So far we have focused on stress reduction, symptom awareness, and actively participating in your body’s feedback from your individual vision demands.
Now that we are increasingly beginning to focus on controlled (positive) stress to influence rod and cone growth, corneal shaping and ciliary muscle plasticity, providing your body with some nutritional support is important. Instead of taking this opportunity to sell you a supplement, we will provide pointers on nature’s best source of the supplements your eyes will need.
Really it is only one ingredient (for now): Carrot juice.
We will be using carrot juice primarily for the beta-carotene. Beta-carotene is of course also available in supplement format, but supplements are not properly regulated in many countries, so we can’t really be sure what’s in those capsules at all times. Carrots contain other nutrients we also look for, and the ‘dosage’ is just about ideal. Pre-bought carrot juice will *not* work for our needs. With sources unknown, likely poor quality conventional carrots, pasteurization, etc etc it is not a source for our needs. We need to start with real carrots. You will want a juicer, a number of inexpensive choices exist. If you do not currently own a juicer, do not make a large investment … you may never use it for much more than a few carrot sticks a couple of times per week.
Expect to spend less than 40 Euro, drop us a line if you need suggestions. The best carrot is the one from a local farm. Co-ops are fantastic. Depending on your location, season, and time available, this may or may not be a choice for you. Alternately, organic carrots are our recommendation. Avoid conventionally grown carrots. Carrots are like sponges in the ground, and conventional carrots contain more pesticides than may be safe to consume.
Take a look at this link if you’re tempted to skip the ‘organic’ recommendation: http://www.whatsonmyfood.org/food.jsp?food=CR Further, the fertilizers used in conventional growing yield a smaller net of nutrients, rendering our dosage recommendations ineffective. Look for deep orange to red carrots (most beta-carotene). Avoid broken or limp carrots. Do not store with fruits, and of course fresh is important. Do not peel organic carrots. The outer layers are very nutrient dense.
We also like the carotenoids (an antioxidant), manganese, niacin, potassium, vitamin B6, and vitamin C content of carrots. It eliminates the need (in many cases) for supplements for this stage of our myopia rehabilitation project. Dosage: More is NOT better! Carrot juice is quite high in fast soluble sugars. We do not recommend sugar in your diet in general, as such it is best to not exceed the recommended juice quota. One cup will yield about 20,000 mcg of beta carotene and 10,000 mcg of alpha carotene, more than enough for our purposes. Drinking much more juice will strain your liver and not further help your eyes. We recommend having the drink within an hour of having had a source of omega-3 fatty acids. Fish, ground flax seed, or supplements if you feel strongly about their quality will be good.
Action Items
Start out with a few times per week, or just whenever you can. No need to be militant or make significant dietary changes.
After a few weeks if you can just get it once or twice a week, it’ll do just fine!
I just saved you a bunch of money on silly eye vitamins. 😉 As I mention often in the blog, those things don’t work. I’ve tried them and tested on dozens of clients over the years. You know how, right? Centimeter variations. Are there any? Nope!
And truth be told, the changes in centimeter from carrots are also rather small, for the average person. But they are there, and some see greater gains than others. To play it safe, get those carrots into your diet.
Cheers,
– Jake
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