Carrots. They have long been promoted as a super food for eye health. But does eating carrots really help your vision?
Why Carrots?
Carrots contain a very important vitamin, Vitamin A. Your retina needs vitamin A to help turn light rays into images. Additionally, if you don’t have enough vitamin A your eyes can’t stay moist enough to prevent dry eyes.
In short, eating carrots will promote eye health and help your vision. But carrots aren’t the only food to contain vitamin A. In fact, there is one orange vegetable that beats the carrot out when looking at Vitamin A per serving.
The Sweet Potato
Sweet potatoes are CHOCK full of vitamin A, as well as vitamin C, manganese, antioxidants, and a whole other slew of vitamins.
In fact, one serving of sweet potatoes contains 120% of your daily value of vitamin A, while one serving of carrots (about half of a cup) contains 50% of your dv.
Eat Those Veggies
If sweet potatoes and carrots aren’t your thing, there are a plethora of vegetables that are high in vitamin A. Red peppers contain 29% of your dv per serving, Kale contains 98%, and winter squash contains 127% of your recommended daily intake.
Here's the Scoop
While eating vegetables every day will not probably give you 20/20 vision, a healthy diet will reduce the risk of many diseases (including eye disease) and promote overall health and well-being.
Whatever vitamin A rich vegetable you fancy, eat up and know that your eyes (and the rest of your body) will thank you.