Does diet affect keratoconus? Yes, diet does affect keratoconus indirectly.
A diet consisting of high amounts of refined carbohydrates, sugar, processed foods, omega-6 fatty acids.
Furthermore, frequent snacking in between meals, will most certainly negatively impact our health, in turn affecting our ability to cope with our keratoconus diagnosis.
In contrast, a healthy diet high in omega-3 fatty acids(healthy fats) , high in fiber, reducing or eliminating refined carbs, sugar and processed foods for example, will greatly improve our ability to cope and manage keratoconus.
How Does Diet Affect Keratoconus?
How does diet affect keratoconus? A toxic diet as mentioned in the above first example, will lead to developing other ailments.
Depending on the severity and what stage of our keratoconus diagnosis we are in.
Adding other diseases due to poor diet will only add to complicate our situation even further and very possibly make our vision loss even worse.
As an example, I have severe keratoconus. Due to this, my corneal specialist and myself agreed that a corneal transplant was necessary to avoid further complications of keratoconus.
If I also had to deal with diabetes along with a transplant, things could have turned out very different for me, for the worse.
Diabetes
Another side effect of a toxic diet is diabetes. Type-2 diabetes and weight gain are direct results of our body having to produce too much insulin as a reaction to our elevated glucose levels.
Too much insulin in our bloodstream on a consistent basis due to our diet, is harmful to our body. As a matter of fact, every time we eat, our body produces insulin.
However, knowing what foods are good for keratoconus, how often we eat, furthermore how active we are will determine how much insulin it will take to bring our glucose/sugar levels down.
If our pancreas has to produce insulin for prolonged amounts of time to remove glucose from our blood, prediabetes is the first stop.
In turn followed by, but not limited to, full blown diabetes which can have severe negative ramifications on our vision, the health of our eyes and our overall health.
Too Much Insulin
Another way our body deals with high levels of glucose is to store it as fat. All the excess glucose that the body cannot use has to go somewhere. It does not just magically leave our blood stream.
The less insulin we need the healthier it is for us. To put it differently, ideally we want to adopt a diet that will not produce large amounts of glucose in our bloodstream, as a result, we need large amounts of insulin to remove the glucose.
Blood Flow to Our Eyes
Another example of how diet affects keratoconus is blood flow to the eyes.
A diet high in refined carbohydrates, processed foods and sugar, again will fill our bloodstream with glucose/sugar. Another nasty side effect of this diet is damage to our arteries.
This can cause heart problems, stroke and blood flow supply problems to our already damaged eyes.
Inflammation
A poor diet will also lead to inflammation of the body. Inflammation is necessary for the body to heal, however too much inflammation will lead to chronic disease such as, but also not limited to, vision issues, heart problems, arthritis and cancer.
If we are able to also construct a diet that helps reduce inflammation we are most certainly on the right path to a diet that will affect keratoconus in a healthy way.
Diets That Affect Keratoconus in a Healthy Way
These foods should be included in our diet as much as possible to ward off other diseases that could interfere with our management of keratoconus.
For example:
- Cruciferous vegetables such as broccoli, cauliflower, brussels sprouts, radish, kale, arugula and cabbage. Cabbage especially in a fermented form like sauerkraut.
Cruciferous vegetables are low in refined carbohydrates and high fiber, which as mentioned above is what we are striving for. Furthermore, these kinds of vegetables are very high in phytonutrients, especially cabbage.
Phytonutrients
Phytonutrients are incredibly beneficial to keep us healthy and to prevent inflammation and disease. We must include high amounts of foods that contain phytonutrients in our diet daily.
Omega-3 Fatty Acids
- Salmon (wild caught if possible). Salmon is one of the most nutrient dense foods on the planet. It is extremely high in omega-3 fatty acids which are good for the brain, heart, joints and anti cancer properties. It also helps to keep inflammation low.
- Cod liver is high in omega-3 fatty acids as well as vitamin D and A.
- Sardines are an oily small fish and when eaten whole can supply almost every nutrient our body needs.
- Walnuts are the only nut with omega-3 properties furthermore they are packed with fiber.
Diet That Affects Keratoconus in an Unhealthy Way
Diets too high in these types of foods will cause high amounts of inflammation coupled with, raising glucose levels, as a result, triggering insulin causing weight gain.
Omega-6 Fatty Acids
Oils such vegetable oil, canola oils, corn oil, seed oils are consumed entirely too much in our diets, especially in fried foods, for example french fries, potato chips and restaurant food.
We should instead strive to have more omega-3 and leafy greens in our diets.
Foods With Added Sugar
Diets containing high amounts of added sugar will also cause inflammation leading to other ailments.
- Soft Drinks should be completely eliminated from our diet.
- Pastries, candies should be eliminated from our diet or at the very least reduced.
- Processed foods and fruit juices should be consumed in moderation if at all. Most processed foods and fruit juices have too much added sugar.
*Remember this, cancerous cells love sugar. Enough said.
To Summerize
We can clearly see that diet does affect keratoconus. Opting for an unhealthy, unbalanced diet will lead to other diseases like diabetes, heart disease and chronic disease to name a few.
Diabetes, due to a poor diet as an example, can make our vision loss due to keratoconus even worse. In the same fashion, heart disease can disrupt proper blood flow to our eyes.
A healthy diet and lifestyle will not only make coping with keratoconus easier, thus less stressful. In addition it will add to our quality of life with keratoconus.