About Visual Impairment

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People who are visually impaired do not see well enough to perform everyday tasks, even with the aid of glasses, contact lenses, medicine or surgery.

Blindness, the most severe form of visual impairment, deprives people the ability to move about unaided.

Most forms of visual impairment and blindness can be avoided or can be readily treated or cured with well known and inexpensive measures.

The four levels of visual function are:

1. Normal vision
2. Moderate visual impairment
3. Severe visual impairment.
4. Blindness

Both moderate and severe visual functions are considered low vision. Low vision and blindness are  classified as visual impairment.

Persons At Risk- Persons at risk are those living in developing countries,  age 50 and over and children under 15.

The main causes of visual impairment are cataract, glaucoma, myopia and astigmatism.

Prevention is important and effective in reducing the number of persons with visual impairment, 80% of cases are preventable. Some reasons for the progress made in prevention are:

• Raising awareness on a global level
• Expanding eye services to include primary and secondary healthcare systems
• More programs on a national level to prevent and control visual impairment
• Early diagnosis of diseases that cause visual impairment
• Patient education that aims to prevent visual impairment

This fact file  from World Health Organization highlights figures for blindness and visual impairment
Read the fact sheet

The Importance Of The Food Groups In Our Diet

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Our body needs the right nutrients in the right amount to prevent diseases, to recover from unavoidable illnesses, for health and vitality.

The body gets its nutrients from carbohydrates, fats, protein,vitamins and minerals. The sources of each vary but they are obtained by eating foods from all four food groups.

The food groups are not of equal importance.
Good nutrition involves eating more of the important ones and less of the least important. Good nutrition involves watching certain foods, limiting some and even avoiding some


For the purpose of communicating the nutrition necessary for health and vitality, I am using Canada Food Guide.  Canada Food Guide uses a rainbow to illustrate food groups and their importance in our diet. 

The four groups of foods that provide the body with nutrients are:

1. Vegetables and fruits
2. Grain products
3. Milk and milk alternative
4. Meat and meat alternatives

The food groups are listed in order of importance, with Vegetables & Fruits the most importance. Meat & Meat Alternatives is the least important food group.

Their degree of importance is significant because the importance we place on a food product will affect our eating habits.

For good nutrition or healthy eating habits we will need to plan for meals consisting of more vegetables and fruits than grains.  We will need a diet of more grain products than milk or meat, and so on.

Individuals who find it difficult to place the right importance on a food product may develop unhealthy eating patterns.

 This Healthy Eating Guide has been taken from Canada Food guide. It has been simplified so that anyone can use it to work out their daily food intake. CLICK HERE..

Canada Food Guide.

Sugary Drinks-A Risk For Type 2 Diabetes

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Too much sugar in the diet has been associated with an unhealthy diet and consumers have been warned against sugary drinks. 

Overweight and obese individuals are especially at risk because they need to control their calorie intake to be a healthy weight.

A research report  found that the risk for type 2 diabetes is significantly increased with one serving of sweetened soft drink per day.

For the study, researchers collected data on consumption of:

1. Juices
2. Nectars
3. Sugar sweetened soft drinks
4. Artificial sweeteners

The data was take from 8 European patient groups involved in an investigation of cancer & nutrition.  There were 12,403 diabetics and  over 16,000 participants, randomly selected.

After taking total energy and body mass index(BMI) into account, researchers found one sweetened soft drink per day increased the risk of type 2 diabetes by 18%.  Pure fruit juices and nectars were not associated with diabetes and when the BMI's were taken into account, artificial sweeteners could not be linked to the increased risk.

According to the study, even normal weight or thin individuals can develop type 2 diabetes due to the consumption of one sugary sweetened soft drink per day.

Healthy eating is an important lifestyle habit to prevent diseases such as diabetes, heart disease, strokes, respiratory disease and obesity. 

Click here for a guide to your daily food intake.

Food Safety-The Focus Of World Health Day

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World Health Day is celebrated each year on April 07. This year the theme is 'Farm to Plate, Make Food Safe.'

The World Health  Organization(WHO)is highlighting the challenges and opportunities associated with food Safety.

Everyone must strive to ensure the food that he/she eats is safe. Safety begins with growing and producing food and ends with the consumer handling food at home for eating.

Food safety is an integral part of a healthy eating lifestyle, yet many overlook it,  placing all emphasis on what is healthy to eat.  Even the most healthy food can become the most unhealthy if not safe for consumption.

After reading this article and watching this video, you can improve your eating habits by making your food safe and free from contaminants.

How much do you know about food safety?

 Take the Quiz.

Here are the five keys to safe food:

1. Keep clean
2. Separate raw and cooked foods
3. Cook thoroughly
4. Keep food at safe temperature
5. Use safe water and raw material

Download A PDF to the five keys to safer food.

Watch the video