I'm currently trying out the method described by Todd Becker on the 'Getting Stronger' site and I'm very enthusiastic about it. I started a few months ago and I'm pretty sure that my eyesight has improved by half a point (from -4.5 to -4.0). Todd Becker himself seems to have fixed his nearsightedness in about a year.

http://gettingstronger.org/2010/07/improve-eyesight-and-throw-away-your-glasses/

Here's a quote that I like a lot: "The problem with glasses and contacts are that they are crutches. [...] just as one’s leg would never fully recover, but would actually become weaker, if you continued to use crutches indefinitely, the use of corrective lenses allows your eye to become progressively weaker"

I'm not sure about strengthening the eyes or not. My optician told me that they actually increase the power of contacts over what your actual prescription is, so I'd imagine contacts would actually be worse for your eyes in the long run. On top of this, contacts tend to be very hard in the eyes even with the latest and greatest materials.

However, if it was between glasses and contacts, I feel contacts are "more paleo" than glasses. If you absolutely need vision correction, my reasoning is that, at least for me, glasses tend to get in the way and are more distorting to my vision than contacts. I actually can noticeably tell a difference between my vision with my glasses, and my vision with my contacts. Since I've gotten contacts, my depth perception, night vision, and overall visual clarity has improved drastically.

I feel the really important part about wearing contacts and doing as little damage to your eyes as possible is the solution you clean them with. When I first got contacts my optician put me on Opti-Free and within several weeks my eyes were bloodshot and red almost /all/ the time, and it only got better when I wasn't wearing my contacts. I was very disappointed, because I thought this meant I just couldn't wear contacts. I did some of my own research, and it turns out that Opti-Free is a lab-created cleaning solution, the research that backs up the "kills 99.9% of germs" claim was actually paid for by the parent company that makes Opti-Free, and it's rare but not uncommon for people to show an allergic reaction to the chemicals/preservatives in many commercial cleaning solutions. I switched to Clear Care, which uses hydrogen peroxide and a special cleaning case that will neutralize the hydrogen peroxide into a saline solution over a 6 hour period so it doesn't sear your eyeballs, and have had absolutely no problems since. It would make sense from a paleo point of view that a natural solution with no preservatives or other chemicals would be better for your eyes too!

I don't understand the statement that "contacts aren't paleo," unless you mean in the reenactment sense. If that's what you mean, then t-shirts aren't paleo either. Neither are the jeans you wear or the house you live in or the job where you work. Contacts help you see better and are mostly made of water. Why not wear them?

I think you should consider having your thyroid checked.

Blurred vision is a symptom of hyperglycemia (high blood sugar). It could be that eating paleo keeps blood glucose levels down and in turn gives clearer vision.

I looked into this awhile ago, and there are books and eye-exercise programs you can buy that claim to improve eye sight. I remember reading a famous case of someone who wanted to be a pilot in the airforce, I think, but he failed his eye exam. So he did a bunch of eye exercises and later passed the test. I think that is documented - but I may be wrong.

The basic idea is that the shape of the eye is determined by a variety of muscles, which can become overly tight due to our looking at one distance (book, tv, computer) for too long. Just like tight hamstrings from sitting all day can impair leg movement, tight eye muscles from staring at one distance can impair vision. The exercises are designed to loosen and strengthen the eye muscles. Most of the exercises involve alternating between focusing on a point near and then a point far away...

I bought some books on this and an eye exercise program years ago. I did some of the exercises for a couple weeks, and I saw improvement (I came with an idea chart, and I could see a line below where I started - but I didn't stick with it long enough to say whether it really could fix my vision. If you give it a shot, let us know how it works for you.

If it's possible to rid yourself of glasses through exercises, I think it is definitely paleo to do so.

I wear glasses, I don't mind at all. Paleo or not I like to see stuff. My eyesight has not changed.

I also have astigmatism in both eyes.

I have a fitness/exercise/nutrition company where I make personalized nutrition and workout plans for clients. About a year ago, a guy I worked with and was having to be very precise in the nutrition department because he's a very brittle diabeitc noticed a change in his vision. I had put him on something similar to paleo, actually closer to primal and he began having serious trouble seeing...went to get new glasses made... his vision had actually improved some and he needed LESS correction than he did before starting.

Will improved diet cure vision problems for most of us? Probably not, it hasn't mine...but in some cases, where blood glucose issues are the root of the vision problems...it absolutely...might. make some improvement. Sorry, can't say WILL as much as I'd like to.

Sorry hon. I'm a licensed optician. There really isn't a way to "strengthen" your eyes. Your nearsightedness or farsightedness is based on the shape of your eye, the curvature of your cornea and the condition of your crystalline lens (the part that clouds causing a cataract). Most peoples' prescriptions worsen over time, a small number of peoples' get better (and usually its only a perceived improvement due to presbyopia-i.e needing bifocals- but that's another story). There's really not anything you can do about it. Your eye is dynamic, and will continue to grow and change just as the rest of your body does as you get older. There are things you can do to prevent degenerative disease such as cataracts (wearing sunglasses) and macular degeneration (proper nutrition among other things).

You stated that you wear the 30 day contacts- I'm assuming you mean the ones you literally wear for 30 days without taking out? If so, its possible your vision does seem slightly better when removing them after a long period. Contacts can have a "molding" effect, shaping your cornea to a more correct curvature. It is a temporary effect, and will go away gradually, eventually taking you back to your current need for glasses and/or contacts.

That being said, I'm sure there are a few things that can be affecting your vision that may be improved by diet. But they won't be the refractive error naturally in your eye that is the main reason for glasses or contacts.

Hmmm. I'm overdue for a visit to the eye doctor, so I'll be interested in seeing what my prescription ends up being. However, I also have astigmatism, which I doubt is going to be affected by diet.

My husband said out of the blue the other night that his eyesight is better since giving up grains.

Mine has improved in the last year, back to -1.75 from 2.00

Not exactly related, but I have celiac disease, and after I was gluten free for several months, I noticed my night blindness improved, which is not uncommon. It's due to malabsorption of vitamin A because the intestinal mucosa has become worn down. SAD probably causes damage and malabsorption issues, too. I also notice now that if I don't eat much food high in Vit A, the nightblindness, while not as bad, returns.

My eyesight has improved. I don't need lenses, but before paleo I had been experiencing eyestrain and a severe difficulty changing depth of focus. That went away quickly on paleo (perhaps because it included vitamin D3 supplementation).