My left eye, nutrition, and mind-body healing

I woke up at 3:30 Tuesday morning with a pain in my eye. It felt as if sand had drifted in under my contact, but I wasn’t wearing my contacts and I was in bed, not at the beach. I assumed I must have an eyelash or random piece of hair in my eye, so I rinsed it with water and then with saline, but it still didn’t feel better. I had a feeling that this was something that might not go away on its own.

My usual optometrist wasn’t available, so I saw a new doc who told me that I had an ulcer on m cornea. She then proceeded to tell me that I needed better hygiene and that ulcers could lead to vision loss and the need for cornea transplants. Can you imagine my shock?? My mind and body were coursing with fear, and my stress response was switched ON. I filled the prescription for eye drops and was searching Dr. Google (which is never helpful). After an hour or so, I made a conscious decision to switch from a fear-based mindset to a healing mindset. I took several deep breaths, practiced a healing guided meditation, and then filled my body with anti-inflammatory food (ginger, greens, collagen, etc.) and supplements (fish oil, eyebright, enzymes, vitamin C).

I also shifted my environment from thoughts of the doctor and what she had said to my dear friend and optometrist @mariahiggins who assured me this would heal completely given what she knew about my health and my eyes. Whew. What a relief. I continued on with anti-inflammatory foods, supplements, meditation, and sleep. When I returned for my follow-up visit, the doc I had seen wasn’t there. The new eye doc reviewed my chart, looked at my eye, and said that he didn’t even see a mark on it. It had completely healed! He was surprised and noted that he only sees healing happen that quickly in a small percentage of people who have a really good diet. I was shocked that he, a seemingly very conventional doc, made that connection. He also said that my positive attitude might have helped. Not might. I knew it did.

I know the power of the mind-body connection and using food as medicine from over 12 years of study and practice, but when I experience it happen to my own body, it is truly amazing. The moral of the story is that what we feed ourselves via our thoughts, the people and information with whom we surround ourselves, and the food we put in our bodies has an undeniable impact on our health.

You get to choose how you want to feed yourself with each thought, with each conversation, and with each bite. Don’t beat yourself up for the fuel you have used in the past. Choose, right now, in this moment, to fuel your health!