Night blindness or poor night vision is a common problem that many people don’t realize can be resolved with simple dietary changes that work within weeks. You may even be able to throw away your glasses like I did!
My husband and I recently decided to bite the bullet and convert our old family videotapes to digital format. These tapes were sitting uselessly in a cabinet collecting dust because we no longer had a machine that could play them. This was no small (or cheap) task since over 80 hours of footage required converting!
Getting this huge project done has been so worth it. The kids really enjoy watching footage of themselves as babies, old birthday parties, family events, and other fun goings-on throughout the years. Best of all, it’s all available in seconds with a click of the remote on the big TV screen!
Glasses for Poor Night Vision
One thing that really shocked the kids while they were watching some of the oldest footage from over 15 years ago is that my husband and I both used to wear glasses. My husband used to wear them all day, every day for nearsightedness.
In my case, I wore glasses in the evening or while driving at night because of night blindness.
In fact, none of the kids has any memory of either of us ever wearing glasses. With my oldest now 21, that is a long time to have tossed the specs for good!
“Why don’t you and Daddy wear glasses anymore?” they asked.
This is a very interesting question, one that I haven’t considered in a very long time. My husband and I both developed a need for glasses shortly after graduating from college. We wore them until around 2002 when our second child was born. After that, we just didn’t seem to need them anymore and gradually stopped wearing them altogether. Strangely enough, this happened for both us right around the same time!
The interesting thing is that my husband needed glasses for mild myopia and I needed them for night blindness issues. These vision issues are completely different and occurred for seemingly unrelated reasons.
So what changed during that time in 2002 that has allowed not one, but both of us the freedom to no longer need glasses?
The ONLY thing that changed was our diet
In late 2001, we discovered traditional eating.
I was immediately struck by the total logic and sense of ancestral approaches to health after reading Nutrition and Physical Degeneration and the classic cookbook Nourishing Traditions. Within days, we abandoned our lowfat diet and embraced healthy, whole fats. These include butter, cream, egg yolks, fish eggs, and high vitamin cod liver oil just like our ancestors enjoyed.
This change had the immediate effect of resolving my hypoglycemia problems through the stabilization of blood sugar and the elimination of sugar cravings. My panic attacks naturally resolved too.
The improvement to our eyesight was more gradual, however. It took place over a span of a few months. We both noticed about the same time that we really just didn’t need those glasses anymore.
How could traditional diet have made a difference?
In my estimation, it was the Vitamin A that made the difference for me. For Richard, it was likely the Vitamin D. Both of these critical, fat soluble vitamins in their natural forms are plentifully available in traditional foods revered by healthy, ancestral cultures.
Vitamin A Resolves Night Blindness
In the book Eat Fat, Lose Fat, authors Dr. Mary Enig and Sally Fallon Morell write in Chapter 4 about Stephen, a young electrician from Buffalo, New York who was struggling with night vision problems.
When Stephen learned that night blindness can be caused by Vitamin A deficiency, he decided to skip the synthetic A supplement pills. Instead, he took a whole food supplement like cod liver oil. Within 3 months, his night blindness had vanished.
Stephen’s experience almost exactly mirrors my own. Within a few months of starting on a traditional diet which includes natural sources of Vitamin A, my night blindness disappeared. What’s even more exciting, it has never returned in the ensuing 15 years. This is the brand I used.
What’s particularly compelling about my story is that when my night blindness was at its worst, I was taking a daily supplement that contained synthetic Vitamin A and beta carotene. Obviously, these Vitamin A sources were doing nothing to help my night blindness issues!
Only when I added natural Vitamin A from traditional foods did the night blindness disappear. This is a very important distinction.
Conventional medicine recognizes the benefits of Vitamin A in resolving night blindness. However, beta carotene and synthetic Vitamin A are considered as good as true Vitamin A. Clearly, this is not the case at least for some people like me.
Low Vitamin D and Mild Myopia
In my husband’s case, his mild myopia resolved at about the same time as my night blindness. In his case, though, it is likely that natural Vitamin D did the trick. Cod liver oil contains not only natural Vitamin A, but also natural Vitamin D!
Note that like me, he was obtaining most of the Vitamin D in his diet from a synthetic vitamin pill when he was experiencing vision problems. The synthetic Vitamin D did nothing to help resolve the problem.
The Vitamin D Council reports that Vitamin D deficiency appears to be related to the severity of nearsightedness.
2,038 people aged 13 to 18 years old participated in this large study. The researchers examined the participants’ vitamin D levels, evaluated each person for myopia, and noted the severity of the condition.
The researchers found that vitamin D levels were significantly related to the severity of myopia. This means that lower vitamin D levels were related to more severe myopia among the study participants.
Traditional Diet to Improve Night Vision
Did the addition of traditional foods to my diet and my husband’s diet resolve our vision issues?
While our story is only anecdotal and in no way scientific, the evidence sure does point in that direction!
Do you suffer from night blindness or mild nearsightedness that is causing you grief or the need for prescription lenses? If so, it’s certainly worth a shot to incorporate traditional fats like cod liver oil into your diet for a few months to see if it helps.
I can tell you that after more than a decade of not needing glasses for my night vision issues, I am certainly glad I made this dietary change!
Only Natural Vitamins A/D Help the Eyes!
I recommend these vetted brands of quality cod liver oil that are tested and guaranteed to contain only natural Vitamin A and D. If you wish to try some and see how well it works for yourself, use coupon code HealthyHome10 to get a discount!
I don’t recommend buying this particular supplement at the healthfood store. The reason is that the vast majority of commercial cod liver oil brands contain synthetic Vitamin A and D, which will not help your night blindness!
References
Eat Fat, Lose Fat
Vitamin D Council, New Study Finds Vitamin D Levels Related to Myopia
Vitamin A Saga
More Information
Cod Liver Oil Reduces Dependence on Painkillers for Rheumatoid Arthritis
I second Aaron’s comments on the Bates method. Absolutely look into this. You will be able to improve your vision naturally. Even if you have been wearing corrective lenses for decades.
20 years ago on the advice of my doctor I was eating a low fat diet to lower my cholesterol. That took my hdl below 40, and my trigs to the moon. Then he told me jogging would get my hdl up. Next my arms weren’t long enough to read (my vision had always been excellent), and I was debilitated with allergies, arthritis, sinus infections, and nasal polyps. 5 years ago I discovered WAP. Had I not I am sure I would be dead by now, or wish I was Over the last 2 years I have experimented with a high fat low (almost no carb) ketogenic diet. I think I’ll stick with this ketogenic diet it seems to work well for me. I no longer use, or need reading glasses. Could it be the ketogenic diet? You are doing a great service to humanity, with your blog.
I’m so glad you wrote about this Sarah! I now wear glasses full time for near sightedness. The interesting thing is that as a young adult I didn’t need glasses and my vision declined when I started experiencing symptoms of Celiac Disease (and didn’t know what it was for several years). Compromised digestion. Fat malabsorption. It all makes sense. I have been on FCLO for a while now and will stay on it.
Fermented cod liver oil is so expensive but that is what everyone recommends. Is regular cod liver oil really all that bad?
With what I know now of how regular cod liver oil is processed (at very high heat), I personally would not take it if the fermented cod liver oil was not available.
I’ve used corrective lenses since early high school. Like many, my vision worsened over time. I typically purchase a stronger set of contacts with each visit to the eye doctor. Then, I started eating a WAP diet including cod liver oil in 2011. I went to my eye doctor again in 2012 because (as usual) I could no longer see with my current prescription. I could no longer see well because my eyes had improved so dramatically and I was still wearing the contacts that were now much too strong! My doctor was surprised by my improvements. My contact lens prescription went from -3.50 to -1.50. My eyes seem to be holding at this level. I am most please by this improvement!
Fantastic!
Well isn’t that funny. I started taking FCLO/Butter Oil a couple years back and have noticed the exact same thing. No one told me that my vision might change, and I had 20/20 (or close to it) vision to start with, but gradually I started to notice sharper details.
I had glasses that I used when reading for long periods – to prevent headaches, not to make things sharper – but I started to find them to be too strong. Haven’t worn them since.
Very interesting Sarah. Any advice for those of us that now have to carry reading glasses everywhere? Over the last two years (I just turned 49) it has gotten bad. I still have slightly better than 20/20 for distance, but ugh… I hate having to carry reading glasses around.
Yes, I am researching this now as I occasionally need reading glasses when I am trying to read tiny writing on labels, but I don’t want to use them ever! Will report on my progress and whether I am successful 🙂
Tell me what you do… I will try anything you recommend and I can be a test subject. 🙂 I do take FCLO/BO about 3 or 4 days a week.
How much did you take a day? Were you taking the liquid or capsules? My family has been using this brand over 3 months and have noticed no change my vision and my daughter just had her eyes checked and needed glasses??!!
I took the liquid and took 1 tsp per day at that time.
Did you use just the Radiant Life FCLO or did you use the FCLO/Butter oil combination? Do you have a preference for one or the other, and if so, why? Thanks.
There was no butter oil at that time years ago when my eyesight suddenly improved over the span of a few months … I was only taking 1 tsp of plain cod liver oil off the spoon. The Green Pastures cod liver oil was not fermented either at that time and there were no flavors: I still take Green Pastures .. but they have improved the product considerably which is awesome.
thats awesome! I am terribly near sighted and have been since kindergarten. We do take FCLO and drink raw milk. My eyes haven’t gotten worse in years, which is an improvement for me. I wonder if mine haven’t gotten better because I’ve had bad sight for so long? I would love to see any research you did on this. I would love to improve my vision! Thanks for sharing! So glad for yall!
Glasses needed since childhood may not be able to be corrected since this is likely due to nutritional factors that shaped eye development in the womb (in the same manner as crooked teeth is from nutritional deficiency). In my case and my husband’s case, the problems developed in adulthood and were resolved easily with whole food supplementation. I do know folks who have glasses on both sides of the family and their children didn’t need glasses as they were very careful to follow traditional diet during pregnancy and early childhood.
The fact that your eyes haven’t gotten any worse is a testament that your diet is holding the line there. Well done!
I wore glasses/contacts since 4th grade and have stopped wearing either in the past couple of years. I do use reading glasses for reading the tiny stuff and sometimes at night when I’m very tired I’ll use a pair of 10 year old glasses to watch tv but for the most part; I am glasses and contact free..
I’m not sure if it is from my traditional diet but I don’t know what else it could be. I am 62 (almost 63 years old) so I’m pretty sure I’m past the developing stage 🙂
Ashleigh, I have good news for you. I have benefited much from the Bates method of natural vision improvement, and as everyone else who has followed his method, I believe you can too!
You can read about Dr. bates here http://www.visionsofjoy.org/AboutBates.htm
and read his 1920 book ‘Perfect Sight Without Glasses’ here: http://www.iblindness.org/ebooks/perfect-sight-without-glasses/
The work of Dr. William H. Bates is not very well known in our country, however there are several Bates vision training schools in the UK. His method really does work, as I have witnessed its effectiveness in my own vision. I do not wear glasses any more for nearsighted astigmatism.
I used the Bates method too, along with my cod liver oil from Green Pasture! It has improved my myopia considerably. I used to wear glasses all the time (since age 11), but I reduced my prescription twice, and now I can’t even stand to wear them because they are too strong again.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eCCRUiIp3nI