Incoming search terms:

• healthy vegetable

Here are ten foods that will help maintain eye health and that may protect against cataracts, macular degeneration, and other eye problems.

Avocados
Avocados are one the most nutrient-dense foods that exist, so it’s no wonder they’re great for your eyes. They contain more lutein than any other fruit. Lutein is important in the prevention of macular degeneration and cataracts. They are also a great source of other important eye nutrients such as vitamin A, vitamin C, vitamin B6, and vitamin E.

Carrots
Carrots have long been recognized as an eye food due to their high levels of vitamin A.

Broccoli
Broccoli is a good source of vitamin C, calcium, lutein, zeaxanthin, and sulforaphane.

Eggs
Eggs are an excellent source of eye nutrients like vitamin A, zinc, lutein, lecithin, B12, vitamin D, and cysteine.

Spinach
Another great source of vitamin A, spinach also contains other important eye nutrients including lutein and zeaxathin.

Kale
Like spinach, kale is a good source of vitamin A, lutein, and zeaxathin.

Tomatoes
Tomatoes are high in vitamin C and lycopene, two important eye nutrients.

Sunflower Seeds
Sunflower seeds contain selenium, a nutrient that may prevent cataracts and promote overall eye health.

Garlic
Garlic contains selenium and other eye nutrients such as vitamin C and quercetin.

Salmon
Salmon is rich in omega-3 fatty acids, which are important for maintaining overall eye health. It also contains folic acid, vitamin D, vitamin B6, vitamin B12, and vitamin A.

Incoming search terms:

• are avocados healthy for eyes

1. What can I eat?

Unprocessed, preferably organic, whole foods such as:

• Fresh fruits and vegetables
• Nuts
• Seeds
• Beans
• Grains
• Legumes
• Dried fruit
• Seaweed
• Unprocessed organic or natural foods
• Freshly juiced fruit and vegetables
• Purified water
• Young coconut milk

At least 75% of food consumed should not be heated over 116 degrees F.

2. What cooking techniques are used?

Specific cooking techniques make foods more digestible and add variety to the diet, including:

• Sprouting seeds, grains, and beans
• Juicing fruit and vegetables
• Soaking nuts and dried fruit
• Blending
• Dehydrating food

3. What equipment can I use?

• A dehydrator, a piece of equipment that blows air through food at a temperature of less than 116 degrees F.
• A good-quality juice extractor for juicing fruit and vegetables
• A blender, food processor, or chopper to save time
• Large glass containers to soak and sprout seeds, grains, and beans
• Mason jars for storing sprouts and other food

Green leafy salads are a staple in our home. Why salads? According to Joel Fuhrman’s book Eat To Live the one food that research has shown is most highly associated with longevity is leafy greens….in other words salads. This may come as a surprise to you, but leafy green vegetables are the most nutrient packed foods available to us. Think about it, how do the giraffe, hippo, elephant, gorilla and cow get so big? Where do they get all the protein they need to create those big muscles? They get it from the leafy green vegetation they eat. All protein starts with the process of photosynthesis in green plants.

The added health benefits of green salads are that they are raw. To the leafy greens we use for our salad base we add lots more fresh raw vegetables. In Eat to Live, Dr. Fuhrman reports that a review of 206 studies showed raw vegetable consumption to be our strongest defense against cancer of any foods.

Making a Great Garden Salad

To make great salads you must start out with fresh produce, preferably organic. It’s the greens that are considered the powerhouse of nutrition, so include a variety of leafy greens in your salads. Green leaf, red leaf, romaine, spinach, kale…really any kind of greens can be added to your salad.

To your highly nutritious greens you can add a wide variety of raw vegetables. Make your salad colorful, fun and exceptionally nutritious by using all the colors of the rainbow. We love vegetables like carrots, beets, turnips, squash, sprouts, sweet potatoes, broccoli, bell peppers and red cabbage. But really, what ever you have on hand works well. To make your salad even more exotic try adding fruits, seeds, nuts and berries.

Preparing Your Green Salad

Food preparation is made easiest when you have the right equipment. First and foremost you must have a quality salad spinner to clean and dry your greens thoroughly. We found a great one at Bed Bath and Beyond. It’s large, spins and dries well and can be used to store your freshly prepared greens. You may find it convenient to prepare several days worth of greens at one time. That way, you can quickly throw some already cleaned leafy greens in a bowl and add a variety of raw veggies and “voila”, you have a fresh garden salad ready in no time.

Variety is The Spice of Life

Beyond the salad spinner a sharp knife is mandatory and a mandolin and a food processor are helpful to have as well. One of the ways to avoid salad boredom is by varying the veggies you put in your salad and by varying the cuts of the vegetables. Slicing, dicing, shredding them into different sizes, shapes and lengths makes your salads more appetizing. Another way you can add variety and maintain the health benefits of green salads is to use a variety of homemade salad dressings. Start with our basic vinaigrette dressings and then dress it up by adding things like ginger, garlic, mustard, herbs, Braggs amino acids or other favorite spices.

How Much Salad Should You Eat?

Sadly only 1 out of 100 Americans are eating enough nutrient dense raw vegetables to get the benefit of defending them against cancer. A good rule of thumb to use is making salads and raw vegetables your main course for lunch and dinner. Dr. Fuhrman recommends 1 large head a day per person or about 1 pound of greens. Personally, We eat about 2 large salads daily – the size of a dinner salad you would get at Chili’s or some other comparable restaurant. The bottom line is You can never eat too many greens and raw veggies. So fill up on them first and you will be on your way to better health and longevity.

Incoming search terms:

• salads
• healthy salad green
• leafy salads
• leafy greens
• BENIFITS FROM GARDEN SALADS
• healthy green salads
• helth benifits of a green salad
• how to make a colourful green salad
• leafy green

The health benefits of spinach are numerous and its ability to help prevent disease is well known. Spinach is at the top of many super food lists.

Spinach Nutrition

Spinach and other dark leafy greens like kale, collards, Swiss chard, turnip greens and bok choy are loaded with calcium, folic acid, vitamin K and iron.

Spinach is also rich in vitamin C, fiber and carotenoids. Add its lutein and bioflavanoids and spinach is a nutritional powerhouse.

Why Eat Spinach?

Spinach nutrition is amazing. The calcium content in spinach and the other dark leafy greens mentioned above strengthens bones.

The A and C vitamins in spinach plus the fiber, folic acid, magnesium and other nutrients help control cancer, especially colon, lung and breast cancers. Folate also lowers the blood levels of something called homocysteine, a protein that damages arteries. So spinach also helps protect against heart disease.

The flavonoids in spinach help protect against age related memory loss.

Spinach’s secret weapon, lutein, makes it one of the best foods in the world to prevent cataracts, as well as age related macular degeneration, the leading cause of preventable blindness in the elderly. Foods rich in lutein are also thought to help prevent cancer.

As you can see, the health benefits of spinach are numerous. The vitamins and calcium in spinach, combined with the overall nutritional value of spinach, make this vegetable and its dark leafy green cousins top picks for healthy food choices.

Fresh or frozen, add these greens to your food menu as often as you can.