Deteriorating eyesight

Why it happens

Around 40-45 we develop a new mannerism – pulling our head back while peering at the paper or brochure held at arm’s length. It’s called presbyopia, it’s normal and there’s nothing we can do to prevent it. From adolescence the lens in our eye slowly thickens and becomes less flexible making it more difficult to focus.

What to do

Visit the optometrist regularly to monitor eye health and vision changes.

Buy reading glasses if necessary.

Eat plenty of yellow and dark green fruit and vegetables such as corn and spinach.

“I’ve been taking an iron supplement for three weeks and still feel tired.” This was the comment from a woman attending a series of nutrition seminars I was running. She had been discharged from hospital three weeks earlier and prescribed an iron supplement. “When do you take it?” I asked her. “With breakfast,” she replied. Breakfast consisted of muesli with low fat milk or wholegrain toast and a cup of tea. A healthy breakfast – yes. But a suitable meal to take an iron supplement – no.

“Don’t give me any dinner this week,” my husband said to me. “I’ll just have your fruit drink.” What delightful words for any busy mum to hear: No cooking real meals for a week! Well actually I did still cook a little something extra for myself and my son. But fruit drink every night was a great way to start off November – the month set aside in New Zealand to promote eating ‘Five-a-day’. Five-a-day means eating five serves of fruit and vegetables each day. It’s not that much. A serve is one average sized piece of fruit, half a cup of vegetables or a cup of salad. For children, a serve is the amount they can hold in one cupped hand.

I’ve worked out that my fruit drink has about 11 or 12 serves and 22-24 grams of fibre. Split between three of us, we just about hit our daily 5-a-day with one large glass! And no wonder my husband doesn’t feel like dinner:

I’ve said it before but I’ll say it again: making your own jam or marmalade is a real eye-opener to how much sugar it contains. Whenever I visit my parents I love to pick grapefruit fresh off the tree. It’s fun to shake the tree and duck out of the way of the falling fruit. A grapefruit dropping on your head is not a pleasant experience! Fresh grapefruit are rich in vitamin C making them ideal to eat for breakfast as they enhance iron absorption from your breakfast cereal.

Not everyone can handle such a stringent attack on their taste-buds first thing in the morning. Some prefer to eat their grapefruit toned down with lots of sugar, that is, as marmalade. I have just made my second batch of marmalade this year. I lined up all the jars after I had filled them and worked out that each jar contains approximately one grapefruit and one cup of sugar. Oh dear, at least it makes a great gift for friends.