Eyes are particularly prone to fatigue and aging from overwork. Taking breaks, doing eye exercises, and eating colorful foods like yellow, orange, red, purple, and green are good habits for protecting your eyes. This provides the best defense against aging and keeps your eyes beautiful! Here are some categories of eye-friendly foods...
Orange: Recommended foods are carrots and pumpkin.
The top recommended food is the carrot, which is rich in beta-carotene. Beta-carotene acts like natural eye drops, as it can be converted into vitamin A in the human body, helping to maintain the cornea's lubrication and transparency, and promoting eye health. Furthermore, it helps prevent cataracts and night blindness and protects the fiber part of the eye's lens. Other orange-red foods rich in beta-carotene include pumpkin, sweet potatoes, mangoes, citrus fruits, papayas, etc. The more orange the color, the higher the carotene content.
Yellow: Recommended foods are egg yolks, nuts, and whole grains.
The eyes' work requires the participation of many enzymes and a large supply of nutrients. B vitamins and vitamin C are essential for eye function. Vitamin B2 is known as the "beauty vitamin." A deficiency can cause the eyes to be sensitive to light, tear up, and have red lines in the whites, making clear, beautiful eyes impossible to achieve. Vitamins B6 and pantothenic acid can also help relieve eye fatigue. Vitamin B2 is a nutrient that people in China are often deficient in, so its supplementation should be given special attention. Egg yolks, as well as coarse grains and whole wheat foods like soybeans and oats, are rich in B vitamins and should be consumed more.
In addition, egg yolks contain lutein and zeaxanthin, which best protect the eyes from radiation damage and aging. Research has found that supplementing with zeaxanthin and lutein can shorten the human reaction time to strong light stimulation. After supplementation, people's vision recovery time is significantly shortened.
Dark Green: Recommended foods are leafy greens like spinach.
Green vegetables like spinach are rich in lutein, vitamin B2, and beta-carotene, which are very helpful in preventing cataracts. At the same time, leafy greens like spinach are rich in potassium, calcium, and magnesium, which can help increase the elasticity of eye muscles and prevent myopia.
In terms of preparation, these nutrients are not water-soluble, so it's fine to blanch them in boiling water or cook them for a short time. As long as the cooking is relatively fast and the temperature is not too high, it's okay. But never stir-fry them with used, heated oil, and do not let the oil get too hot or burn, because the beneficial compounds in green leafy vegetables cannot withstand the high temperatures that produce smoke.
Purple: Recommended foods are blueberries, mulberries, and purple cabbage.
Fruits like blueberries and mulberries are rich in vitamin C and anthocyanins. Among vegetables, purple cabbage is also a "major source" of anthocyanins. However, nutrients like vitamin E do not have a direct relationship with vision itself, but they can delay the aging of the eyeball's function, increase nutrition for the optic nerve, and prevent various age-related eye diseases. Furthermore, antioxidant components like zeaxanthin and anthocyanins also provide excellent protection for the eyes.