GLOOP and BIRDIE BREAD / SENEGAL Diet

[Wolf]

As in everything pertaining to business, follow the money! They also use soy in human foods and in some circles tout it as a miracle food, but I will not allow it in my body. In it's natural state it is poisonous to ingest and I think that it is best used in the production of lubricants.
But it is cheap and readily available so they use it and despite the controversity over its safety it will continued to be used until it is absolutely proven to be bad and even then will wait for the governments to ban its use in foods.

[Pajarita]

Yes, I also believe that profit is the main reason that drives most of the manufacturers to use one ingredient over another. That's what a business is for, after all, to make money. And you make more money if your raw materials are cheap than if they are expensive. Especially if people don't even realize they are paying through the nose for inferior quality!

But I also believe that most people like the good Dr. de Beer are not really fully aware of the side effects of soy (avian vets don't study avian nutrition, you know). For one thing, 99% of the studies out there were paid by the soy industry (HUGE conflict of interest if you ask me and no wonder they all say soy is wonderful ). Then you have the studies methodology issue. All soy studies are human oriented (and using men and not women, at that) and not avian and this is a problem because mammals have seasons regardless of environmental clues while birds reproductive cycles are 100% dependent on environmental clues (which include diet, of course). Furthermore, the best thing you can say about soy is that it's a 'complete' protein which means that it contains all the 'essential' (meaning necessary but not produced by the body itself) amino acids but these 'essential' amino acids are for carnivores and omnivores -herbivores have different dietary needs.

According to my research, soy has elements that slow down thyroid function (goitrogenic effect), it contains phytoestrogens (plant-based estrogenic effect - a dangerous thing to feed to pet birds with their problems regulating sexual hormone production), anti-nutrients (there are three main ones, the ones that inhibit minerals absorption, the ones that disrupt digestion and the ones that clumps blood red cells and inhibits oxygen absorption at cellular level) and then there are the carcinogens... So, personally, I question why anybody would eat it or feed it to their animals when there are so many other safe choices available!

Now, I always tell everybody, don't take anybody's word for anything, not even mine, so, please, do your own research and reach your own conclusions but to point you in the right direction, here are a few links for you:

http://www.utne.com/science-and-technol ... z3EuO8Euat

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dr-mercol ... 22466.html

http://www.naturalnews.com/022630.html

http://www.rense.com/general3/soy.htm

http://www.tuberose.com/Soy.html

[Macayla]

Yes, I know about Soy in human food because I'm a Pescetarian. I haven't done much reading into it so I can't actually give an opinion about it as I don't have one. Thank you for the information and I will definitely look into it. I am just worried that I won't find any bird food without Soy. I may also just contact Dr. De Beer and ask him for his take on this and why he adds it to his bird food range. Thanks guys, much appreciated.

[Pajarita]

I can tell you what he is going to answer: "Soy is fine for birds!"

[Macayla]

Well, if I do come to the conclusion that his food isn't good for my parrot then I will definitely go to him and show him my research and find out what he thinks. I'm not an idiot, I will never just take someone's word for anything. I always do my research but I like to hear everyone else's opinions as well.

[Pajarita]

And I applaud you for it. That's the way that everybody should be, if you ask me. But expecting a business man to admit to using the wrong ingredient in his product is not what I would call productive.

[liz]

Pajarita, I have been reading your ingredients for gloop. I have been giving them alternating ingredients every morning just not mixed together.

I want to try the Birdie Bread. Do you cook it in the bread machine? How often do you feed it? They have been getting all of that except the yeast.

[Pajarita]

Yes, I make it in a bread machine. I don't really have a recipe for it because, in truth, it doesn't really matter if it comes out too moist or too dry because the birds like it anyway (mine is always quite moist on purpose because I am such a maniac about the unsuitable dryness in their diets in captivity).

I use about 4 cups total (more or less) of flours: 2 cups of whole wheat, 3/4 to 1 cup of coarse corn meal, 3/4 to 1 cup of steel cut oats (but you can also use oatmeal) and, most often, 1/2 cup of some other type of flour, could be potato, could be rice, etc. 1 envelope of dry yeast. 2-3 tablespoons of honey. A splash of olive oil. 1 cup of water or juice (I usually use orange juice fortified with calcium and D3 because it's the one I buy for my husband). Now, the water or juice amount is 'adjusted' as the machine starts to knead in order to ensure the bread ends up moist because it depends on whether I add other 'wet' stuff to it or not -things like grated zucchini, pumpkin puree, mashed sweet potatoes, grated carrots, pineapple chunks -with the juice, etc - And, last but not least, the goodies. And here is where you get creative so you can add nuts, raisins, currants, cranberries, chopped dry figs and/or dates, naturally dry fruits like apple, pineapple, mango, papaya, blueberries, cherries, etc. OR you can make it spicy (and for tiels, that's what I would try first) and use all veggies: carrots, sweet corn, peas, etc and flavor it with hot peppers, oregano, a bit of garlic, etc