It’s summer; it’s HOT and you’re still in the kitchen cooking for your bird? WHY???

If you still feel the need to cook for your flock after all of the convincing information otherwise available in blogs, in books and all over the Internet we really need to talk.

First let’s start with commercially prepared kibble. It’s cooked. No two ways about it this stuff is cooked. I can only think of two commercially prepared diets on the market that aren’t cooked. One is still mechanically extruded which still removes almost all of the naturally occurring nutrients; they may as well process under high heat like all of the other commercially prepared bird foods. High heat processing is “cooked” food! –The other commercial bird food, if you can call it “commercial” is not processed under high heat, nor is it mechanically extruded therefore it retains almost all of the naturally occurring nutrients.

Back to YOU in your kitchen. Birds don’t cook in the wild! Why should you be cooking their food in your kitchen? It just doesn’t make any rational, common sense!

Highly processed food, which is what cooked food is creates an acidic environment in your bird’s system! Acidic environments is what all illness is made of!

Nutrients in acidic-forming foods are not as well-absorbed

as nutrients in alkaline-forming foods.

Let’s first understand that an “alkaline system” is different than an alkaline digestive tract. The digestive track needs to be acidic, not overly acidic to break down foods into their free-form molecules for absorption. It is the overall system that needs to be slightly alkaline for optimum and thriving health.

All of us are constantly trying to create a more alkaline system in us and our pets. Doesn’t it seem counter-intuitive to be feeding daily diets of highly processed kibble that are, in and of themselves acidic-forming to the system of your bird? I believe so.

Grains are some of the absolute worst enemies when it comes to creating an acidic environment in a living creature’s system. This is because of the high Omega 6 content of grains plus the starch content most grains contain. Both Omega 6s and starch are very sticky, plaque forming constituents. In addition, starch turns into sugar and plays as a glue to coagulate the Omega 6s, the hard, waxy molecules of starch plus cholesterol in arteries and all soft tissues. In other words these substances build up in the body creating this acidic environment and makes the entire body subject to autoimmune disorders, illness, disease and even parasites who love to feed on bacteria and fungus. The endocrine system (liver, kidneys- endocrine-related organs; pancreas) become overtaxed, the cardiovascular system has to work overtime because of plaque buildup; the brain becomes sluggish due to yeast overgrowth and more. After a long period of time the body finally becomes overburdened and many illnesses begin to show up. Your bird may seem perfectly healthy for years and then suddenly experience an onslaught of various symptoms or simply drop dead for no explainable reason that can be pinpointed. If you could trace it all back having an acidic diet for many, many years may have been a major contributing factor!

Birds come from a long DNA of wild, exotic species who intrinsically consume raw foods. Raw foods contribute to an alkaline system, not acidic. Why? Raw foods are rich with naturally occurring nutrients such as digestive enzymes (completely destroyed in cooking), natural amino acids (partially destroyed in cooking), natural carbohydrates (broken down in cooking), natural fats (seriously altered and oxidized in cooking actually causing them to potentially become carcinogenic), natural vitamins (many totally destroyed in cooking), natural minerals (some destroyed in cooking). Is it any wonder that commercial kibble manufacturers have to add laboratory-produced chemical supplements back in to their bird foods via some kind of (usually substandard) dietary oils (sometimes hydrogenated)? –If you are not well-versed in understanding how to combine foods for maximum nutrition how do YOU go about adding raw foods back in to your cooked foods to regain the balanced nutrition lost during the cooking process? How do you alkalize your bird’s system after the fact you have just made it acidic with the cooked foods you have served? –Why serve cooked foods at all?

There is a caveat to all of this – If you are feeding a bird who is already seriously ill you may have to serve cooked foods while your bird is recovering. This caveat is for a minority of birds though. I have been known to feed cooked foods to a bird while it is recovering from serious illness simply because its digestive tract needs foods that are extremely gentle and do not provide power-packed nutrition. I only use cooked foods on ill birds while their digestive tract is in severe despair and I quickly get the bird back on raw foods as soon as it is able to handle full-on nutrition. Feeding cooked foods on a long term basis creates an acidic environment which will eventually lead to autoimmune disorders which are incredibly difficult to reverse.

Bottom line, you can begin to reverse the acidic environment in your bird’s overall system by cutting out all cooked foods now! Switch over to an all raw diet. Begin sprouting (sprouts contain mostly hemicellulose fiber; the kind of fiber birds require for their digestive tract-it flushes rather than scrapes like cellulose in botanical vegetables), feed an all-fresh diet consisting of fresh tropical fruits (remember these birds come from exotic regions and should consume exotic foods) (tropical fruit is wonderful for the amino acid exotic birds need most, Lysine. Plus they are loaded with naturally occurring beta-carotene delivered in pectin fiber birds can readily absorb nutrients from), feed tender greens containing hemicellulose fiber such as cilantro, parsley, and dandelion greens (all great for detox, especially heavy metal detox). Include the kind of animal proteins your bird would be most likely to find in its natural habitats like grubs and insects. Make sure your bird always receives a pinch of Terramin® clay to help begin the hydrolysis process (breaking down of dietary proteins). I find many don’t take me seriously when I suggest this part of the diet, but it is all so important! Terramin® clay contains all of the trace minerals our birds need, plus it contains the vital sodium to help draw out the digestive juices into the digestive tract to break down the foods into their single-unit molecules for total and complete digestion. It also helps to alkalize the system!

You may also want to include a few drops of lemon and lime juice – these juices may be acidic, but they turn alkaline once inside your bird! Packed with vitamins and minerals, these juices help detox the liver and kidneys while getting bile to flow through the duodenum! Getting bile to flow increases fat metabolism so the liver can function like it is meant to! Lime juice is high in Vitamin A too!

With so many options for raw food nutrition, why would you want to spend so much time baking grains and cooking your bird’s food when you can serve fresh, raw foods that are naturally healthy! Especially when these raw foods increase the health, vitality and longevity of your bird’s life? And if you want to feed a ready-made food that is not cooked along with the fresh, raw foods you prepare remember, BirD-elicious! Origins Wild Diet is THAT food! We don’t manufacture pellets, we craft artisinal morsels by hand that are never cooked or mechanically extruded ensuring that almost all of the original nutrition remains intact!

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