Friday, February 15, 2013

Food for Vision

Did you know that food and vision go hand-in-hand? Just as the foods you eat affect your heart, the foods you eat also affect your vision. 

The American Optometric Association (AOA) and registered dietician Elizabeth Somer have provided a list of heart-and eye-healthy recipes on the AOA website that will provide key nutrients for improving eye health.
 
The list of recipes include some delicious meals including seared tuna with orange, avocado and cilantro salsa, grilled chicken and mangos on baby greens, and whole wheat penne pasta with spinach and gorgonzola. These eye-healthy recipes are rich in fiber, iron, potassium, vitamin C, vitamin E, folate, and zinc.

A Vision Service Provider (VSP) network doctor, Leland Carr, OD says on the VSP website, “Eating carrots won’t make you see better than you already do, but there is a lot of truth in the idea that they can help protect vision. Carrots contain a lot of vitamin A, and there have been several studies recently showing that this vitamin – along with vitamins C and E – helps to reduce the impact of both cataracts and age-related macular degeneration (AMD).”

So our Moms didn't lie to us when we were kids,  carrots do help protect our vision.

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