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Not very long ago, it was not at all unusual to see blind people strolling along the streets tap-tapping away with their white sticks, being guided by a dog, normally a Labrador, but I have not seen anyone like that in Britain for years, as far as I remember.

That has to become a good thing; it has to mean that we are starting to cure or at least improve most types of blindness.

My aunty had cataracts for years when I was a kid in the Sixties – it was just one of those facts of life. Some individuals got them when they were old and others did not.

My brother’s mother-in-law had cataracts in the late Nineties and she was enrolled on a two year waiting list to have them taken away, but at least she had hope and they were going to be taken away free of charge.

I do not know of anyone else that has eye trouble except myself. I could not get my glasses clean one day and then a friend said he saw a white spot in one of my eyes. He drove me to the hospital and the doctor said that I had ‘premature senile cataracts’.

Well, I live in Thailand now and he did not say those exact words. He told me that the cataracts were because I was prematurely senile.

I asked him if that was what he actually intended; he looked it up in a book and we both had a hearty laugh about it, although he never actually corrected himself.

My condition turned out to be a little more serious than just cataracts, but when I went from the local hospital to a major hospital in Pattaya, the surgeon saw me within 30 minutes and asked me if I wanted the cataracts removed.

I said that I did and she was prepared to do the operation there and then. I had it postponed for 24 hours, but she would have sorted my eye out that day in a 30 minute operation, which does not require anaesthetic. I think that that was wonderful.

We have come a long way from routinely seeing blind people on the street and putting up with cataracts through a two-year waiting list to immediate removal of cataracts by laser surgery in 40-50 years.

At least we have in the West and in the East too, if you have the money. There are still millions of people in Asia and particularly in Africa suffering blindness and partial blindness for the sake of an simple 30 minute operation.

Two weeks after my surgical treatment, my other eye started to cloud over. It was as if it had been holding on with its last scrap of strength until I got his mate sorted out.

I had that one done last year and when I was permitted to take off my patch and look about me with two decent eyes again for the first time in a decade, I could not believe that I had forgotten how bright the world really is and that I had not noticed how dingy my world had gotten.

If you are concerned about an eye operation, do not be. What you will experience once you are able to see properly again will make all the apprehension appear ridiculous and if you have the opportunity to give someone their sight back, please do it.

Owen Jones, the author of this article, writes on a number of subjects, and is now involved with 500 Delicious Diabetic Recipes. If you would like to know more, please visit our website at Easy Diabetic Meals

We are all encouraged to eat foodstuffs with more fibre, because dietary fibre is a vital ingredient for keeping our bodies healthy. It is especially useful for the colon.

Since attention to detail in diet is even more important to diabetics, it stands to reason that fibre is even more vital to diabetics as well. And, indeed, diabetics are counselled to eat lots of fibre.

Fibre will also defer the on-set of diabetes in those people who are in a pre-diabetic condition. Fibre assists reduce the blood-sugar levels naturally, so it will help everybody in their quest to maintain healthy blood.

The manner in which it does this is fairly simple to understand. Fibre is more difficult to digest than the rest of the sugars and starches that surround it, so it has the impact of remaining in your digestive system for longer, thereby helping you feel ‘full’ longer, and it is digested very slowly thus reducing spikes in your blood sugar level.

Blood-sugar spikes are bad news for anyone who does not want a spike in order to achieve a task, like a weight-lifter or a sprinter. Spikes in children may lead to instances of hyperactivity in children.

The best sort of fibre is soluble fibre. This type of fibre is found in:

grain that has not been overly processed to get rid of the husk, so brown rice, whole wheat bread, cereals and pasta.

‘dry’ fresh fruits, not necessarily dried fruits, like bananas, mangoes, pineapple and apples

beans, lentils, legumes and pulses are stuffed almost full of dietary fibre and are easily added to soups and stews.

Another way of feeling ‘full’ so that you are able to reduce the craving for a substantial meal is drinking water. Substitute plain tap water or bottled water for fizzy drinks. Your body might need the extra water to help it digest the extra soluble fibre that you are eating.

Fibre helps in all dietary situations, but is incorporated into the calculations that some diets use. For instance, if you are counting carbohydrates as opposed to calories, you will have a limit or target number of carbs you should consume in a day.

This is 20 carbs a day in the preliminary phase of the Atkins diet. Some diets will allow you to subtract the amount of fibre from the absolute number of carbs for the purpose of your calculations.

So, for instance, you may consume 25 carbs, and, as long as the food contains at least five grammes of fibre, you have not broken the guidelines of the diet. You will have to check whether your particular diet allows for this variation.

It sounds like another chore to have to track fibre as well as everything else you have to consider before you can eat anything, but it will be second nature after a few weeks or months.

The best manner in which to get going is to get a small guide that will go in your pocket or bag so that you can look into it often.

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Owen Jones, the author of this piece, writes on a number of subjects, and is now concerned with Diabetes Cook Books. If you would like to know more, please visit our web site at Cookbooks For Diabetics.