Omega-3 Fatty Acids: these fatty acids are crucial for maintaining healthy cell membranes, minimizing inflammation throughout the body, and keeping your tears healthy. Sources include fatty fish like sardines, mackerel, salmon, flaxseed, and nuts like walnuts.
- Lutein & Zeaxanthin: these carotenoids are natural pigments found in the retina and macula of your eyes, helping protect them from blue light damage and free radicals. You can find them in kale, parsley, spinach, broccoli, peas, and egg yolks.
Making Better Choices for Lasting Eye Health
It can seem difficult to incorporate all of these foods into your diet all at once. Start with the dry basics that won’t spoil easily like nuts and seeds and swapping out your grains. Then you can incorporate more fresh foods on a weekly basis. If you feel like your diet has gaps, supplements can help: ask [our team] about the nutrients in our eye-doctor approved brands!
