Your eyes may be the window to your soul, but they are also the window to your health. So what things could your eyes be warning you about your health?
I have recently become obsessed with peoples eyes and photographing them. I plan on starting my own photography website on just eyes, because they amaze me more than anything in the world. You can tell so much from looking at someone in the eyes – whether they are sick, unhappy, incredibly happy, content, angry, resentful, and so much more.
I’ve noticed a trend over the last year among individuals who consume a clean diet and the state of their eyes. I’ve also noticed people who consume a clean diet, yet their eyes are still worrisome. As important as diet is, I also believe that stress-reduction techniques are key (aka. meditation, yoga, creative expression, etc.). Even personally, I’ve come to find that after 5 years of being raw vegan and eating very cleanly, that it wasn’t until I started yoga and loving unconditionally that my eyes began to change.
Aside from that, which is a separate story in itself, your eyes have a remarkable way of expressing the state of your health.
What Your Eyes May Be Warning You About Your Health
Here are 8 signs that your eyes may be reflecting more inner disturbance than you’d ever think to imagine!
1. Bloodshot (red) whites
There are many reasons your eye whites may become bloodshot. You might have an eye infection like pink eye, or you could have strained your eyes by staring at a computer or TV for too long. It is also the possibility that you could have burned the whites of your eyes in the sun (which I have mistakenly done in the past). However, if the whites of your eyes are chronically bloodshot, then you may want to get to the bottom of it (after all, clear eye whites are one of the most important signs of how healthy someone is).
Here are the many causes of chronic blood-shot eyes:
– Dehydration (make sure you are drinking at least 3-4L of water daily)
– Poor diet (get rid of junk food, and switch to water and mineral-dense fruit and vegetables. Focus on a clean, whole foods plant-based diet)
– Allergies (again, switching your diet to one that contains plenty of anti-oxidants and anti-inflammatories will help reduce your allergy symptoms. What kind of diet is that? A high-raw plant-based diet!)
– Contact lenses (cheap contact lenses (ones that do not fit the eye properly) are a major cause of blood-shot eyes, as they irritate the delicate membranes)
2. Eyes that bulge
If your eyes protrude more than normal, this may be a sign of hyperthyroidism (over-active thyroid gland). Thankfully, you can heal your thyroid naturally, if you just take the time to change your diet, manage your stress and get in some body-loving exercise.
3. Twitching eyes and eyelids
Do your eyes or eyelids twitch a lot? I remember when my eyes used to twitch back when I wasn’t eating enough fresh fruit and veggies. Twitching eyes and eyelids is a sign of magnesium deficiency, and magnesium is found mainly in seeds (hemp, pumpkin, chia, etc.), dark leafy greens and fruit like figs and cacao. Seeing as how most people are magnesium deficient (even our produce has declining levels of magnesium uptake due to poor farming practices and stripped soils over the years), finding an ionic magnesium supplement is key.
4. Yellow whites
Yellow whites are very signifying of a liver issue. When our skin or eyes start to yellow, it’s called jaundice, and this means that we need to pay our liver a little more attention. If our liver is not working properly, then it can’t pull out toxins from the blood, and instead, these toxins get re-absorbed into our cells, accumulating and creating problems that manifest as different forms of disease and illness. Getting rid of alcohol, refined sugar and processed food as well as saturated animal fat found in most animal-based products is the first step to healing the liver.
5. Hazy pupils
If your pupils are starting to become hazy, that means that cataracts may be starting to develop. Cataracts create a white/blue fogginess over the pupil and blurs the vision as time goes by. Cataracts develop when our eyes age, but this can be accelerated by toxic stress, poor diet, dehydration and heavy metal poisoning (especially from heavy cigarette smoking, which contains the heavy metal cadmium). Hydrating yourself, switching to an organic, whole-foods plant-based diet and ditching any smoking or drinking habits would help reduce or even reverse this condition.
6. White corneal ring
A white corneal ring around the iris is also called “arcus senilis”. It is a condition caused by severe cases of high cholesterol and triglycerides in younger adults, whereas in older adults, it may simply be caused by fat (lipid) deposits deep in the edge of the cornea.
7. Black spot in the iris
A black spot in the iris that almost looks like a mole with slightly raised surface can signal malignant melanoma, a dangerous cancer. This cancer damages the choroid layers between the whites of the eye and the retina, and so it tends to fester right in the iris (pigment). The two most common cancers that spread to the eye are lung cancer in men and breast cancer in women.
8. Blurry vision
If you’re experiencing any rapid changes in your eyeglass prescription, and your eyes are getting worse and worse every year, then this can be an early sign of diabetes. If you’re consuming too much dietary animal products, which are high in saturated fat, your blood glucose levels will rise, and this extra glucose can sweep into the lens and change its shape, making it hard to focus and results in blurred vision. Blurry vision can also result from sitting too closely in front of computer screens or TV’s, so be sure the distance from your eyes to the screen are a reasonable distance (especially for those of you who work office jobs!).
Disclaimer: This article contains a mention to Smartbuyglasses.ca, who reimbursed me with a pair of sunglasses for the mention. I fully agree and support the products they sell. Live Love Fruit only allows external links if they fall in line with the overall theme of blog.
hey Carly I think you might have a typo. Hypothyroidism is underactive thyroid right? You wrote overactive.☺️
Oh, yes! Thanks Tracy!