It’s okay to indulge in fast food every once in a while but making it your main diet will not only put you at risk of obesity, it could also possibly make you blind!
Recently, a 25-year-old woman from Norwich, England known as Jade Youngman was warned by medical professionals that she could be diagnosed with optic neuropathy and go blind if she continues to limit her diet to eating only pizza, french fries, chicken nuggets, and plain pasta.
When advised by doctors to include food with more nutritional value into her diet, Youngman said she physically can’t stomach fruits and veggies, and has avoided doing so for the past 22 years of her life!
“The way I describe how I feel is that if someone puts a plate of fruit or vegetables in front of me, it’s the equivalent of putting a plate of dog poo down and saying, ‘Eat that.’”
According to Business Insider Malaysia, the woman has been diagnosed with an avoidant restrictive food intake disorder that causes an extreme phobia of particular foods and textures that triggers anxiety and nausea.
People who have these disorders tend to fall back on their “safe foods” that are often bland, processed and low in vitamins.
However, Youngman isn’t the first person to go blind from lack of nutritional vitamins. Two other teenage boys from the UK reportedly already lost their sight from the rare disorder that is nutritional optic neuropathy.
In a study carried out by the University of Iowa Health Care, it was found that optic nerves are at high risk of being damaged when the body lacks nutrients like folic acid and B vitamins. These vitamins can only be found in fruits and veggies which help with the maintenance of healthy cells.
What’s extremely dangerous about this condition is that theeffects are IRREVERSIBLE. This means that once your optic nerves are damaged, they can never be repaired.
In addition, blindness isn’t the only consequence of limiting yourself to a diet that predominantly consists of fast food. Excessive consumption of fast food can also lead to heart disease, diabetes and obesity.
So unless you want to permanently lose your ability to see, we suggest you load up that plate with more fruits and veges!
Also read: 19yo Who Didn’t Eat Vege & Fruits for 10 Years Becomes Blind Due to Lack of Vitamins