Food for healthy eyes

From lettuce to lasagne to cakes: try our top recipes for healthy eyes

Right now, we all have more time to experiment with baking and cooking. Reason enough to stop and consider what foods are truly healthy for our eyes. Having compiled a list of eye-friendly ingredients, we contacted some of our colleagues and asked them to share their favourite recipes using these foodstuffs. But don’t worry that these recipes are healthy but bland. There’s something mouth-wateringly delicious here for everyone!

First off, we asked ourselves: what foods are proven to be beneficial to our eye health and why?

Red pepper

Our eyes need vitamin C for the protection of blood vessels and the prevention of cataracts. The absolute vitamin C leader is the red pepper, containing the highest percentage per calorie, but cauliflower, pak choi, papaya and strawberries are also excellent repositories. As vitamin C is destroyed by heat, ideally these foods should be eaten raw.

Spinach, kale and cabbage leaves

Add dark green leafy foods, such as spinach, kale and cabbage, to your recipes for oodles of vitamins C and E as well as the carotenoids lutein and zeaxanthin. As we now know, vitamins C and E protect against age-related macular degeneration and cataracts. These green foods also provide the retina with protection against harmful blue lights and free radicals.

Sunflower seeds and nuts

Sunflower seeds, almonds, hazelnuts or peanuts, are excellent sources of vitamin E. Vitamin E looks after our eyes by slowing down age-related macular degeneration.

Fatty fish

Tuna, salmon, trout and seafood are rich in omega-3 fatty acids. Certain omega-3 fatty acids (DHA and EPA) are important for optimal functioning of our retinas and they protect our eyes from age-related macular degeneration and glaucoma. Consuming too little of these two fatty acids can often lead to dry eyes.

Eggs

Carotenoids are essential for good eye health and egg yolk is rich in these antioxidants. So, poached, boiled or in a protein shake, eggs are a scrumptious and versatile food and they protect your eyes too.

Orange fruits and vegetables

Tasty orange fruits and vegetables such as sweet potatoes, carrots, mangoes and apricots have high levels of beta-carotene, which helps our eyes adjust to the darkness and protects them from night blindness.

Lean meat and oysters

Our eyes need zinc because this essential mineral helps to transport vitamin A to the retina where the protective pigment melanin is produced. Oysters are the absolute front-runner among zinc sources. But if oysters make you squeamish, you can also opt for lean beef, pork or poultry.

Beans and legumes

Chickpeas, kidney beans, lentils and kidney beans make for excellent salads, curries and taco fillings and are also superb sources of zinc.

Broccoli and Brussels sprouts

Broccoli and Brussels sprouts are long-known to be highly nutritious. They have beta-carotene, vitamins C and E, and antioxidants that protect against free radicals. This is particularly important for sensitive retinas.

Pumpkins

Full-flavoured summer or winter pumpkins are full of carotenoids and an excellent ingredient in any menu. Summer pumpkins, like zucchini, are also rich in vitamin C and zinc. Cook up a warm winter pumpkin soup for vitamins A and C as well as omega-3 fatty acids.

OUR FAVOURITE RECIPES FOR HEALTHY EYES

As promised, our Charmant friends from different international offices will now share their favourite recipes. All of these dishes contain foods that are particularly healthy for our eyes. Enjoy this colourful potpourri of varied and guaranteed particularly delicious dishes!

We kick off with some salad recipes, which are super nutritious and make wonderful side dishes during the current barbecue season. Add a lean steak and the eye candy is ready.

Here’s a recipe from Julia. When Julia is not cooking or baking, she works at Charmant as a Senior Marketing Manager for Northern, Eastern and Western Europe.

Download Julia's recipe: Broccoli salad with peppers

This is one of Lena’s favourite recipes. A master with the wooden spoon, as Sales & Marketing Coordinator, she has a firm grip on the numbers too.

Download Lena's recipe: Coleslaw

Some of you may know Margaret’s friendly voice from the phone as she heads up customer service at our UK office. She shared this yummy recipe with us.

Download Margaret's recipe: Orange spinach salad

This recipe comes from our dear colleague and genuine Italian Elena who is responsible for the management of our licensed brands. Here she reveals an easy but flavoursome Italian dish.

Download Elena's recipe: Stuffed tomatoes with tuna

Lisette looks after sales planning and marketing at our office in The Netherlands. In this recipe, we find out that Dutch cooking doesn’t begin and end with croquettes.

Download Lisette's recipe: Vegetarian lasagne with ricotta and spinach