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Reduce Holiday Stress: Tips for Your Body and Mind

Holiday Cheer From Natural Eye CareMerry Christmas, Happy Hannukah, and Heri za Kwanzaa to all! The holiday season means celebrating and feasting with family and friends. However, the holidays can also stress out your body and mind. Natural Eye Care offers these health tips for the holiday season.

Healthy Eating Habits

  • Moderate the amounts of food you eat at one time. Eat slowly and pay attention to the savory taste. Be sure to chew. Avoid overeating.
  • Enjoy your desserts, but do not overindulge. Instead, first fill up with veggies and salad. Vegetables are nutrient-dense, low in calories, and high in fiber. They fill you up, which helps prevent overeating. Try to fill half your plate with veggies and protein. 

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Flu and Cold Season – Natural Ways to Stay Healthy

fluWintertime is when colds and flu are the most common. Why should we try to avoid these infectious diseases, and how? In addition to annual vaccines, what are some natural ways to stay healthy during cold and flu season? At Natural Eye Care, we see healthy eyes as part of a healthy body. This article references research that supports lifestyle, nutrition, botanicals, and supplements to fight colds and flu. Find out how to avoid getting sick, reduce the impact, and recover faster.
Each year, approximately 5 to 20 percent of Americans come down with the flu. Although most recover without incident, flu-related complications typically lead to at least 200,000 hospitalizations and between 12,000 and 60,000 deaths each year. People tend to recover from bacterial-related colds much more quickly than virus-related colds. Seniors and small children are especially susceptible.

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Corneal Health: Best Ways to Help Your Eyes

Corneal HealthThe cornea plays a crucial role in our vision. It is the transparent tissue at the front of the eyeball where light enters the eye. Approximately 65% to 75% of the refraction of light occurs in the cornea. The cornea also protects against external threats and harmful UV radiation. However, this vital part of our eye is constantly under siege. The cornea faces oxidative stress daily due to its high exposure to light and intense metabolic activity. The main culprit is ultraviolet radiation from the sun, which triggers the formation of Reactive Oxygen Species (ROS). These harmful free radicals can wreak havoc on the cells if not kept in check by antioxidants. While the cornea absorbs all UVC and most UVB rays, UVA rays are primarily absorbed by the lens.

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Edible Mushrooms: The Broad Range of Health Benefits

edible-mushroomsEdible mushrooms have a long history as both food and medicine. What are its health benefits? How can you safely enjoy mushrooms in food and as a supplement?

Studies have shown both in vitro and mammal studies to have potential roles in the prevention of many age-associated neurological diseases including Alzheimer’s Disease.1 Popular medicinal mushrooms include lion’s mane (Hericium erinaceus), reishi (Ganoderma lucidum), Sarcodon scabrosus, Antrodia camphorata, Pleurotus giganteus, maitake (Grifola frondosa), and many more.  For example, Reishi mushrooms help reduce inflammation.2

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Healthy Cells Mean a Healthy Body: Mitochondria Maintenance

mitochondriaKeeping our cells healthy is key to staying well and helping to prevent disease. Your 30 trillion cells each contain mitochondria, the cell’s tiny “battery” and energy source. The main cause of death worldwide is non-communicable diseases such as heart disease, strokes, diabetes, cancer, chronic lung diseases, and brain diseases, including Alzheimer’s disease and dementia. Anything you do to keep your mitochondria healthy can mitigate these diseases, potentially extending life and increasing the quality of life. We have talked about how mitochondria work in some of our previous articles. In this article, we will discuss the origins of mitochondria, lifestyle considerations, and symptoms of mitochondria disease. Also, we include a long list of foods, supplements and nutrients that support mitochondrial functioning.

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Nutrients That Support the Eyes and Brain: Sage & Goji Berries

Blog-Brain and VisionDid you know that your daily habits affect your eyes and brain? As our population ages, more effort is needed to support seniors’ eyes, brains, and overall health. Research shows that a balanced diet, regular exercise, meaningful social interactions, and targeted supplements can have a significant impact. Remember, your retina and optic nerves are essentially brain tissue, meaning the nutrients that nourish your brain also bolster your vision. Read on to discover some of the latest research in this field.

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A Healthy Diet Promotes Healthy Aging

What we eat earlier in life has a profound effect on long-term health and aging. Many studies confirm that eating a healthy diet and exercising regularly is essential to long-term health.

Multiple studies have found that proper nourishment can increase life expectancy. The biggest gains come from eating plenty of nuts and legumes, whole grains, fruits, vegetables. Also, indulging in less processed meat, red meat, sugar and refined carbohydrates has a significant positive effect. And, a large study showed that artificially sweetened soft drinks are associated with deaths from circulatory diseases.1

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Visual Detox – A Whole-Body Connection

visual detoxVisual detox refers to purifying the eyes of debris, toxins, and the effects of bad visual habits. Debris build-up can affect vision health and contribute to the onset of eye disease. These diseases can include eye irritation, effects on lacrimation related to dry eyes, glaucoma, and macular degeneration (AMD). Focusing too much on close-up computer screens leads to computer eye strain symptoms and reduces the free flow of energy to the eyes. As the eyes’ health is directly connected to whole-body well-being, we must look at detoxification from a whole-body perspective.

Other symptoms of toxin build-up can include ocular burning, watering, pain, and photophobia 1, conjunctivitis and corneal opacity.2

Whole-body toxicity symptoms can include:  Continue reading “Visual Detox – A Whole-Body Connection”

Macular Degeneration: Natural Approaches To Enhance Eye Wellness

Macular degeneration is also known as AMD, which is an acronym for “Age-Related Macular Degeneration.” It is the leading cause of irreversible blindness. Limited conventional treatments are available. However, natural remedies can go a long way toward reducing the risk of AMD onset. They can help prevent AMD from progressing to the point of vision loss. And, in many cases, lifestyle considerations and targeted supplementation can improve vision loss from AMD.

What is Macular Degeneration? 

AMD involves the gradual breakdown of cells in the macula, a small yellowish spot located near the center of the retina, which is crucial for sharp vision. This condition impacts central vision, affecting activities like reading, writing, driving, and recognizing faces. People with AMD may notice that straight lines appear distorted, clear shapes become fuzzy, lines look wavy, and a hazy area forms in the center of their vision. Typically, peripheral vision remains unaffected, except in severe cases where it can eventually lead to blindness.

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Food Combining Tips for Better Health

food combination better healthNot all foods play well together. Meat and Potatoes. Surf and Turf. Chicken with Rice. Sounds yummy, right? However, proponents of food-combining diets would not combine protein with carbs, and or mix different types of proteins. Food combining advocates believe that eating certain types of food in the same meal can lead to disease, toxin buildup, and digestive issues. They also believe that proper combinations can help relieve these problems.

Food-combining principles first appeared in the Ayurvedic medicine of ancient India, but they became more widely popularized in the mid-1800s under the term “trophology,” or “the science of food combining.”
The principles of food combining were revived in the early 1900s by the Hay diet. Continue reading “Food Combining Tips for Better Health”