» Better food, better eyes? Early Retirement Extreme: — a combination of simple living, anticonsumerism, DIY ethics, self-reliance, resilience, and applied capitalism

Published on January 30th, 2009

I think my eyesight is improving. It’s only anecdotal, but lately (since adding green food to my diet) I seem to have needed to squint less to read the small print on billboards and the like.

Like most other people in the developed world I have essentially sacrificed my eyesight as my eyes have adapted to constantly focus on a screen, a book, a piece of paper, or a tool about 2 feet in front of me over more than two decades. I have however put off getting glasses out of fear that correcting the symptoms will trigger a runaway of the underlying problem and result in my needing steadily stronger prescriptions

Aside from physiological changes based on external (lifestyle) constraints there could theoretically also be a chemical problem from the lack of micronutrients governed by Liebig’s law.I suspect this may be the case given my crappy Western diet (which by Western standards is actually pretty good). This makes me wonder what else I can fix by merely eating right viz. eating more or less like a chimpanzee viz. eating according to what is genetically reasonable rather than what is culturally determined(*).

When in doubt, follow nature.

(*) Three meals a day: Industrial three shift day. Six meals a day: Modern bodybuilding and fitness. Meat/milk: Starvation insurance for marginal lands (the reason only mostly Northern Europeans tolerate lactose). Grain/cereal: a more than 10000 year old invention of producing energy rich food in exchange for mobility risks and decreased flexibility.

I am about to reduce my meat/milk consumption to about once a month or less or nothing at all (again). I think it makes sense, and I know I will like the benefits of doing so more than I will miss the traditions of my current diet.

Health and long life. The latter is irrelevant without the former.

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9 users responded in " Better food, better eyes? "

Jayadeep Purushothaman said,

I was the only one among 5 children in our family whose eye sight was normal – the difference was I played almost everyday in a big field, whereas others were just looking at things very closer. BTW, I also have stopped drinking milk, more for philosophical reasons than anything else – see http://tinyurl.com/amo8hj

Philip Brewer said,

Have you read Michael Pollan’s In Defense of Food? It makes a pretty good case that almost every culture had a traditional diet that was healthful–it’s only the modern “western” diet that’s a catastrophe. (That is, you can copy chimpanzees if you want–but you could also copy pre-industrial Scots (oats and kale) or African bushmen or Eskimos or Polynesian Islanders.)

I wrote a review of the book here:

http://www.wisebread.com/book-review-in-defense-of-food

DNA said,

Wow, you are fortunate. My vision has definitely not improved, even after 14 years of vegan eating (and not the cupcake-a-day kind of vegan, but mostly raw) and outdoor running. But I started glasses at age 10, so maybe my vision was too far gone.

You might have some trouble eating meat and dairy only once a month. After never having lactose intolerance, I developed it soon after going vegan; and it’s a really miserable experience now if ingest any, which happens sometimes if I’m a dinner guest.

prodgod said,

Wise choice, Jacob. Good luck.

Scott said,

I second prodgod, Jacob. It’s great that you’re turning your back on yet another cultural norm. Just make sure to not oversimplify nutrition. Don’t be limited by a key nutrient. The details do matter. B12* supplementation is necessary. EPA/DHA supplementation is necessary. Vitamin D level should be tested (25-hydroxy) and supplemented if necessary.

*Don’t waste $ on cyanocobalamin. Buy methocobalamin.

Derek said,

Do you recommend laser eye surgery financially speaking (not medically speaking lol). In theory if you can reduce your lifetime recurring costs of glasses, lenses, contacts, cleaning solution, vision insurance, etc, with an upfront one time payment of $3,000 or whatever it costs.

Jacob said,

@Derek – Multiply recurring annual cost by 25. If that number is larger than the non-recurring one-time cost, go for the one-time cost; financially speaking, of course.

bigato said,

Stop milk and cheese at all. No white sugar at all (you could read the book “Sugar Blues”). Alcohol only on very special times, and not much (3 times a year seems a good measure). Eat white meat once a month or so. Good well-cooked brown rice as the basis of daily diet. Have cooked vegetables every day. Do it a month and you sure will be surprised.

redglass said,

Eating your greens may not improve your focus, but it will definitely help protect you against age-related blindness, which is often a nutritional problem. A personal anecdote: my eyes were being checked and the optometrist commented on their healthy condition, adding, ‘You obviously eat your veggies.’ My sight is far from perfect (I’ve spent most of my life with books and computers) and that’s a shame, but there’s more to eye health than that. Keep on with the greens…

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Better food, better eyes?

9 users responded in " Better food, better eyes? "

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