With the holidays approaching, it’s time to discover a list of the best dishes to enjoy at home or even at your favorite restaurant. While you rejoice at the thought of the upcoming holiday season and Christmas festivities, make sure you remember to include loved ones dealing with a visual impairment. As a thoughtful gesture, you should consider preparing foods that can contribute to better and improved eye health for people with Macular Degeneration or AMD.
Let’s take a brief overview of Macular Degeneration to understand what your loved ones go through regularly. If you struggle with macular degeneration yourself, consider opting for the following food recommendations to keep the fun of the holiday season alive.
A Brief Overview - What Is Macular Degeneration?
Among the variety of different eye health conditions and diseases, Macular Degeneration or AMD is one of the most prominent ones. It is said to impact the lives of millions of people in the US, and the count is said to increase in the long run.
The condition relates to the degeneration of the retina at the back of the eye. It’s a bundle of nerve tissue that is highly sensitive to light and helps form images. Macular Degeneration represents damage to the nerve tissues that form the retina. Hence, it results in a distorted vision leading to partial and even complete visual impairment in several cases. It is worth mentioning that this eye disease progresses with time, leading to severe vision damages that leave the patient with permanent visual impairments.
This condition mainly occurs after the age of 55 or 60 and slowly aggresses towards a chronic stage if left untreated. Take a look at two different types of Macular Degeneration:
If someone close to you suffers from AMD, you can make sure that they receive the required support and care to live a healthy life despite their visual impairment. Here are some of the main symptoms you can look out for to help someone you know with AMD:
Several factors can lead to Macular Degeneration:
Holiday Season Food Recommendations for AMD Patients
Maintaining a healthy lifestyle should be patients’ goal to preserve their eye health and fight against the progression of AMD. For that, health experts and eye care specialists recommend taking several different types of foods. These contain nutrients that help improving the eye health of individuals with AMD.
Eye institute experts outline the following nutrients as the most important ones for AMD patients, especially for the upcoming holiday season:
Let’s go over some of the most delicious foods for AMD patients that will surely tantalize the buds of nearly all readers.
7 Best Foods for Macular Degeneration Patients This Holiday Season
Don’t miss out on the freshly-baked loaves of bread and lots of baked goodness during the upcoming celebrations. You’ll find these at year-end when baked muffins and breads are the main highlights. For a loved one with Macular Degeneration, you can switch to whole grain flour for healthier breads and muffins.
Fish contains a high amount of fatty acids (Omega-3), and surely, no Christmas and New Year’s Eve goes without fish food. Keep up a healthy intake of Omega-3s by adding tuna, herring, sardines, mackerels, and of course, the all-time-favorite salmon to your menu.
Never forget to include leafy greens in your daily life. They are a vital source of essential vitamins, including Vitamin E, Vitamin C, and Vitamin A. Moreover, leafy greens like cruciferous vegetables, including cauliflower, cabbages, and others, can improve mineral levels in the body and help nourish the retina. Spinach and bell peppers are other sources of essential vitamins.
If you’re looking to serve meat at dinner and are inviting a loved one with AMD, make sure to include some turkey or lean beef because it’s rich in zinc. This nutrient nourishes the retina’s choroid layer. While lean meat offers protein and required carbs to keep energy levels up, it also provides zinc and other vital minerals for a healthy retina.
Sweet potatoes are warehouses of Lutein, vitamins, and beta-carotene. You can make them sweet or sour, but why not try a blend of both? This way, your friends or family members with AMD get a taste of fantastic holiday dishes along with a dose of essential nutrients.
Among all the bell peppers, red bell peppers are the easiest to incorporate into delicious and tantalizing meals. They offer a flavorful taste, along with rich quantities of beta-carotene.
Butternut and acorn squashes are healthy diet options for people suffering from Macular Degeneration. So, if a loved one struggles with deteriorating visual conditions, ensure a healthy diet and include acorn/butternut squash in their holiday meals. This way, they enjoy a delicious meal that’s full of vital nutrition for their eye health.
Other Options
Are you looking for more than just the suggested advice above? Thanks to advancements in assistive technology there are now options for those dealing with visual impairments daily. The latest breakthrough device that has trailblazed the field of assistive tech is called the Vision Buddy. This all-in-one wearable headset is not only the world’s first TV watching focused device but also has a magnification and reading mode with cutting-edge technology. For more information visit www.getvisionbuddy.com or call (833) 787-2020 today! Mention this blog to receive a discount and information on the latest Try Before You Buy trial program while supplies last.
Conclusion
If you or a loved one is suffering from Macular Degeneration, make sure to get the right kind of treatment and daily life solutions. For the upcoming holiday season, you can try out the above-mentioned scrumptious foods suggested by healthcare professionals.
To learn how to help loved ones dealing with visual impairment concerns and vision loss, feel free to read more blogs and learn how Vision Buddy has become a leader in offering the most required solution for visually-impaired AMD patients.