I always thought nutrition for helping eyesight was an extension to the Bates Method, but I am beginning to realise it IS the bates method, just as palming, swinging, blinking breathing and shifting are also.
i made the mistake of thinking it was a separate thing, but it should be included in the Bates method as the complete bates method package,
Nutrition has changed since the 1930s when he was writing, and in particular, let me mention, in the greg marsh vision improvement CD set, he mentions a bates method practitioner didnt consider diet that important and didnt emphasise it much, but he would not work with anyone who ate margarine or any vegetable oils, because he knew their eyesight would be a lot more difficult to help. Margarine and the sugar of today and white flour etc werent as prevalent as then in the 1930s when bates was writing.
The thing is, over the years people have had countless ideas about what diets are best for the eyes. I'm sure there's some truth to some of it, but people react and adapt differently to different foods.
I haven't been able to pinpoint anything in this area, other than vegetables seem to help my vision. Or maybe everything besides vegetables hurts it.
Dave
Site Administrator
"Half of our funny, heathen lives, we are bent double to gather things we have tossed away." - George Meredith
For some unknown reasons, vegetable oil is made from rapeseed, so why dont hey just call it rapeseed oil ? Anywya, obviously vegeatbles are good for you, but heated sunflower oils and vegeatble oils etc are bad for you, known in the mainstream media as hydrogenated oils etc. vegetable oils arent made from vegetables. When they are heated, they become very bad for your health.
* Canola oil
* Almond oil
* Apricot kernel oil
* High-oleic safflower oil or sunflower oil
* Peanut oil (marketed as 'groundnut oil' in the UK)
* Soybean oil
* Grape seed oil
Oils suitable for medium temperature frying include:
* Walnut oil
* Sunflower oil
* Sesame oil
Unrefined oils should be restricted to temperatures below 105°C/225°F
coconut oil is ideal for frying, but due to availability and cost, its difficult for msot people
olive oil would be second best , but still keep the temperature quite low,
yes, butter would be good aswell, except I live with someone who buys butter that is cut with 25 per cent vegetable oil to make it spreadable , and let me tell you, this butter is awful,
I know. I guess my point is that I'm not convinced of something when you say that a teacher said that another teacher said that his difficult students said they ate margarine. There have been so many theories about nutrition and eyesight. It's the same way I try to get people to not believe what Bates said, but to study some material, try some things out, see what happens, and go from there.
Dave
Site Administrator
"Half of our funny, heathen lives, we are bent double to gather things we have tossed away." - George Meredith
My point is, you dont have to improve your diet to improve your eyesight.
But cooking in sunflower oil etc, creates a substance that interferes with how good your eyesight can be. The most basic example would be french fries or chips from a fast food place, or from a chip shop, because of what its fried in.
Interestingly, I find Bates surprisingly unholistic in some ways. For example, this may be getting into some of the more esoteric stuff, but Bates said that when the vision is normal, no pain is felt, however sensations become more acutely felt. The example in the book is of a soldier entering very cold water and knowing the temperature, but not being affected by it. A sort of super-aware detachment, if you will. I'm not sure if David or anyone else has experienced this. The way I see it, if eyesight is so fragile that it relies on every other variable that can go wrong, that is rather depressing and does not feel free. If diet, emotional mood, general health, etc. can throw eyesight off, I feel that one is not really free. Bates training if successfull, would give freedom for perfect sight in all circumstances, even unfavorable conditions. This is why I like the unholistic nature of his methods. Of course, I am into holistic health as well but what a hassle and complication if one must study Bates AND a whole mass of other holistic health stuff to attain perfect sight. Lots of Bates patients were cured by just ONE method, it seems like it should be much simpler than we think. Just challenging is all.
People use different words and different frames of reference. The pain thing I think is really what you might call a meditative state and different than just seemingly perfect eyesight. It goes beyond that, or deeper than that. But what some might call a meditative state, I would also call just being closer to who you really are. I've never been conscious and not been able to feel pain, but I've been able to detach from it and kind of feel it as someone else's pain instead of being the pain myself - which is what is most common. We feel pain and kind of concentrate ourselves down to being only the pain, especially when it's intense.
The Bates method is basically simple. It's our minds that make the process complicated and challenging in practice, the way we're all so screwed up and basically run on our personalities we've built, all the habits or patterns and repeating thoughts that we just let control us.
Dave
Site Administrator
"Half of our funny, heathen lives, we are bent double to gather things we have tossed away." - George Meredith
In addition, I have known people who eat pretty horrible diets but still have great eyesight. It may be that certain foods lead one to strain, but in the end it all comes down to strain. From my experience, nothing I have eaten improves or worsens my sight. Even a three day water-only fast produced no changes in itself.
I liked the point about personality Dave.
I think with respect to this, a change in attitude helps vision whereby you make a committment to act in accord with your desires (leading to others thinking you have a different personality...when in actual fact you just changed your attitude and aren't suppressing yourself no longer). So more a returning to yourself than anything else.
Another thing I think, is when people don't act in accord with their true desires, it can become a habit of suppression and strain. If your life revolves around doing things that in all honesty you don't want to do, then this could be a stumbling block to vision improving.
Has anyone had weird vision problems after taking Glucosamine and/or Chondroitin supplements; Been reading on a few websites that it causes blur, abnormal eye pressure, cataracts, kidney problems... No good!
I had some problems after the neck injury but they went away. Was also taking this stuff to heal the neck. Eyes got better over time and especially after quit this stuff.
