The holiday season is a time of joy, cheer, and food, food… FOOD! For many of us, we use the holidays as an excuse to ignore our diets and indulge in all the yummy feasts and treats that make the holiday season just that much merrier. So, to help with any guilt that you may feel while indulging in all that amazing food, we’ve come up with a list of some Christmas food staples and how they are good for your vision and healthy eyes!
Christmas Snacks! – Nuts For Omega and Healthy Eyes
Along side Santa and frosty, another iconic Christmas character is the Nutcracker. Could this be because there always seems to be an abundance of nuts to snack on during the holiday season? Well, when it comes to snacking nuts are a great choice and helping promote healthy eyes! Nuts, especially walnuts, pack a powerful punch in the department of omega fatty acids. Omega fats are a great health benefit for eyes. Studies suggest that Omega fatty acids help to protect the eyes from different eye conditions such as macular degeneration, glaucoma, and dry eye syndrome.
The Christmas Turkey – Zinc For Healthy Eyes!
When is comes to the most common Christmas feast staple food, the turkey would have to make the top of the list. Turkey is not only delicious and filling but it is also a great source of the mineral zinc. Zinc plays an important role in the health of your macula (part of the retina of the eye, responsible for fine detail). It also helps to create the pigment, melanin – which protects the eyes.
If you’re not a fan of turkey, no problem beef, lamb, scallops, and shrimp are also great sources of zinc!
So Many Side Dishes – So Many Vitamins
What Christmas feast isn’t complete without all the trimmings? When it comes to side dishes and healthy eyes, your best bet is to pass on the stuffing and load up on the vegetables. Green vegetables such as brussels sprouts and broccoli are a good source of lutein and zeaxanthin. Lutein and zeaxanthin are nutrients that aid in the health of your macula. It is important to keep the macula healthy, as it is responsible for fine detailed central vision. Other vegetables side dishes such as carrots and butternut squash are excellent sources of vitamin A!
Mmmmm…. Don’t Forget The Desert
If you have any self control at all, you’ll make sure to save some room for supper for some popular holiday deserts. Pumpkin pie is a great desert choice, as 1 cup of pumpkin contains over 200% of the daily recommended intake of Vitamin A. Vitamin A helps your eyes protect themselves against viruses and bacteria.
If you’re not a fan of pie… and cheesecake is more your fancy – checkout our Pumpkin Cheesecake Recipe that we posted earlier in the fall. It’s out of this world!!!
Beverages
When it comes to drinks during the holiday season, cranberry juice is another great option when considering it’s benefits to eye health. Cranberries are a good source of anthocyanin. Anthocyanin helps to improve blood flow to the retina, by acting on the eyes tiny capillaries. This helps to improve eyesight and fight certain types of degeneration within the retina.
When selecting a cranberry juice, opt for a juice instead of a cocktail, as cocktails usually have a lot of refined sugars added to them!
So this holiday season when you sit down at your Christmas feast, don’t feel guilty for your waistline… but rejoice in all the healthy benefits you’re giving your eyes!!! You do only have two of them, and we want them to last you a lifetime!
Article Written By: Trina Vanaalst