“Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food”- Hippocrates
Eating a balanced diet filled with the proper vitamins, antioxidants, and omega-3 fatty acids will go a long way to reduce the risk chronic eye disease like macular degeneration, glaucoma, dry eyes, and premature cataracts. There’s no substitute for the quality-of-life good vision offers. Adding certain nutrients to a diet every day—through foods and supplements—can help save the patient’s vision. Specifically in relation to Age Related Macular Degeneration, a large human clinical trial was performed called the Age-Related Eye Disease Study (AREDS2) by the National Eye Institute Researchers, linked lutein and zeaxanthin, omega 3, vitamin C, vitamin E and zinc to reducing the risk of AMD.
Our eyes are connected to the vasculature in our body. In fact, the eye is an organ! Eye health is a window to overall health, and it is important to know what you are eating. This means understanding WHERE the food is coming from, WHAT is in the food, and HOW is it grown and regulated. Other factors like decreasing stress, increasing sleep, exercise, decreasing screen time and social media, meditation and maintaining meaningful relationships with our loved ones have been scientifically proven to play just as (if not more) of an important role to our health.
Dr. Yousef has a Bachelor of Science degree in Nutrition and is a member of the Ocular Nutrition Society formed by the American Academy of Optometry. It is her passion to spend time with patients and getting to know their lifestyle and health. Many systemic diseases like diabetes, hypertension, high cholesterol, heart disease, cancers can affect vision.
HEALTHY DIET: most medical associations recommend a Mediterranean-style diet to prevent and lower adverse health risks. Foods that contain MSG, recombinant growth hormone, pesticides, and artificial sugars, directly correlate to many diseases, neurological conditions, and cancers. There are many different names for MSG and artificial sugars on labels. Learn them all to avoid them.
VITAMIN AND SUPPLEMENTS: understand these are most beneficial as a supplement to a healthy diet. Hence the name “supplement”. Ingredients in vitamins do not reverse a poor diet.