We hope everyone
will join us for the next scrumptious Pathfinder Produce market at the Village
Commons on Thursday, August 13, from 1 to 5 p.m. With so many fresh flavors, there’s no end of
dinner menu and snack ideas that you can share with your family.
****
For the past week or so, I’ve been thinking a lot about eyes and
how they function.
There’s a little back story first:
The left lens on my two-year old glasses, which I truly need to see
anything at all, had started to pop out at the most inopportune times. I tried to tighten the screw, dab on a little
super glue, etc., but nothing worked well.
I finally took the specs in for repair, but was a little dismayed that
the counter-help didn’t really do any more than I’d been doing already.
Well, about a week after the pseudo-repair, my family was enjoying
a summer picnic at a local lake, one with a very silty bottom. Of course, Murphy’s Law reared its ugly
head. I was enjoying the cool breeze, and
was just getting ready for a kayak ride.
That’s when the lens decided to take its final fatal plunge. The thick oozy mud quickly buried my expensive
piece of glass for all eternity.
So since that time, I’ve been relying on older pairs of glasses to
get through my days, keenly aware that my half-century-old eyes don’t see as
well as they did even four years ago.
The new glasses are on order, but the whole episode serves as a reminder
to never take one’s vision for granted.
There are things we should actively do to protect our eyes:
RULE NUMBER 1 is to wear
safety glasses, even if you don’t wear glasses, when you are doing activities
where there is a risk of flying debris, splashes, or sparks. Just yesterday, we
were doing lots of mowing and landscaping, and I was using the weed eater to
clear out an overgrown ditch. There were
times when small twigs and plant juices would rocket toward my face, and I was
mindful of how my larger protective glasses shielded my eyes and saved me from
further issues.
Nutritionally, you can improve eye health by making sure you get
lots of antioxidants in your diet, and it is definitely true that carrots and
other Vitamin A rich foods are helpful.
For a complete read on how best to help your vision, here’s an article from the Harvard Medical
School, which
suggests that eating right may prevent two common vision problems, cataracts,
and age-related macular degeneration, (vision loss in the part of the eye that
controls central vision).
There are other articles on the internet regarding eye health, and
how you can safeguard your eyes through better nutrition. And don’t hesitate to speak to your doctor or
other health care providers if you experience any changes in your vision … it
could just be “getting older” or it could also indicate that something else is
happening and should be looked into.
Until next time, eat well and look at all the beauty that
surrounds us!
Lori
