Preserving eyesight

One of the most common questions heard by us is "What can I do with nutrition to improve my vision or prevent loss of eyesight." Indeed, loss of vision is the most feared disability, particularly when someone in the family has an eye problem or a 'high number'. Many of the problems that lead to visual loss are related to lifestyle choices. Whether your concern is a high degree of nearsightedness, cataract, macular degeneration or diabetic retinopathy, changing your lifestyle will make a difference.

Vision depends on a clear lens, the rich microcirculation to the retina, and the visual nerve cells of the retina called rods and cones. All of these can deteriorate with age, depending on exposure to toxins and oxygen free radicals, poor dietary habits, hardening of the arteries, and high blood pressure. Diabetes leads to retinal disease because of damage to the retinal arteries and to cataracts because of high blood sugar levels.

Preserving Eyesight - Start with Diet

First, eat a healthy diet with an emphasis on fresh vegetables and fruits, plus whole grains, beans, seeds, and nuts. The vitamins, minerals, essential fatty acids, and phytochemicals that they provide are important for overall health as well as the eyes. If you wish, add a small amount of organic, lowfat yogurt. For non-vegetarians organic eggs and a small amount of fish. Dairy products contain the milk sugar-lactose, a combination of two simpler sugars, glucose and galactose. Both glucose and galactose are converted to "sugar-alcohols," which can cause swelling of the human lens. They also attach to proteins that then deposit in the lens. Both the lens swelling and the sugar-protein deposits lead to cataracts.

To avoid these sugar-protein combinations, in addition to reducing milk-product consumption, it is wise to keep all added sugars out of the diet. This means avoiding those addictive sweets along with the sodas, cookies, pies, ice cream, and candy. An American-style diet is a prescription for disaster when it comes to your eyesight (and many other health issues). Staying with a mostly vegetarian diet of natural, unpro-cessed foods will help preserve the circulation to the retina, the rods and cones, and the lens.

Add Exercise for Circulation

Exercise regularly. It helps to maintain a low blood pressure and preserves the blood vessels (the retina is rich in small blood vessels). Exercising for 45 minutes lowers blood pressure for an additional 16 hours after finishing. Exercise also helps to support the health of the cells that line the arteries, called endothelium. These cells help relax the blood vessel muscle and maintain blood flow-another benefit is improved circulation to the heart through the coronary arteries.

Ultraviolet protection

The eyes are subject to a lot of oxidative damage to both the lens and the retina because they are exposed to ultraviolet light and a rich circulation of oxygen from the dense retinal capillaries. Protecting the eyes from too much sun exposure may help delay any degeneration of the lens and the retina. This does not mean avoiding all sunlight. Some sun exposure is healthy as long as it is in moderation. The action of sunlight on the skin is important for the production of vitamin D. UV-filtering lenses may provide some protection for the eyes, if they actually do what they claim. Our team can verify whether the UV-filtering lenses you wear are filtering UV light sufficiently.

Supplements that help the eyes

Many dietary supplements support eye health. They improve vision and help protect the macula (the area of the retina with the sharpest vision) and the lens. The usual antioxidants such as vitamins E and C, and the trace minerals selenium and zinc help the retina and the lens. Other helpful nutrients are the amino acid taurine, carotenoids such as beta-carotene, lycopene (found in tomatoes), lutein (from spinach), and the anthocyanosides (related to bioflavonoids) found in grapes. Lutein is present in the lens, suggesting an antioxidant role in prevention of cataract and macular degeneration.

A supplement program for eyesight

For a complete supplement program for the eyes, especially as you get older, we recommend starting with a comprehensive multivitamin and mineral diet. To that, add daily doses of vitamins C (at least 3000 to 4000 mg) and E (400 to 800 IU), lutein (10 to 20 mg), and lycopene (10 to 20 mg). It may be a good idea to take ginkgo biloba (120 mg of standardized extract), which helps the circulation in small blood vessels and has been shown to protect the retina.

Put this entire program together, and you are likely to maintain your vision well into advanced years, and you may well reverse some of the damage that has already been done.

Natural Remedies for Diabetes

Diabetes is a failure to properly metabolize sugar, specifically blood glucose. It results from either the reduced function of the pancreas, which produces insulin, or more commonly, from the inability of the cells to respond to insulin, called insulin resistance. Insulin is essential to move sugar into the muscles, where it can be burned for energy.

Adult onset diabetes (Type II) is almost always the result of poor health habits and being overweight. Insulin and oral medications are usually unnecessary if you exercise regularly, take your supplements and eat the right diet-high fiber, complex carbohydrates, low fat, and mostly vegetarian-these foods control blood sugar and provide essential phytonutrients.

Changes in diabetes include retinopathy, cataracts, hardening of the arteries, and diabetic neuropathy-nerve degeneration with numbness and tingling starting in the feet and legs. These changes can be treated and prevented with lifestyle changes and specific dietary supplements.

Even Type I diabetics can reduce their insulin doses with a complete approach to blood sugar management. However, medical supervision of diabetes is usually essential, and we do not recommend trying to manage diabetes by yourself.

Supplements for diabetes

Numerous supplements help diabetes. Unrelated to normal nutritional levels, it is often necessary to take high doses of the trace mineral chromium, up to 1000 mcg per day, to regulate blood sugar, because diabetics are resistant to its effects. Chromium improves insulin activity and lipid levels, and it is depleted by a fatty, sugary American-style diet that is now spreading around the world.

The essential fatty acid GLA (gamma-linolenic acid), derived from borage oil or primrose oil, can treat diabetic peripheral neuropathy. The typical dose is 240 mg, from 1200 mg of borage oil or 3000 mg of primrose oil.

The antioxidant alpha-lipoic acid [as little as 100 to 300 mg daily] might be adequate as a potent antioxidant. 600 mg will improve blood sugar control and 1000 mg daily can reverse diabetic neuropathy. These are in addition to your B complex, extra vitamins C and E, coenzyme Q10, minerals, and all the other nutrients that help eyesight.

Physical activity appears to confer benefits to post-menopausal women that go beyond just maintaining bone density. Women who get regular moderate to vigorous exercise more than four times a week are half as likely to get diabetes as those who do not exercise. Even less exercise, as long as it is regular, reduces the risk of diabetes. Of course, diet also helps by maintaining a normal weight, and high fiber helps to control blood sugar-even in those who are already diabetic, a vegetarian diet of unprocessed, high-fiber foods helps.