Whole Life Times: A Feast For the Eyes

March 2006 | Whole Health

A Feast For the Eyes

by Elizabeth Barker

By 2020, nearly three million Americans will develop one of the leading causes of blindness, according to the Eye Diseases Prevalence Research Group. To protect your baby blues (or browns, greens or hazels), seek out foods high in vitamin E (whole grains, eggs, nuts and seeds), zinc (poultry, fish and dairy), beta-carotene (carrots, kale and spinach), and vitamin C (citrus, green peppers and broccoli). A recent Journal of the American Medical Association study looked at the diets of more than 4,000 people over the age of 55, finding that those who ate above-average amounts of such nutrient-rich foods were 35 percent less likely to be diagnosed with age-related macular degeneration.

For even sharper eye health, also look to the antioxidant lutein. “Recent research clearly shows lutein’s positive effect on those at risk for macular degeneration,” says Wendell P. Wong, MD, medical director at TLC Laser Eye Centers in Torrance, who recommends getting your lutein from kale, collard greens, raw spinach, green peas and Brussels sprouts.

Mind Over Marlboros

Because willpower alone probably won’t snuff out your smoking habit, try playing a more strategic mind game against your cigarette of choice. Guided imagery—the practice of using visualization exercises to spur change in the brain and body—more than doubled the abstinence rate among smokers in a recent 71-person study from the Journal of Nursing Scholarship. After three weeks of imagining themselves as healthy and smoke-free, 10 of the study’s participants quit smoking and were still going strong two years later. But in the study’s control group, whose members received anti-smoking education and counseling sessions but did not practice guided imagery, only four people quit and remained abstinent at the two-year follow-up.

The guided-imagery group practiced their visualization exercises 30 minutes every day, with the help of the audio recording Stop Smoking–Health Journeys by psychotherapist Belleruth Naparstek. “Imagery affects physiological and psychological activities,” explains study author Christine A. Wynd, PhD. “These images appear real to the brain and nervous system, and they create the same behavioral and mental sensations as would an image from reality.”

Count Down to a Younger Heart

Counting calories may benefit more than your waistline. In a new study from the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, a group of 41- to 65-year-old adults who followed a low-calorie, long-term diet had unusually healthy hearts for their ages. Compared with 25 age-matched people who ate a “typical Western diet” (about 2,000 to 3,000 calories a day), the 25 study participants who took in only 1,400 to 2,000 calories daily had significantly better heart function. Members of the low-calorie group had been limiting their calorie intake for an average of six years prior to the study.

To cut calories without sacrificing nutrition, LA-based dietitian Emily Mitchell, RD, recommends choosing nutrient-dense foods. “For carbohydrates, go for 100 percent whole-wheat products, legumes and beans, and five servings of full-cup vegetables and fruits daily,” says Mitchell. “You should also get three sources of dairy (like yogurt, skim milk and low-fat cheese) and lean protein (skinless chicken or turkey, tofu, egg whites or all-natural peanut butter). And with calories that low, it’s important to reduce the number of times you eat refined carbohydrates such as white bread and sweets.”

Elizabeth Barker is a freelance writer living in Echo Park.

Recommend this page to a friend

Top Ten pages recommended to friends: