Summer Foods That Can Better Your Eye Health

In the heat of the summer, fresh and healthy foods are all the more appetizing. Lucky for you, your eyes will agree! Summer is an ideal time to focus on ways to improve your eye health and protect your vision. Diet is an essential part of ocular health, so experimenting with and integrating new nutrient-dense foods and recipes into your diet this summer is a fun and easy way to ensure that your eyes are as healthy as can be.

Common Nutrients for Healthy Eyes

Vitamin C

Vitamin C plays a powerful role in eye health. This nutrient reduces your risk for cataracts and age-related macular degeneration (AMD) by neutralizing oxidative stress before it damages your eye lenses or retinas. The FDA-recommended amount of Vitamin C for your diet is 90mg for men and 75mg for women.

Fresh Summer Foods With Vitamin C:

Strawberries & blueberries: These fruits help to protect your eyes from damage, help support your cornea structures, and lower your risk for cataracts.

Citrus fruits (oranges, grapefruit, lemons): Citrus fruits help to keep your eye tissue structurally sound and protected from damage.

Kiwis: Kiwis become more available in the summer and contain even more Vitamin C than oranges.

Melon (cantaloupe): Melon helps to protect your eyes from cellular damage.

Peaches & apricots: These stone fruits help to protect your eye tissue and cell strength.

Tomatoes: Tomatoes help to protect your eyes from light and stress damage.

Bell peppers: Red and green bell peppers help to protect blood vessels from damage.

Lutein

Lutein improves and sometimes prevents AMD, protects your eyes from harmful blue light, balances stress molecules in your body, helps with glare recovery, and can increase your comfort levels when driving at night.

Fresh Summer Foods With Lutein:

Greens (romaine, kale, spinach): Leafy greens help to protect your retinas and filter out harmful blue light.

Summer squash: Summer squash helps to filter out blue light, which decreases the risk of AMD and cataracts.

Green beans: The lutein in green beans helps to protect your retinas by acting as an internal “sunscreen” for your eyes.

Broccoli: Broccoli helps reduce eye inflammation and helps protect your retinas while also working to protect you from cataracts and AMD by filtering out blue light.

Corn: Corn helps protect your eyes from blue light damage by internally filtering blue light out.

Omega-3 Fatty Acids

Omega-3 Fatty Acids can help reduce the risk of and treat the symptoms of dry eye syndrome and other eye diseases, such as AMD and glaucoma. They do this by improving tear film quality, preventing inflammation, maintaining cell structures, and combating oxidative stress.

Fresh Summer Foods With Omega-3 Fatty Acids

Fish (salmon and tuna): These types of fish help to keep your retinas structurally sound.

Flaxseed oil: Helps prevent eye inflammation, supports better tear production, and reduces stinging, burning, and redness.

Walnuts: Walnuts help to keep your eye cells from getting damaged as you age and help reduce eye inflammation.

Chia seeds: Chia seeds lower your risk for AMD, cataracts, and dry eyes by helping to protect your retinas and enhance tear production.

Summer Recipes for Healthy Vision

These nutrients and ingredients can be easily incorporated into your diet. Here are several examples of easy and fun summer recipes that double as eye health enhancers.

Salads: Salads are a simple and effective way to combine several ingredients that support your eye health. You can combine various fruits and vegetables and sprinkle walnuts and flaxseed oil as a topping.

Grilled tuna and salmon: Grilling tuna, salmon, and other fish is a delicious way to get nutrients for your eyes.

Salsa: A simple salsa made with fresh fruit or vegetables like tomatoes and corn will help you fuel your body with Vitamin C and Lutein.

Smoothies: Packing refreshing smoothies with a mix of fruits and vegetables is an ideal way to support your eye health through various nutrients.

The foods and nutrients in your diet ensure that your eyes can stay healthy and happy for as long as possible. We recommend mixing and matching different foods to create a balanced and stable diet. Focus specifically on fruits and vegetables, fish, and nuts to give your eyes maximum strength. Healthy eyes lead to a better quality of life and allow you to enjoy all of your favorite things on a daily basis.

Better Vision New Jersey’s team of experienced eye care professionals can help you keep your eyes healthy. To learn more about how to tailor your diet to strong eye health, call (908) 276-3030 to schedule an eye exam today.