Diet                 

Green Foods 

Synthetic Vitamins

According to numerous articles I've been reading over the past year, synthetic vitamins do not offer the nutrition we have been led to believe they do.

First, synthetic vitamins are not absorbed as well as vitamins found in
real food. Maybe it isn't true that synthetic vitamins are clogging up
municipal sewer systems, but reliance on the synthetic vitamin industry
is making us lose focus on what nutrition is all about.

Second, synthetic vitamins are not accompanied by companion nutrients
found in real food. This fact alone means that many nutrients are being
excluded from diets dependent on manufactured food.

Third, there have been studies showing that the synthetic form of some
vitamins does not perform as effectively as the real thing. Case in
point was the beta carotene/smokers/lung cancer study that I mentioned
in a previous post a few days ago....at least I think it was on this
list.

This isn't to suggest that supplementation of some kind isn't necessary.
We are all aware that produce sitting in the markets loses nutrients as
it ages. There is also the fact that nutrient depleted soils grows
fruits and vegetables that aren't as nutritious as they were years ago.
However, there are natural alternatives to synthetic vitamin/mineral
supplements. We find these in nutrient-dense green food supplements that
inculde (but are not limited to) wheat grass, barley grass, spirulina,
chlorella, kelp, alfalfa, nettle, purslane, etc.

The nutrients in these supplements are not synthetic, are better
absorbed by the body, are accompanied by companion nutrients, and they
function the exact way they are supposed to function. This is the form
of nutrition that life on this earth evolved to assimilate.
gloria 

I feed fresh wheatgrass and I think the chlorophyll does benefit them (it is a natural antibacterial).  There have been quite a few studies on its efficacy (FRESH wheatgrass not dried, powdered wheatgrass) in other animals
and poultry, but unfortunately none on parrots.  It has been shown to improve fertility in bulls etc in some studies (oh I know someone is going to want me to dig these references up! It was  a Univ. in Texas as I recall).

The one great this is that it doesn't have a spoilage risk like other fruits and veggies. It dries up rather than rots.  The birds juice it with their beaks. It is loaded with vitamins, minerals, amino acids, etc.  
Susanne Russo

You can grow it yourself very inexpensively. The benefits of green plants (live foods) to living creatures is something that cannot be disputed. In fact, the antimutagenic effects of chlorophyll-containing plants has long been a focus of biomedical research.  The National Institute of Cancer advises an increase fresh fruits and vegetables in the American diet because of the result of these studies, many of them double-blind placebo trials in animal models.  Anyone who needs
further confirmation need only search the world medical literature. It is there. Having spent five years as an editor on a leading journal of experimental medicine, I often saw the early stages of new discoveries, discoveries that would not hit the mainstream medical literature (or the 2-minute medical
news segment on the television news) for many years if not decades.

Wheatgrass has been a staple of American agriculture for decades. The USDA and affiliated research facilities focus enormous amounts of research and attention to the cultivation of a variety of young wheatgrasses as grazing material for the cattle industry.

Much of the scientific literature suggests that it is not just the chlorophyll that has beneficial effects, but the plant as a whole. The complexity of plantlife can make it difficult to separate out what is having the direct effect, although some studies have shown a direct effect of chlorophyllin, the sodium and copper salt of chlorophyll a.  Not only have antimutagenic effects been show, but anti-genotoxic activity of  common dietary phytochemicals have been shown in vertebrate animals. It reduced the carcinogenic uptake of the environmental carcinogen  dibenzo[a,l]pyrene (DBP) in a controlled study of rainbow trout (Carcinogenesis, July 1998).

When you grow it yourself, you are basically taking it to a level beyond just sprouting the seed (the sprouted seeds are relished by parrots as well by the way). If you worry about mold etc., you can rinse the grass in a solution of water and, yes, GSE ;-)

Grapefruit has also been studied extensively and numerous associated articles can be found in the biomedical literature.  Although not many studies have been published on its antimicrobial effects, that will surely change soon.  For instance, there have been some studies showing the affects of
aerobic conditions on the effectiveness of such antimicrobials as benzalkonium chloride and a disinfectant containing GSE (Journal of Applied Microbiology, Dec 1998). This article "assumes" that GSE is a disinfectant against Escherichia coli DSM 682 and Staphylococcus aureus ATCC 6538  and studies what factors could diminish their effectiveness.

Many people know if they are taking certain medications they should not drink grapefruit juice as it increases the bioavailability of some medicines (ie, it is an inhibitor of  drug metabolism in vivo). In some cases this can be hazardous, but in many it can possibly benefit (it enhances the bioavailability of the HIV protease inhibitor saquinavir in man, which has an issue with low bioav. in vivo), or can have long-term issues (for instance, in renal transplant patients on long-term cyclosporine therapy). [Pharmacotherapy, 1998 Jan; Br J Clin Pharmacol, 1998]. Citrus flavonoids have been shown to inhibit mammary cancer in rats (Adv Exp Med Biol, 1998).

I do think if someone is skeptical they can either just ignore the emerging evidence and do their own thing, or, if they are the curious type they can dig up the research. Much of it is a bit esoteric (just trying slogging through a J.Exp.Med. article), but you can glean some of the basic from the abstracts
or discussions.

I always love the stories about the first men to discover "bacteria". They were ridiculed: "Invisible organisms that can make us sick? That's not scientific! How absurd!"  There is a great book that has embarrassing quotes from the past where people ridiculed much of what is considered scientific fact today. It can be a very fun read.  Of course, you likely won't recognize the names of those who dismissed new discoveries outright, but you will recognize the names of the people who had announced the discoveries.  I won't list the name of the book here because it may be mistaken as "self-promoting puffery," although I don't know the editor, really, and can't profit from it...but I guess I can't prove that. Now I must go check how my stock portfolio is doing--I hope winter
wheatberries are up today ;-)
Vera

Barley Grass

Barley Green is a brand name of a whole food supplement made by taking
leaves of the Barley plant at their peak of nutrition, juicing them & then
drying the powder in such a way as to preserve all the nutrients, including
enzymes. Barley Green is available through AIM distributors & I use their
product because I am a distributor (by accident, I ordered so much they paid
my distributor fees). It can also be ordered over the internet from other
distributors. Powdered carrots and beets are also available.

I'm not out to sell Barley Green to anyone (just want you to know why I use
one & not the other), so let me tell you about a comparable product that you
can find in most health food stores: Green Magma. This product was created
by the same scientist that created Barley Green (Dr. Hagiwara) & is very
similar to Barley Green. There's almost no difference in the pricing. The
manufacturer of this product is Green Foods (here's a website:
www.greenfoods.com) and they also produce other products of various powdered
fruits & veggies.

I became interested in these products because my same budgie that's been
egg-bound, will only consume veggies when in the egg-laying mode. Without
products like these I wouldn't be getting any veggies into her. My Quaker
eats veggies well, but will not touch any type of greens, so it's been
useful for her too. Now, I take Barley Green & the other AIM products
myself, and that in conjunction with a slight change in diet has left me
feeling more energetic & I've lost weight. Because of the changes I've seen
in myself, I feel that it definitely benefits my birds.

In general, I think most of the holistic products mentioned on this list are
available at health food stores because they're used for people. In many
cases, if a similar product is made specifically for pets, it may not be of
the same quality as the human product. However, not all human products are
safe for pets & certainly dosages must be adjusted.

What are Green Foods?

Green foods were our ancestors' original vitamin and mineral
supplements.  They are the most vital alive foods available for
sustaining and protecting life.  There are thousands of unidentified and
non isolated health molecules in green foods that our bodies require.
One phytochemical is called the 'grass juice factor'. It is a water
soluble growth molecule that is markedly different from all other
vitamins and without it, deficiency symptoms like poor growth, lethargy,
dull hair and coat are easily induced in experimental studies.  Its
availability is limited to whole grasses.

Dehydrated alfalfa contains additional reproductive factors that
scientists have not yet been able to isolate and synthesize.
Experimental studies show these reproductive factors improve poultry egg
production and hatchability of eggs.

Molecules in spirulina, when added to animal feed helps farm animals
naturally resist infections.  The effect of spirulina alleviates kidney
disease from heavy metal poisoning. It also helps to overcome zinc
deficiency.

Chlorella contains not only chlorophyll but probiotic compounds that
support good health and help to overcome symptoms of rheumatoid
arthritis.

Where can green foods be obtained?

In the summer you can supplement your bird's diet with green food
gathered from your garden or surrounding area.  Several list members are
already adding these foods to their bird's diet on a seasonal basis.

What can you offer your birds on the off season?

You could sprout seeds.  Many people already do this, but seeds you
sprout do not become green food until the leaf begins to form
chlorophyll.  sprouts are great food but they are seldom green when
served.  In fact, the nutrition of sprouts would be lost if they were
allowed to grow to that point.  Sprouts and green foods are actually two
different foods.

Another way to supply green foods is to serve them fresh from the
produce section of the grocery store.  Some examples of green food are
spinach, parsley, broccoli, turnip greens, mustard greens, endive, kale,
and collards.

There is also a new product on the market that appeals to me because I
already use spirulina and wheatgrass.  This product is called Barlean's
Greens.  It contains the concentrated powdered juice of cereal grasses:
kamut, barley, oat and alfalfa.  It also contains blue-green algae,
icelandic kelp, Nova Scotia dulse, chlorella, spinach, parsley, ground
flaxseed, rice bran, and herbal antioxidents: rosemary, green tea, mixed
carotenoids, acerola juice, plant enzymes, and the non-green herbs
astragalus and schizandra.

Anyone interested in locating a health food store that carries it can
visit :http://www.freedompressonline.com

Information derived from an article in 'the Doctor's Prescription for
Healthy Living'Vol 3 No 4

gloria