Eye Health Archives | Natural Health with Merrilyn Hope

Best Treatment for Puffy Eyes:

Japanese Green Tea and Ceylon Tea

Some of the best treatments for puffy eyes are the tea bag treatments, using either japanese green tea, or black ceylon tea. The castor oil treatment, which is listed below, is also very effective in soothing puffy eyes. Of course, these are not applied at the same time. You need to use them separately.

How to use tea bag eye packs for puffy eyes:

Use cold, wet tea bags applied to the eye for ten minutes to reduce swelling and relieve tired, puffy eyes. Using cold, wet tea bags over the eyes actually sharpens up your vision too, as the tannin and other minerals in the tea help to nourish the nerves and tissues of the eye retina, as well as the surrounding tissue. Use the cold wet tea bags of either japanese green tea, or ceylon tea for your eye packs.

Castor Oil Treatment for Puffy Eyes

Castor oil is the secret ingredient which is used in expensive eye ointments and cosmetics. It is an especially healing oil. Because it is a relatively heavy oil, it has the ability to stick to the tissues of the eyes without running off, which lighter oils, like olive oil, tend to do.

To make an eye-pack with castor oil.

Use a small piece of linen or flannel. Fold it so that it is just large enough to cover the eye area.
Pour over a teaspoon of pure castor oil onto each wad of cloth. Lie down, and place over the eyes. Leave on for 10-20 minutes. Store in a screw top jar so that you can use the packs again.

Cider Vinegar for Puffy Eyes

Of course, this MUST be diluted heavily. Never use cider vinegar on the eyes straight from the bottle. Here is how to make a soothing pack for tired puffy eyes:

Put one teaspoon only of organic apple cider vinegar into half a cup of water.
Take a piece of linen and fold it into a wad. Dip into the diluted apple cider mixture. Wring out lightly, and place over the closed eyes. Leave on for 10-20 minutes.

Potassium and vitamins from the apple cider vinegar will feed your eye tissues while you leave the moistened pack on. The acidic nature of the vinegar works as an astringent, which will help those tired, puffy eyes.

Preventing Macular Degeneration
Keep your intake of Vitamin C to 1000 mg if you are near-sighted. A maintenance dose of 500 mg a day is probably best, unless you are treating a specific life-threatening disease like cancer, or multiple sclerosis, or Parkinson’s disease.
High doses of Vitamin C might be linked to some cases of retinal detachment in near-sighted people, although this is
not conclusive.A high dose is considered to be more than 3000 milligrams of Vitamin C.

Vitamin A is necessary – up to 25,000 international units daily. 8,700 international units daily is a safe
maintenance dose. Carrots, pumpkin, broccoli, apricots, rockmelon, swede, kumara should be eaten plentifully on a
daily basis.
Copper – one milligram for every 10 milligrams of zinc. Carrots are high in copper, and onions and garlic are good for
zinc, which make these vegetables ideal commpanions in a meal.
Zinc – 15-90 milligrams. Consult your health professional before taking zinc. 15 milligrams is considered safe.Too much
zinc can rob your body of copper.
Selenium 50-200 micrograms. A sensible amount is more like 50-100 milligrams.
The best food sources are Garlic and onions, mushrooms, cabbage and fish.
Vitamin E – 15-90 milligrams -but not if you are taking blood-thinning drugs – check with your doctor if you are on
any medication before you add Vitamin E to your supplements. Vitamin E thins the blood a little, so if you combine it
with other drugs which do the same thing, you could be in trouble.
Glutathione, found in fresh greens, and yellow and orange foods. This is destroyed in cooking. Glutathione helps to
form an anti-oxidant enzyme which is thought to help protect the eyes.

Counteract Memory Loss: A failing memory often goes hand in hand with degeneration of the eye-sight.
Eat some quality fats with your meals: olive oil, small amounts of butter, oily fish, and avocado are all good brain and eye food. Avoid high-fat meals, especially fried foods and fatty meats.
Vitamin B Complex should be taken, as well as extra B6 and B12. These two B vitamins are specifics for counteracting memory loss. Taking them with the B complex ensures that you do not get an imbalance of Bvitamins.

As soon as you notice your memory improving, then cut back on the extra B6 and B12, but continue to take the
B complex. Try the combination of all three, the B complex, B6, and B12, for a trial of two weeks to see if you improve.

The run-down on the specific B Vitamins for memory: B6 – this helps make dopamine, serotonin and norepinephrine. These are all neuro-transmitters, which aid the brain in its sending of messages, and storage of material. These neuro-transmitters also help you to keep your ‘joie do vivre’, and have a calming effect on the brain.

B12 is also beneficial for long and short-term memory. It helps create an alertness in the brain. Vitamin B12 improves
yourproblem-solving ability. It also helps the brain to recognize patterns and pictures from the past: this helps keep
the facilities of discernment and decision making working optimally.

Liver Broth for B Vitamins.
This is a home made tonic which is extremely high in B Vitamins, Iron, and other minerals. It is no use to those who
have an aversion to meat, or are vegetarian. Personally, I do not like to eat meats these days, however, if I were to
be tested with a life-threatening illness, or had dangerously low amounts of Iron and B vitamins, then I would use
this remedy for the time needed to get my health back on track again. Ideally, it should be taken in conjunction with
a detoxing diet of juices and optimum amounts of raw vegetables and fruits.