It’s never too early to think about protecting your eyes against age related vision loss, like macular degeneration and glaucoma. I’m always looking through the medical literature to share with you uplifting, healthy, holistic ways to protect your health, so today I’m excited to tell you several holistic things you can do to protect and preserve your eyesight.
Simple things, like did you know there is a dried berry you can eat that has actually been shown to protect your eyes? Let me tell you about this study and other interesting studies on preventing degenerative eye disease, plus share with you two easy techniques — one that will protect you from cataracts and one that actually supports healthy blood flow all the way to your retina — that you can literally start doing today.
Do all four of these and you’ve protected your vision in a very healthy, natural way that will actually support the health of your entire body too, not just your eyes!
4 Totally Natural Ways To Protect Your Eye Health:
1. Eat a handful of dried goji berries daily
A medical study published in 2021 in Nutrients found that regularly eating a small amount of dried goji berries may help prevent macular degeneration and slow down it’s development, even if you already have it.
Age related macular degeneration affect more than 11 million folks in the US alone, making it one of the leading causes of vision loss (just behind cataracts) which means likely you know lots of folks that could use this important information.
In this study, participants who ate 1 oz (equivalent to a small handful) of dried goji berries five days a week for three months, actually increased the density of protective pigments in their retina. Not just preventing deterioration, but actually improving the protective health of the eye!
Participants who took an eye supplement with the same nutrients that are thought to be eye protective (lutein and zeaxanthin) for the same period of time did not have any increase in these protective pigments.
It’s believed that the naturally occurring lutein and zeaxanthin in the berries help protect the eye from blue light, similar to ‘sunscreen for your eyes” according to lead researcher Xiang Li.
It’s important to note that supplementing with these two nutrients through a capsule did not provide the same protective benefit as eating the actual dried berries, showing that if you can get nutrition in through whole foods, it is a superior way to support the body.
Even folks with healthy eyes can increase the density of protective pigments in their retina by consuming a handful of goji berries daily, so it’s never too early to protect your eyes with this whole food source of nutrients.
2. Filter fluoride out of your water
A medical study published in 2019 in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health found that fluoride exposure increased oxidative stress, impaired antioxidant activity, and contributes to multiple types of degenerative eye disease, including macular degeneration, cataract formation and glaucoma.
The authors of this study state that “reducing fluoride intake may lead to an overall reduction in the modifiable risk factors associated with degenerative eye diseases” and in fact go further to suggest that removing fluoride has other benefits… they “suggest a possible association between fluoride exposure and other inflammatory diseases.”
Well we do already know that fluoride is whole-body toxic.
It accumulates in bone and is associated with osteoporosis formation, is taken up by your cardiovascular walls and increases heart disease risk, is a neurotoxin and is linked to a decrease in IQ in children exposed to fluoride — that’s why you need to supervise children when brushing their teeth, to make sure they don’t swallow that toothpaste! It’s printed right on the label of all children’s fluoride based toothpastes, and for good reason.
You can read more about why I advocate for filtering out fluoride from your drinking water if you want to, by clicking over to one of these medical articles, in addition to the one I already shared above:
- Fluoride Lowers IQ
- Fluoride Uptake Into Cardiovascular Walls
- Meta-analysis: Fluoridation of Water Is Unsafe
What I suggest, even if you do want to brush with a fluoride toothpaste, is to make sure you are at least not drinking it. About 72% of United States citizens drink fluoridated water from the public water supply, according to a 2022 report by the CDC. That’s well over 2/3rds of us, drinking fluoridated water on a daily basis, adding this toxin to our organ systems whether we want to or not. I truly feel you should filter fluoride out of your drinking water and only use fluoride directly on your teeth for cavity prevention if you do want to use fluoride.
When selecting a fluoride water filtration system for your home, look for these features: made from stainless steel (no plastic, not even in the spigot!) removes fluoride, leaves crucial minerals (like magnesium) in the water, and is routinely laboratory tested. My personal favorite filtration system is made by ProOne — I don’t get any funding from ProOne, it’s just the system I use in my own home because after extensive research, it’s the one I feel works best.
3. Get Grounded Daily
Touching the earth, whether directly outside or though indoor grounding tools, boosts the health of your entire body, including your precious eyes.
Want to see it for yourself? In this documentary, you can literally watch a patient get grounded, through an indoor grounding tool, and how his retina responded with markedly better circulation — even re-perfusing the macula (which is almost unheard of!).
Even the retinal specialist was impressed with the results that grounding made, stating he had never seen that amount of improvement in blood flow to the macula before. The macula is perhaps the most important part of the retina, because it is responsible for sharp, central vision and for color perception.
Even though the patient in that film used an indoor grounding tool to be grounded, even easier is to directly touch the earth directly outside — you will be instantly grounded from head to toe. Touching one blade of grass, or one leaf on a tree is enough to ground your entire body, connecting you to the healing energy of the earth and putting your body immediately into a healing state.
You watch it for yourself for free on YouTube right here.
Of course I think everyone should go outside and touch the earth every single day — even when it’s cold, even if you have no yard, even if you live in a city, even when it’s hot as heck out there.
But I know that can be hard. I don’t have a backyard myself, I work crazy long hours, and I hate the cold too, so I have become very creative in getting my time on the earth each day in ways that are safe and accessible, year round.
I wrote an entire book dedicated to helping you figure out ways to get grounded directly to the earth too, no matter what the season and no matter where you live. It’s called The Earth Prescription and I’d love to sign a copy and send it right to you to help support your daily grounding routine:
The Earth Prescription (signed by Dr. Laura Koniver)
But as the documentary Heal For Free shows, you can receive similar benefits even while comfortably inside, using an indoor grounding tool. I believe these grounding tools should be non-toxic, eco friendly, hand made, and ethically crafted.
After all, if we are seeking health support from the earth, shouldn’t we make sure the tools we are using are earth friendly? That’s why I make organic grounding tools and offer them to you right here in my Eco-Ethical Grounding Boutique.
4. Wear Sunglasses During Peak Sun Hours
Reduce risk of developing cataracts, as well as slow development of them even if you already have some clouding of the lens (and that is all of us over 30 years old!)
Although I have written extensively on the health benefits of getting out in the sun — like boosting your lifespan, here — I do recommend protecting your eyes from UV exposure during peak sun hours (10 AM – 4 PM) while you are out in the sunshine.
That’s because cataract formation is a direct reflection of a lifetime of UV exposure, and although most people won’t begin to notice symptoms from cataract formation until after age 60, they actually start to form around age 40 and get progressively more opaque. We’ve known that UV radiation from the sun causes cataracts for a long time, for example, one study published in the New England Journal of Medicine in 1988 found that participants in the highest quartile of sun exposure had over 3 times the rate of cataract formation by an average age of only 53.
Ultraviolet rays break down a protein in the lens, causing oxidative damage and making them more cloudy. Sunglasses help by blocking UV radiation to the eye (and as a bonus may also protect the delicate skin around the eyes) which not only protects against cataracts, it also slow the rate of progression of the cataracts. So it’s worth wearing sunglasses starting now, even if you have not been wearing them earlier on in life… it’s never too late to decrease further lens damage by protecting against UV exposures.
When choosing sunglasses, choose ones that provide full 100% UV protection, which includes blocking UVA and UVB rays, as both types of UV rays have now been found to damage lens proteins. Although it was traditionally thought that it was the UVB rays that caused cataract formation, a study published in the Journal of Biological Chemistry in 2014 found that UVA rays also break down lens proteins contributes to cataract formation.
And keep in mind that darker lenses don’t mean they protects against UV exposures better, so be sure to choose sunglasses that are labeled as UV protective instead of going by how dark they are. Also try to select wrap around sunglasses, as these offer better protection by blocking UV rays from more angles and can reduce the amount of UV light that enters the eyes from the sides.
So here’s your new 4 step completely natural eye care Rx!
- Eat a small handful of dried goji berries routinely – they are even better than eye supplements!
- Filter fluoride out of your drinking water
- Ground to the earth — either indoors or outside — daily.
- Wear 100% UV protective eyewear while you are outside.
Enjoy this empowering, totally natural and holistic information to keep your body feeling it’s best, and protecting your eyesight for a lifetime!
xoxox,
Laura Koniver, MD
It has sold, but you can find lots of other healing artwork that I have personally created right here.