Your eyes as a part of your body benefit from a healthy lifestyle and diet. Find out which food helps you to keep your eyes healthy and fit.
Remember when your mother used to tell you to eat carrots because they were good for your eyesight? Well it turns out she was right! Carrots contain vitamin A and certain carotenoids, all of which are essential nutrients for the health of your eyes. What else you should eat for healthy eyes?
A/Beta-carotene
This nutrient helps keep the eyes healthy by preventing night blindness, and is probably the most important ingredient for healthy eyes. Just half a carrot a day will provide you with your daily recommended dosage of vitamin A. Other foods rich in vitamin A are cod liver oil, sweet potatoes, liver and butternut squash.
Vitamin C
This water-soluble vitamin is a component of most tissues in the body and is essential to the eyes. As a super antioxidant, it also fends off damaging free radicals and protects cells, thus helping to prevent some eye diseases. Papayas, orange and grapefruit juices, strawberries, raw green peppers, tomatoes and cauliflowers are packed with this precious vitamin.
Vitamin E
Like vitamin C, this fat-soluble vitamin is a powerful anti–oxidant for the protection of eye health against eye illnesses like cataracts and age–related macular degeneration (AMD). Almonds, safflower and corn oils, mangoes, hazelnuts, turnip greens, pistachio nuts and peanuts are all rich in vitamin E.
Carotenoids
Carotenoids refer to the natural plant pigments, and provide the vibrant colours found in the vegetables and fruits we eat. Lutein and zeaxanthin are just two of the many varieties, and are thought to protect the eyes from deterioration and diseases. Lutein can be found in foods like spinach, butterhead lettuce, savoy cabbage, broccoli, fresh peas, and many yellow or orange fruits and vegetables, while zeaxanthin can be found in orange peppers, corn and some leafy greens like kale, collard greens, spinach and turnip greens.
Zinc
An essential mineral found in practically every cell of the body, zinc keeps the body, especially the eyes, healthy. You can find zinc in a wide variety of foods, including red meat, poultry, oysters, chicken, baked beans, yoghurt, milk, cereals and mixed nuts.