CHAPTER 8 
Chuck Stockdale is a world-renowned stunt pilot. He’s been flying for more than twenty-five years. Most of those have been as an air-show stunt pilot, a profession that requires extremely keen eyesight, especially when you’re flying upside down twenty feet off the deck at 200 miles per hour. Over the years, Chuck hasn’t really given much thought to his vision, except maybe to make sure the visor on his Kevlar flying helmet is smudge-free before takeoff. But today, he is extremely concerned about it.
Flight physicals are required of pilots about every three years. Part of that physical is an eye examination. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) wants to make sure pilots have good color vision, peripheral vision, and overall visual acuity so that they and their flying machines don’t end up in someone’s living room. In his twenties, Chuck had no problems passing the eye exams. In his late thirties and forties, he had to start squinting to read the fine lines. Most recently, when he passed fifty, Chuck started to lose his keen vision. “I started thinking about what would happen if I couldn’t pass the eye test,” Chuck confessed. He feared a blip on his permanent FAA record, but more than that, he feared losing his talent as a top stunt pilot.
Showing up for his medical exam, he was instantly prompted for a urine sample. After giving it back to the nurse, Chuck took his place in front of the eye chart. The big lines were easy, but as he got to the small print, he realized he had a serious problem.
Chuck describes his embarrassment:
I was standing there with the nurse looking at me. I could have sworn she was tapping her foot as I tried to read the next-to-last line: P K U E O B, then…silence for a good two minutes as I tried to focus. The nurse stops me, telling me to try again. After more silence and a few more guesses, she hands me a pair of reading glasses so I can finish.
Stockdale thought he was in the clear.
Picking up his medical certificate on the way out, Chuck noticed something on the bottom he had never seen there before—Limitations: Holder shall possess glasses for near vision. Chuck didn’t squeak through this time. The limitation was now on his FAA record. But this would be the last time his eyes suffered. I quickly taught him how to stop failing vision.
Like Stockdale, an increasing number of people are losing vision now more than ever. As the population gets older, some are attempting to compensate for waning vision by using brighter light or increasing their computer’s font size. If that doesn’t work, it’s off to the store to buy reading glasses, or worse, a trip to the eye doctor for prescription lenses and even invasive eye surgery. None of these really solve the underlying problem of why failing vision occurs. And they shouldn’t be used as the first line of defense.
Less expensive and nonevasive options exist. Failing vision isn’t an inevitable part of aging. Before you resort to drastic measures to improve your vision, use this chapter to learn about the nutrient logic that boosts the “dyes” in your eye, which act as protective antioxidants and light filters. By preserving your visual anatomy with nutrient logic, you can ward off age-related macular degeneration, cataracts, and glaucoma. You also can slow the progression of vision loss caused by diabetic neuropathy.
A MAJOR PUBLIC HEALTH CONCERN IGNORED
Vision is often taken for granted. When was the last time you did something to preserve your precious eyesight? Most people don’t think about it until something goes wrong, and that’s when it can be too late to get it back. Half of all blindness can be prevented. Yet, the number of people in America and worldwide who suffer vision loss continues to increase.
Vision loss is becoming a major public health problem. By the year 2020, the number of people who are blind or have low vision is expected to reach 5.5 million. According to a study sponsored by the National Eye Institute, blindness or low vision affects 3.3 million Americans age forty and over, or one in twenty-eight people.107
THE AMAZING EYE
Each of us comes equipped with an amazing pair of optical wonders that employ technology light years ahead of any optical system. Even the Hubble telescope, which looks far out into distant galaxies, pales in comparison to the technology of the eye.
In any optical system, nothing is seen unless light is first brought into the picture. Vision starts with light rays bouncing off nearby objects and blasting our cornea. The pupil then regulates how much of that light makes its way into the eye.
As passage is granted, light continues its journey through a gelatinous mass known as the vitreous humor, which, with laserlike precision, guides light to the retina. This is where the conundrum of photons (light) is corralled and converted into electrical signals, allowing the brain to know what’s in our surroundings. You can thank a complex set of photoreceptors within the retina for this interpretation. They receive and record pictures and video better than any camcorder.
Photoreceptors come in two varieties, cones and rods, and each has a different function. Six million or so cones record color vision in bright light. About 125 million rods record black-and-white vision in dim light. They’re sensitive enough to respond to even a single photon coming from a faint star at night.
The light information gathered by the cones and rods is transmitted via the optic nerve to the brain where it is decoded and processed into patterns to define the world around us. Without it, we would plow through red lights, wear clothes that don’t match, and miss out on life’s beauty, detail, and subtlety.
WHEN THE AMAZING EYE FAILS
Rods and cones fail when you don’t have enough dye in your eye. These pigments are known technically as xanthophylls and rhodopsin. And just as there are many different colors of crayons, there are different types of eye dyes. The most prominent are found in your cones. They are the yellow lutein (loo-teen), zeaxanthin (zee-uh-zan’-thin), and mesozeaxanthin. Found in your rods is the purple rhodopsin. Common eye problems develop when our eye anatomy or any one of the dyes are damaged or depleted.
AGE-RELATED MACULAR DEGENERATION
Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is a condition that primarily affects the part of the retina responsible for sharp central vision. There are two forms of it: dry AMD and wet AMD. Dry AMD is the more common form. Early AMD involves the presence of drusen, fatty deposits under the light-sensing cells in the retina. Late cases of dry AMD may also involve atrophy of the supportive layer under the light-sensing cells in the retina that helps keep those cells healthy.
Wet AMD is less common but more threatening to vision. It’s called wet AMD because of the growth of tiny, new blood vessels under the retina that leak fluid or break open. This distorts vision and causes scar tissue to form. All cases of the wet form are considered late AMD.
AMD is a slowly progressive disease that rarely affects those under age fifty, which implies cumulative damage caused by nutritional deficiencies over the years, probably resulting from long-term diets low in antioxidant nutrients. Being deficient in antioxidants can lead to free-radical damage within the eye and harm the light-sensing retinal cells. This can cause them to become inflamed with fat deposits, atrophy, or leak fluid. Because AMD often damages central vision, it is the most common cause of legal blindness and vision impairment in older Americans.
CATARACTS
A cataract is a clouding of the lens in our eye. Depending upon its size and location, it can interfere with normal vision. Much like a camera lens might get foggy in cold weather, the lens in our eye fails to process light or focus. A cataract occurs when the proteins that make up the lens clump together. This serves as a blockage to light and results in loss of vision. According to the World Health Organization, cataracts are the leading cause of blindness in the world. Most cataracts appear with advancing age. Some theorize that a cataract may be the result of a lifetime of exposure to ultraviolet radiation contained in sunlight or related to other lifestyle factors such as cigarette smoking or alcohol consumption. These are likely factors, but I believe prolonged nutritional deficiency is the main cause. This is supported by studies that suggest an association between proteins clumping together and low levels of antioxidants like vitamin C, selenium, vitamin E, glutathione, and carotenoids.108 Like aging skin that wrinkles due to lack of antioxidants, all of these help ensure the structural integrity of proteins, which is why the more we eat, the healthier the retina.
Treatment of cataracts involves surgical removal of the clouded natural lens, which is usually replaced with an artificial intraocular lens implant. Cataract surgery, like most surgical procedures, treats the symptoms of an unknown cause and is not really a cure. Nutrient logic could be.
GLAUCOMA
Called “the sneak thief of sight” by some, glaucoma is the most common cause of blindness in the United States. It’s especially insidious because there’s no associated pain and it can progress to an advanced stage before peripheral vision drops out and signals a problem. For this reason, many people with glaucoma may be unaware of their plight. It is a disease that causes a gradual death of cells that make up the optic nerve, the cable that carries visual information from the eye to the brain. Again, we’re seeing a recurring theme here with these eye diseases: they occur slowly over time.
The American way is to eat junk food, live for today, hope for the best, and then when we can’t see Jack, have someone drive us to visit the eye doctor. But it doesn’t have to be that way. By applying the information in this chapter and getting an eye examination if you detect any of the symptoms mentioned, you can act now to protect yourself, rather than reacting later when it may be too late.
Most cases of glaucoma exhibit elevated fluid pressure (intraocular pressure) outside normal limits. Upon detecting this rise, most eye specialists simply monitor the condition while it gets worse, instead of suggesting better diet and exercise. At a certain point, eyedrops are prescribed to stabilize the pressure, and patients are told they will probably be using the drops for the rest of their lives. But are these drugs really necessary?
Research has shown that glaucoma patients who take a brisk forty-minute walk five days a week for three months can reduce their eye pressure by approximately 2.5 millimeters.109 This substantial reduction is probably due to improved circulation, because most eye problems associated with degeneration are related to circulatory inefficiency in some way. Decreased blood supply keeps enough oxygen and essential nutrients from reaching our eye tissues. Waste is also not removed, and the end products of metabolism can build up and damage cells.
Many cases of glaucoma can be controlled and vision loss slowed or halted by natural treatments such as bilberry fruit extract. This natural supplement contains more than fifteen anthocyanosides that help to maintain the integrity of retinal blood vessels, stabilize collagen, and improve circulation. This extract, along with a half-dozen other powerful supplements, comprise the potent blend I recommend at the end of this chapter.
MUST-KNOW EYE HEALTH FOR DIABETICS
Diabetic retinopathy is a common complication of diabetes that can affect tiny blood vessels in the eyes. Overloaded with excess blood sugar, retinal blood vessels can break down, leak, or become blocked, impairing vision over time.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimate that 10.3 million Americans have been diagnosed with diabetes, while an additional 5.4 million undiagnosed diabetics are waiting in the wings for vision to go bad.
The risk of diabetic retinopathy can be reduced with nutrient logic and also through the control of blood sugar. Chapter 10 will teach you how to do this in ninety days. Without a doubt, this is the cheapest, safest, and most effective remedy. Many eye doctors will usher you in at the drop of a hat for laser treatments like photocoagulation to try to mediate the risk of sight loss.
They may even suggest focal photocoagulation to destroy leaking blood vessels. Maybe it’s just me, but destroying blood vessels in the eye doesn’t sound like a good idea. These vessels probably wouldn’t be leaking in the first place if patients weren’t eating massive amounts of hydrogenated oils and refined sugar, and popping aspirin daily as the TV and print ads recommend.
In scatter photocoagulation, another laser treatment, a large number of spots are zapped by the beam to control the growth of abnormal blood vessels. Do any of these procedures sound like fun to you? I didn’t think so. If you don’t want Star Wars being waged in your peepers, consider nutrient logic, cut the sugar, and use my simple protocol for reversing diabetes, as found in chapter 10.
BOOST THE DYES IN YOUR EYES
The dyes in your eyes aren’t made of thin air. You have to obtain them through nutrient logic, either directly via supplementation or indirectly from your diet. This will prevent damage to eye anatomy as well as boost the dye in your eye.
The yellow dye in your cones and the purple within the rods are made from carotenes and vitamin A, respectively. When these nutrients are consumed, the body uses a menagerie of chemical reactions to convert them into the protective dyes. Then, an army of various proteins escort the protective pigments to the proper area of the eye—your health intelligence at work. Their concentration is 10,000 times greater than that found in the blood. Once there, the dyes perform their job of reacting to and protecting the eye from light.
Food sources of the yellow xanthophylls include eggs, kale, spinach, turnip greens, collard greens, romaine lettuce, broccoli, zucchini, corn, garden peas, and Brussels sprouts. The best way to get plenty of rhodopsin is by obtaining its metabolic precursor vitamin A from butter, beef, elderberries, or chicken liver.
Chicken liver is the longevity jackpot. It contains more nutrients, gram for gram, than any other food and is a superior source for getting enough purple dye in our eye. It offers:
Many people shy away from eating liver because they think it’s filled with toxins. This is a misnomer. The liver is not a storage organ for toxins, but it is a storage compartment for important nutrients that rid the body of toxins. Paradoxically, it’s one of the cleanest organs in the bodies of both humans and animals.
Pilgrim’s Pride makes excellent chicken livers that are available in the meat section of Wal-Mart. This is my recommendation for vitamin A supplementation. At around $1.50 for a 20-ounce container big enough to serve an entire family, this is an affordable solution that will provide many nutritional benefits.
I contacted Pilgrim’s Pride to find out how their chickens are raised and what they’re fed. According to a company spokesperson, the chickens are housed in a climate-controlled caged environment. They claim this is superior to free range because the quality and health can be better controlled (a subject open for debate). Their chickens are fed a diet of corn, soy, and milo (grass) with no synthetic vitamins, hormones, or steroids added.
Chicken liver is listed on the USDA National Nutrient Database as containing 13,328 IU of vitamin A per 100 grams (just under ½ cup). The recommended daily allowance listed in the same database is 3,000 IU for men, and 2,333 IU for women. As you can see, you don’t have to eat a lot of the product to replenish your vitamin A stores. Cholesterol is 490 milligrams per 4-ounce serving, a little high, but as you already learned in chapter 3, this isn’t a problem. If you prefer the taste of beef liver, it has even more vitamin A at 31,714 IU per 100 grams.
AVOID THESE VISION SUPPLEMENTS
The rise of vision disorders has popularized many supplements that are purported to ward off age-related vision loss. Since beta carotene and vitamin A are known to yield the dye in your eye, they are often touted as worthy vision-preserving supplements. They’re not. In supplement form, beta-carotene and vitamin A (even from cod-liver oil) are inferior, synthetic mimics—what I call “Fraken-Chemicals.”
Born in a pharmaceutical lab, Fraken-Chemicals don’t yield the same dye-boosting benefits (or full-spectrum activity) as their natural counterparts and might even be dangerous. In nature, beta-carotene exists as a rich array of nutrients that have similar structures. In the body, they work together to provide health benefits. The conversion rate of natural beta-carotene into readily available nutrients by the body is up to ten times higher than that of synthetic beta-carotene. That means synthetic carotene supplements are not being assimilated and used by the body. Furthermore, synthetic carotenes may cause cancer among certain at-risk populations like smokers. The same is true for vitamin A.
In nature, vitamin A describes a ton of nutrients that have similar structures. The synthetic version of vitamin A is merely one of these structures—the cubic zirconium of vitamin A. A poser, supplemental vitamin A fools the body into thinking that the host of nutrients is present when they really aren’t. The end result is that you’re not getting the full production of the purple pigment or any of the other full-spectrum health benefits—like immune boosting and the maintenance of strong bones and teeth—that come with natural vitamin A intake.
The total effects of this ruse have yet to be determined by science, but an ever-increasing body of evidence points to the conclusion that synthetic vitamin A may be harmful. Wouldn’t it make sense to err on the side of caution and start moving away from synthetic versions of essential nutrients? Simple logic, the most underused tool of the vitamin and processed food industries, says yes. Get the real thing for the real benefits by getting carotenes and vitamin A from natural sources, not pharmaceutical ones.
THE OVER-THE-COUNTER NATURAL CURE FOR FAILING VISION
Whether the result is macular degeneration, cataracts, or glaucoma, losing vision usually results from not having enough “dye in our eye” to help us interpret the world around us and serve as protective antioxidants and light filters that preserve visual anatomy.
Unless you eat at a salad bar every day, you might consider augmenting your diet with the Over-the-Counter Natural Cures for failing vision. It uses no Fraken-Chemicals and comes loaded with eye-dye boosting nutrients. And unlike most vision supplements, it doesn’t carry the inflammatory soy oil adulterant. Meet CarotenAll by Jarrow Formulas.
CarotenAll, sold by The Vitamin Shoppe or found online, contains a large variety of health-giving, naturally occurring antioxidants and is my recommendation as a product that can effectively boost the dye in your eye, ensuring optimum eye health. The price is just under $10.00 per month. The company has assembled a “who’s who” of vital eye nutrients into a potent blend.
Each soft-gel capsule contains a mixture of naturally occurring beta-carotene, lutein (marigold petal extract), zeaxanthin (from marigold petal extract), lycopene (from GMO free tomatoes), and other supporting ingredients.
Take one or two capsules daily with eggs, meat, dairy, or other animal products because lutein and zeaxanthin are fat-soluble and require animal fats to metabolize. More is not better with this product as lutein and zeaxanthin compete for cell receptors above a certain dose and, therefore, may potentially diminish the effects.
Jarrow proudly notes they do not use any wheat, gluten, soybeans, dairy, egg, fish/shellfish, or peanuts/tree nuts in this product. It contains no sodium, sugars, yeast, preservatives, or artificial colors or flavors. My independent lab analysis showed it to be free of adulterants or excess fillers. Verification with the certificate of analysis can be found at my website, www.overthecounternaturalcures.com.
THE EYES ARE THE WINDOWS TO YOUR WELLNESS STATUS
Shakespeare wrote, “The eyes are the windows to the soul.” But to a skilled ophthalmologist, the eyes are much more than this. They are the windows to the inner functioning of your entire body, optical snapshots of how healthy you are. Therefore, failing vision might be a sign of failing health.
Peering into the depth of your eyes with an ophthalmoscope, the specialist is able to see the blood vessels behind your retina. This is the only place where arteries, veins, and nerves can be viewed without entering your body. If micro blood clots are detected in the retinal capillaries, it’s probable that blood vessels throughout your body are similarly affected. If your optic nerve is light in color due to lack of blood flow, it can be assumed that there is impaired flow elsewhere in your circulatory system. If your iris is inflamed, it’s likely that there’s inflammation elsewhere in your body.
The effects of nature’s repair response to cell damage, cholesterol, can be seen as a gray ring around the inside of your clear cornea. Signs of diabetes, hypertension, and neurological problems can also be detected. The eyes truly are the windows to your body’s wellness status.
These eye conditions reflect poor nutrient logic and are a heads-up that changes need to be made before it’s too late. With Over-the-Counter Natural Cures to failing vision and the nutrient logic found in this chapter, such changes are easy, inexpensive and nonevasive.