Richard Bell's Wild West Yorkshire nature diary
Tuesday, 6th February, 2007
IT’S
GOOD TO HAVE finished all that structural work in the garden. Today it’s
sunny but too cold to draw outdoors so I enjoy catching up on my online diary.
This feels like such an indulgence. The only trouble is that because of that
I have nothing much to write in today’s diary, as you can see (that’s
a sketch of the coffee table).
And I don’t get a chance to draw this evening because there are a few things on television I want to watch; wildlife documentaries but, vital to me, Dr Alice Roberts giving some advice on how to help your eyes to last a lifetime in her series How Not to Die Young.
As with so many health issues, not smoking and eating plenty of fresh vegetables is a good place to start.
When
I was young we were told, probably as a result of wartime Ministry of Agriculture
propaganda, that eating carrots would help you see in the dark.
Apparently it is true that carrots are good for eyesight but Dr Roberts points
out that greens, particularly curly kale, are even better.
Two
antioxidants, lutein and zeaxanthin have been found to help protect the cells
of the lens of the human eye from ultra-violet light. They were found to be
even more effective than vitamin E, which also helps. Lutein and zeaxanthin
are found in green vegetables such as kale (a variety of cabbage), spinach and
collard greens (the leaves of kale).
Leafy
green veg may prevent cataracts article on the BUPA website.