Dark cricles under eyes.

[HALFFULL]

Hello all.
I've been vegan now over six months. Prior to that I ate mostly 'freerange' chicken daily; no red meat.
Dark circles have appeared beneath my eyes in the past two weeks. Also they have graced the face of my mother whom went vegan at the same time. We never had them before. So it's not genetic. It's obviously down to the diet.

What are we missing? What food types should we incorporate more?
We take d3 plant supplements, omega 3 epa and dha, and Nature Plus Multi.
Thanks in advance.

 

[TofuRobot]

Here are a few ideas:

https://www.healthline.com/health/dark-circle-under-eyes

Interestingly, the only thing that might remotely have anything at all related to diet is allergies, only because you might be rubbing your eyes more if you're having an allergic reaction to something.

The other issues:

• age
• dehydration
• sun overexposure
• genetics
• eye strain
• fatigue
• predisposition to other medical conditions such as thyroid disease

I've never heard of anyone developing dark under-eye circles from any diet-related cause.

 

[Emma JC]

hello halffull and welcome to the forum

I don't think that 6 months of being vegan would cause this however without knowing what kind of 'vegan' food you are eating it would be hard to comment intelligently.

Is it possible that you have lost weight, in the past 6 months and so maybe your face is slimmer?

Lots of green leafy veggies/broccoli and brussel sprouts might help as it increases Vit K.

If you are really concerned then I would consider visiting your doctor and asking for a full slate blood test.

Emma JC

 

[TofuRobot]

I hadn't thought of weight loss, @Emma JC . I lost weight recently and while I welcomed it, as it made my double-chin go away, my face ended up with sagger skin so now I look older, lol. Oh well

 

[Lou]

Assuming that you are getting enough sleep, the two most likely deficiencies are iron and/or protein.

My best advice is to start a CronOmeter account. The use of the website is free. The app costs a few bucks, and it does unlock some special features, but try out the website first.

What Cronometer does is help you analyse your diet. There is a bit of a learning curve but as you learn how to use it, it learns your preferences and it gets pretty easy and quick to input your daily meals. It then presents its results in easy to understand color-coded bar graphs and pie charts.

As a vegan, you should shoot for more than 100% of the RDA of iron. Iron from plants is not as absorbable as iron from animals. Cronometer does not account for cooking in cast iron pans - if you do that. your multi may contain iron. be sure to plug that into Cronometer, too. If your multi does not contain iron - you might want to switch to one that does.

IMHO, Cronometer tends to overestimate people's protein requirements. But that might be intentional. There are issues with protein absorption and utilization. But it should give you a good general idea.

There are plenty of good plant-based sources of iron and protein. Some plants contain both. For instance, soy. Two glasses of soymilk a day would give you guys a big boost in iron and protein. Having a bowl of oatmeal for breakfast would help a great deal, too.

Try Cronometer for a week and then if the circles haven't gone away see your Doctor. Cronometer also prints out a nice one page summary for each week. So you could take that with you to the Dr. It could also be an allergy. Your doctor can do a test.

Good luck.

http://www.hauserdiet.com/health-ar...se-you-to-have-dark-circles-around-your-eyes/

https://www.healthline.com/health/dark-circle-under-eyes

https://www.indiatimes.com/health/h...k-circles-their-links-to-diseases-238610.html

 

[Emma JC]

I hadn't thought of weight loss, @Emma JC . I lost weight recently and while I welcomed it, as it made my double-chin go away, my face ended up with sagger skin so now I look older, lol. Oh well

Yes, saggier sucks and yet you may find that your skin could shrink back bit... fingers crossed.

When we are older and we first lose weight we can look "gaunt" and that look eventually goes away or we just get used to it. Either way we are definitely healthier and that matter more than looks.

Emma JC

 

[Kerrshay]

Do you live in a country that is very hot? This could be due to sunburn or over exposure to the sun.