Gradually changing from the typical North American diet consisting of white bread, pasta, meat, cakes, pastries, soft drinks and coffee, to a diet of fresh fruits and vegetables (organic if possible), whole grains, healthy fats and proteins and lots of pure water, can make a huge difference to the way we feel and the way we see.

Supplement your diet with a good multi-vitamin to get the minerals and vitamins you may not get from your food. Our soil is greatly depleted of the minerals it Healthy Vegetable Gardenonce held. Therefore, supplementation is more important than it was years ago. Sea vegetables are also an excellent source of minerals. Incorporate anti-oxidants into your diet.

Research shows that antioxidants can be very helpful in keeping healthy eyes and vision. If you are diagnosed with an eye disease, research the nutritional aspects of the disease and adjust your diet accordingly. Consult with a nutritionist or doctor who specializes in healing with nutrition and detoxification.

Remember that natural sunlight is a nutrient that we all need. Ideally, spend an hour outside in natural light each day. Take a walk in the morning or evening and enjoy the added benefit of exercise, too!

Healthy nutritional habits lay the foundation for healthy eyes and vision all your life. Enjoy those carrots and their healthy cousins from the garden and health food store!

If you feel you need supplements, it is a good idea to consult a naturopath or nutritionist to make sure that the supplements are right for you. If you have any eye disease, it is especially important that you look into nutritional support for your particular condition.

Eating for Good Nutrition Instead of for Comfort

For many of us, it is not easy to change our eating habits. Most of us eat for other reasons than simply to nourish our bodies. We eat because we are bored, feel lonely, upset and in need of comfort, from habit, to fit in with the crowd – you name it!

Often the first step is an increase in awareness. Each time we reach for a ‘treat’, or go for something to eat even though we don’t feel hungry, we neChild with healthy eating
habits of fruit and vegetablesed to pause for a moment to ask ourselves whether our body needs this food or whether it is serving another purpose.

Sometimes we feel a need for something to eat when we are actually dehydrated. At these times, a drink of water or a juicy fruit or vegetable may take away any craving for food.

At other times what we really need is sleep, or exercise, someone to talk to, or a hug. Our eating habits begin very early in childhood. When we were young and upset, many of us were soothed with a cookie, ice cream, or other sweets.

‘Treats’ were something we knew were not good for us. Yes, we were soothed, but we were also learning habits that stayed with us for a long time. Are we teaching our own children the very habits that we now have to work so hard to escape?

Remembering to choose healthy foods usually works better than depriving ourselves of the foods we love. We soon find that as we feel better, we want to eat well to maintain our health.

Article Source: http://www.visioneducators.com/nutrition_for_vision.phtml

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Low vision means that even with regular glasses, contact lenses, medicine, or surgery, people find everyday tasks difficult to do. Reading the mail, shopping, cooking, seeing the TV, and writing can seem challenging.

Millions of Americans lose some of their vision every year. Irreversible vision loss is most common among people over age 65.

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“It’s just that it doesn’t apply to people with AMD, who lose vision only in the center of the retina, called the macula”
The word “blind” is becoming increasingly less associated with age-related macular degeneration (AMD), thanks in part to awareness efforts by MD Support and the conscientiousness of other leading organizations around the world.

Until last fall, according to Dan Roberts, director of MD Support, Inc. and author of “The First Year: Age-Related Macular Degeneration,” nearly all media releases about AMD included statements such as “AMD is the leading cause of blindness among senior citizens.” After an ambitious grass roots campaign by MD Support, Roberts happily reports that the majority of press releases and media broadcasts are now using the more correct terms “low vision, “vision loss” and “visual impairment.”

“It’s not that ‘blind’ is a bad word.” said Roberts. “It’s just that it doesn’t apply to people with AMD, who lose vision only in the center of the retina, called the macula. We encourage AMD patients to learn blindness skills to help compens ate for loss of central vision, but we also emphasize the importance of maximizing and enjoying vision that will never be taken way by the disease. Telling a patient he or she will go blind from AMD often leads to serious depression and even suicide. The World Health Organization estimates that at least 850,000 suicides each year can be attributed to depression from vision loss. I can’t help but think how many of those lives could be saved with accurate information and support.”

Roberts, who is visually-impaired himself, has spent the past five months tracking virtually every public article and news broadcast about macular degeneration appearing on the Internet. As of November 10, 2006, he had found that 58% were still using the word “blind” as a description of AMD. As of March 10, 2007, he reports that the ratio had dropped to 42%, and the trend is continuing downward. This is good news for the large majority of AMD patients, who–according to an MD Support poll taken in October of last year–do not think of themselves as blind and do not want the term to be used to describe their visual condition.

Roberts believes from personal experience that a person who thinks blindness is imminent will not be as likely to seek proper treatment and low vision rehabilitation that could greatly improve quality of life. The mission of MD Support, therefore, is to ensure that all patients are aware of the help available to them and that AMD is not the end of the road. This mission is carried out through the organization’s 800-page website and the beginning of its second year of operating the International MD Support Group. The IMDSG produces free monthly webcasts for retirement centers and libraries around the world on every aspect treating and living with central vision loss. Recordings of these presentations may be viewed by groups and individuals on the IMDSG home page.

Wilson Charles tunes a piano at the School of Piano Technology for the Blind in Vancouver, Wash. Charles, a classical pianist and singer, enrolled to learn a marketable skill.

The Columbian
By SCOTT HEWITT
3/3/2009

To most of us, the piano is some kind of magical mystery box. You sit down and play, and what comes out represents perfect precision in sound.

Each key does exactly what it’s supposed to do, sounds exactly the way it’s supposed to sound in relation to its neighbors, and the whole is a thing of mathematical beauty (skill of the player notwithstanding, of course).

Piano technicians know differently.

“People think you just sit down and make music,” said Mark Burbey, a student at the School of Piano Technology for the Blind in Vancouver’s Hudson’s Bay neighborhood.

“But there are literally thousands of parts that have to work together.”

Said student Robert Giles, “I have learned more about pianos in the past six months than I ever thought possible.”

Giles has always been mechanically inclined, but he’s not a musician. Burbey is.

Mechanical skills

According to school executive director Len Leger, mechanical aptitude probably outweighs musical talent when it comes to learning to be a piano tech.

What Burbey and Giles do share is reliance on their hands and their ears.

All eight students, three instructors and Leger, the school’s president, have some level of visual impairment, from progressive glaucoma to total blindness from birth.

The chief mission of the school is to equip its students for productive, lucrative careers tuning and repairing America’s 18 million pianos, Leger said.

“It’s hard for blind people to find work,” said Leger. “Fifty to 60 percent of blind people are unemployed. But 80 to 90 percent of our graduates are employed.”

Sometimes it’s a university with a lot of practice instruments that take a daily beating, he said. Sometimes it’s a musical-instrument shop that needs to keep its stock ready to sell.

And often, Leger said, it’s a student who starts a business as a tuner.

Out of the school’s more than 300 graduates, Leger said, more than 200 have gone into business for themselves.

“We’ve been incubating small businesses for 60 years,” he said recently, recognizing the school’s anniversary in February.

The first blind piano tuner is thought to be a man named Claude Montal, who attended the Royal Institution for Blind Youth in Paris, France, in the 1830s.

He proved to a skeptical world that blind people could do the job, Leger said.

In 1949, Emil Fries (pronounced “frees”) set up his private nonprofit school in Vancouver after the Washington State School for the Blind eliminated vocational education in favor of academics alone, Leger said.

Fries, who thought vocational education was crucial, quit his teaching post and mortgaged everything he owned to start his school.

“He was legally blind himself,” said Leger. And, it must be confessed, he’s another legendary piano man who didn’t play the piano.

Unique school

But he saw a need. He said his school remains the only private, nonprofit, vocational piano technology school for the blind in the world.

Students take a two-year, full-time course of study — putting in 2,800 clock hours of training time and mastering 343 individual tasks.

“Not everybody masters everything,” Leger said. “Everybody learns at a different rate.”

Graduates must be ready to perform normal home repairs and tune the instrument in “a commercially acceptable time.”

Students start out taking hundreds of hours to tune one instrument, he said. They end up, if all goes well, ready to tune a couple per day.

Not everybody makes it, he said. Some “heavy testing” of hearing and other skills is a prerequisite for entering the school.

The myth that blind people have extra sharp hearing is a stereotype that turns out often to be true, he said.

“Brain research has demonstrated the plasticity of the brain. If you lose one sense, your brain can rewire itself to compensate.”

Fries — who wrote a book called “But You Can Feel It,” which is what his mother said to him when he complained about being sightless — died in 1997.

His school has had its ups and downs, Leger said, but today it’s going strong.

It’s commonly known as a “piano hospital” because it repairs and sells donated pianos to support its educational mission.

The school recruits heavily via the Internet, and students have come from 36 states and 14 countries.

“Big bucks” goal

Wilson Charles, 29, is a native of Haiti. He was majoring in political science at the University of Pennsylvania, he said, when he realized he needed a marketable skill. The classical pianist and singer decided to take a break from university and take the piano school’s two-year course so he can make “big bucks,” he said.

Those bucks will help him finish his college education and head for law school, he said.

Giles, who came from South Carolina, said a friend suggested he put his mechanical aptitude to use — he used to pull apart and rebuild computers for fun, he said — after he burned out on customer service.

“My wife and I sold the mobile home, and here we are,” he said.

“I was scared, but I’ll try anything,” said Ortiz, who also participates in marathons.

North County Times
Alexandra DeLuca

CARLSBAD —- “Are you guys ready to surf?” San Diego Surfing Academy founder Pat Weber asked the crowd of surfers gathered on South Carlsbad State Beach on Sunday morning.

“Yeah!” came the enthusiastic reply, and with that, dozens of surfers took off toward the water.

Just another day at the beach —- except that these surfers can’t see.

For the tenth year in a row, members of the Encinitas Lions Club, Swamis Surfing Association and San Diego Surfing Academy treated participants from the Blind Community Center of San Diego to a day of sun and surfing. The event was co-founded by Bruce King of the Swamis Surf Association and local surfer Larry Graff.ÝÝ

Graff said he got the idea for the event when he saw blind people water-skiing on television. Graff, was treasurer of the Encinitas Lion’s Club at the time, and pitched the idea to the club.

“They focus on sight-related charities, so it was a natural match,” he said.Ý

Ten years later, it has become a much anticipated event.

“It was so great that someone came up with the idea,” said Lee Morton, Director of the Blind Community Center of San Diego.

Morton, 53, who was born blind, has been participating in the surfing event all 10 years.

“It’s so much fun,” she said. “Once you’ve tried it, you want to go back. It’ll be a moral victory if I get up, but as long as I’m riding the wave I’m cool.”

At the start of the event, Weber gathered the group on the sand for a quick lesson. The surfers practiced lying on their surfboards and getting to their feet.

Moments later, they headed out into the waves accompanied by a team of “pitchers” and “catchers.” Two instructors guided the surfers one by one out into the ocean, turned them around and pitched them onto a wave, while volunteers waited in shallow water to catch each surfer as they came ashore.

While most surfers kneeled or lay down on their boards, Aurora Ortiz stood up on almost every wave. While this would be an accomplishment for any surfer, it is all the more amazing considering Ortiz, 63, is blind, partially deaf, and one of her legs is longer than the other due to a car accident.

“I can’t swim, but I’m not afraid to go out,” said Ortiz. “It’s easy except it takes me longer because of my leg.”

Ortiz has been surfing since the first event 10 years ago.

“I was scared, but I’ll try anything,” said Ortiz, who also participates in marathons.

Ortiz said she is grateful to the volunteers, especially Graff.

“They’re giving us confidence and a sense of freedom,” she said. “It’s a great group of people. They give us a lot of love.”

As Ortiz headed back into the waves, Pamela Beaty came ashore for a break.

Beaty, 40, a native San Diegan, lost her sight a few years ago and hasn’t had the opportunity to get to the beach that often.

“It was great being back in the ocean again,” she said. “Kind of like meeting an old friend.”

Weber said he was proud of all of the surfers, as well as the volunteers.

“It’s extremely rewarding and fulfilling,” he said. “It makes me feel good. We’re all very fortunate to have the gift of sight, a passion for surfing and a passion for the ocean. This is a unique opportunity to share it.”

Like glaucoma and cataracts, AMD typically develops only in older eyes.

Abigail Leichman
2/20/2007

When Maria Zoppo of Paterson developed age-related macular degeneration a couple of years ago, she didn’t know that women are at greater risk for this serious eye condition. Like glaucoma and cataracts, AMD typically develops only in older eyes. And women tend to live longer than men.

But some ailments affect women with greater frequency regardless of age, such as dry-eye syndrome and autoimmune diseases — lupus, multiple sclerosis, rheumatoid arthritis — that can affect vision.

Of approximately 3.4 million Americans with visual impairment, about two-thirds are women, according to “Women and Healthy Vision,” a new report from the National Women’s Health Resource Center in Red Bank. Women also account for two-thirds of the 1 million blind Americans.

Like Zoppo, a majority of patients at Paterson’s North Jersey Center for Sight are female, said Dr. Alden Leifer, medical director. A low-vision optometrist and an occupational therapist train partially sighted patients to use devices that can help them read, write, do hobbies, watch TV, and cook and travel safely.

Vision care advice

The “Women and Healthy Vision” report includes a recommendation that all women get a complete eye exam by an eye-care professional every two years. Download a free copy of the report, with suggestions for prevention, at healthywomen.org or request a copy at 877-986-9472.

These devices include special eyeglasses, illuminators and travel-size magnifiers for reading labels and menus, said Leifer. “We also use non-optical devices geared to normal functioning, like large buttons for a calculator or telephone, and guides to help people sign checks or address envelopes.”

Zoppo’s custom-made prism glasses allowed her to resume balancing her checkbook and reading for pleasure. “They’re a blessing. I have my freedom again,” she said.

Dr. Robert Latkany, a dry-eye specialist at Phillips Eye Center in Elmwood Park, said more than 90 percent of his patients are females older than 40.

Triggers of trouble

Changing hormone levels often trigger the problem, although in younger people of both sexes it can be aggravated by working in a dry or smoky environment, wearing contact lenses or looking at a computer screen for hours at a time.

In his forthcoming book “The Dry Eye Remedy,” Latkany describes how to clean the tear glands on the edges of the eyelids to keep them in peak condition (“it’s like brushing your teeth,” he said) and suggests eating foods or supplements that contain omega-3 fatty acids, such as salmon, cod and tuna.

“That dietary change alone led to a reduction of symptoms based on a study done on 37,000 women,” he said.

Dietary and lifestyle changes also can help women avoid developing age-related diseases — such as AMD — that may lead to blindness, said Ilene K. Gipson, senior scientist at Harvard Medical School’s Schepens Eye Research Institute.

These conditions include diabetic retinopathy, when small blood vessels in the eyes weaken and burst; and cataracts, which cloud the eye’s lens with protein deposits.

“The same risk factors — smoking, lack of exercise, exposure to UV [ultraviolet] rays and poor diet — that cause premature death from heart disease and diabetes cause eye problems,” Gipson said. “The most important message is that by taking care of yourself you can prevent a lot of these problems.”

She added that impaired vision increases the risk of social isolation and falling, which both contribute to a shortened lifespan. Keeping vision prescriptions updated and using adequate lighting in the home are simple but important measures, she said.

“We have a new program called One-to-One Money Training,” said Fowler. “We’re providing training right now to SunTrust Bank tellers.”

Breeze Newspapers
By ANDREA GALABINSKI
1/20/2009

A new shop will offer area residents who are visually impaired a number of products that will help in their independence and improve their quality of life.

“The VIP Store is a store for vision aids, that includes everything from talking watches to tools to help a person get their food out of the oven,” said Executive Director Doug Fowler. “We have so many things it’s incredible. We have walking canes, magnifiers, large screen calculators and talking software for computers — the list goes on and on. If you’re losing your eyesight, we have all kinds of accessories to make your life easier and safer.”

Fowler expanded on one item, the oven aid.

“It’s called a Push Me-Pull Me, basically a stick that has notches in it. You put it over an oven rack without having to grab a mitt or towel,” he said. “A visually impaired per son may not be able to determine which rack to grab. It’s more safety conscious, less chance for fires or burns.”

Bill Crysler of VIP helped set up the shop, along with volunteer coordinators Judy Bezdek and Debbie Reed.

“There are a lot of low vision aids, we have talking everything,” he said. There’s talking scales, clocks — even thermometers. “When people come here for services, these items are right here, they don’t have to hunt for products. If we don’t have it, we can order it.”

He noted the special sunglasses display.

“There’s UV protection, they cut out glare,” he said.

“The equipment and products in the store and the courses here make for independence, more quality of life,” said volunteer co-coordinator Bezdek.

Co-coordinator Reed agreed. Staring as a client, Reed enjoys art classes offered there, and has her artwork on the cover of a new calendar being sold there now.

The general public is encouraged to shop at the center shop as well, especially for the calendar and special greeting cards.

On shelves next to the main counter of the shop, greeting cards for all occasions are displayed. Volunteers at the center recycle the cards, and funds generated go to help provide services.

“There’s birthday, Valentine’s cards, sympathy, get well — cards for all occasions,” said Bezdek.

Hours for the new store are the same as regular operation hours, 7:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., Monday through Thursday.

The new shop isn’t all that’s new at the VIP Center.

“We have a new program called One-to-One Money Training,” said Fowler. “We’re providing training right now to SunTrust Bank tellers.”

The tellers are learning how to help visually impaired customers with their special banking needs.

“For example, if a visually impaired people uses SunTrust Bank, tellers will fold money in a way that is safe for the person, is practical and allows them to manage their own cash and coins when they’re doing their personal business,” Bezdek said.

Fowler said SunTrust Bank officials and tellers have been very excited about the program. It’s already launched in the Del Prado Boulevard branch in Cape Coral.

One manager that has expressed a lot of enthusiasm about the program is Meropi Georgeoglou, branch manager at the SunTrust Del Prado Banking Center.

“At SunTrust Bank we have what’s called the Diversity Council, and goals are to have a more diverse employee base and a diverse customer base,” Fowler said. “Part of the outreach plan for 2009 is to partner with community agencies and non profit organizations like VIP.”

She’s co-chair of the Disabilities Committee for the Diversity Council.

“The council works to understand needs in the community,” she said. “We realized they’re a lot we could be doing with customer service to the visually impaired. The goal for 2009 is to have all of the tellers at all of the branches in Southwest Florida trained in this type of money handling.”

She said the bank has branches in five counties, and they are starting the program in Lee County.

The Del Prado branch in the Cape and the Financial Center in Fort Myers are now ready to go. She encourages customers who like to know about the service to ask at the branches, or call her at her center.

Fowler also said the VIP has started to provide training to eye doctors about services and programs at the center.

VIP has a variety of programs including Activities of Daily Living, Braille, Eccentric Viewing Training (Reading), Assistive Technology Training (computers, etc.) There is also an optometrist who specializes in low vision, and the office specializes in one-on-one training in orientation and mobility classes.

The center also offers social services for clients and their families through counseling, information and resources. There are also rehabilitation services to help individuals and their families adjust and cope with vision loss.

VIP holds classes and provides training throughout Lee and Collier counties. There is no charge for most of its services. Funding is received from the state of Florida Division of Blind Services, Lee County Human Services, United Way of Lee County and from various contributions and donations from individuals and businesses.

The volunteer coordinators said more volunteers are now needed at the center, in a variety of capacities. Volunteers can help with the card recycling program, with the in-house art program, computers and office work, even public relations.

They are looking for both sighted and non-sighted volunteers.

“If a person has vision problems and they feel they can’t do something, we can give teach them the skills they need to volunteer,” said Fowler. “Those skills can help a person secure a paying job in the future as well, another benefit from volunteering. We already have volunteers that have moved on to paying jobs in the last few months.”

All guarantee it will be a rewarding experience.

The VIP Center is located in North Fort Myers at 35 West Mariana Ave. and serves individuals from all local areas, including many from Cape Coral. The phone number for information is 997-7797, and assistance with transportation is available.

These studies confirm that AMD has a strong genetic component

Variations in Genes Can Influence the Risk of Developing Age-Related Macular Degeneration and Other Disease Such as Cancer

A team of researchers has determined that variations in certain genes involved in fighting infection can successfully predict the risk of developing age-related macular degeneration (AMD), the leading cause of blindness in white Americans over the age of 60. The team*, led by Bert Gold, Ph.D., and Michael Dean, Ph.D., of the National Cancer Institute (NCI), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), identified a genetic variant that is associated with an increased risk of developing AMD. They also found two genetic variants that protect against developing this disease. Study results appear online March 5, 2006 in Nature Genetics**.

The genes analyzed in this study, Complement Factor B (BF) and Complement Component 2 (C2) contain the instructions to make proteins that activate the body’s immune defense against microbial infections. These defense responses are part of a system called the complement pathways. These pathways involve numerous proteins in the blood that work in association with the body’s immune cells and antibodies to destroy bacteria, viruses or fungi invading the body. Some complement proteins can stimulate inflammation, the redness and swelling that result in tissues when they are infected.

Previous studies have shown that genetic variations in complement pathway genes can cause a dysfunction in the inflammatory response that plays a central role in the pathology of AMD***. Based on these findings, investigators initiated this study, which screened almost 900 patients with AMD and 400 unaffected individuals for genetic variants in the BF and C2 genes. Data analysis revealed that specific variants in each gene were associated with AMD. One genetic variant conferred an increased risk for AMD, while two genetic variants showed protection against developing this disease. These results, when analyzed in association with results linking AMD and genetic variants of Complement Factor H, a gene than contains the instructions to make a protein that inhibits the complement system showed that 56 percent of the unaffected individuals had a variant that conferred protection to AMD while 74 percent of those with AMD had no protective variants.

These studies confirm that AMD has a strong genetic component, said Paul Sieving, M.D., Ph.D., director, National Eye Institute, at NIH. This may support the development of screening tests for risk of developing AMD, which would allow us to administer treatment early in the course of disease. Knowing the underlying genetic alterations for risk could also aid in developing preventive therapies tailored to an individual’s genetic background.

AMD is a disease that blurs or destroys sharp, central vision. Approximately 7.3 million Americans have intermediate stages of AMD with a high risk of increasing vision loss, while 1.8 million are visually impaired due to this disease. There is no known cure for AMD.

We were studying a very common disease, but no one knew its cause. It was unexpected to find that the immune system was involved in causing AMD, said Gold, Laboratory of Genomic Diversity at NCI and lead author of this study. Understanding how genetic variations in complement pathway genes are causing this common, complex disease could be very helpful in understanding other complex diseases, such as cancer.

In the cancer field, there is increasing interest in how infection and chronic inflammation could promote tumor growth. Studies have shown that inflammatory cells can promote tumor growth by producing a favorable growth environment. Complement proteins play an important role in inflammation. This discovery of a link between genetic variants in complement genes and AMD may be relevant to the role of complement in cancer progression.

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) The Nation’s Medical Research Agency includes 27 Institutes and Centers and is a component of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. It is the primary federal agency for conducting and supporting basic, clinical and translational medical research, and it investigates the causes, treatments, and cures for both common and rare diseases. For more information about NIH and its programs, visit http://www.nih.gov.

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* Researchers are from the Departments of Ophthalmology and Pathology & Cell Biology, Columbia University, New York, N.Y.; the Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, Center for Macular Degeneration, University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa; Sapio Sciences LLC, York, Pd.; F. M. Kirby Center for Molecular Ophthalmology, Scheie Eye Institute, University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, Philadelphia, Pa.; and the Laboratory of Genomic Diversity, NCI, Frederick, Maryland.

** Gold B, Merriam JE, Zernant J, Hancox LS, Taiber AJ, Gehrs K, Cramer K, Neel J, Bergeron J, Barile GR, Smith RT, Chang S, Yannuzzi LA, Merriam JC, Barbazetto I, Lerner LE, Russell S, Hoballah J, Hageman J, Stockman H, Hageman GS, Dean M, and Allikmets R. Variation in the Factor B (BF) and Complement Component 2 (C2) genes in the MHC Class III Locus is associated with age-related macular degeneration. Nature Genetics, online March 5, 2006.

*** Hageman, GS et. al., Common haplotype in the complement regulatory gene, Factor H (HF1/CFH), predisposes Individuals to age-related macular degeneration. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, May 17, 2005; 102 (20) 7227-7232.

The National Eye Institute is part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and is the Federal government’s lead agency for vision research that leads to sight-saving treatments and plays a key role in reducing visual impairment and blindness. The NIH is an agency of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.