Is this not clear? I would never have thought the expression would have been interpreted in another manner.
For what its worth, I also took 'his eyes brightened' as pure 3rd person.
Now, if you'd gone with something along the lines of 'it seemed so clear all of a sudden', it would have been different.
Best way to get into deeper POV is to go 1st person:
'Brocoli feels so slimy. I want to vomit just thinking about it.'