evie

There are few things that I see so often that get my to the point I can't stop myself from correcting the errors. First: The myth that birds will get fatty liver if they eat too many sunflower seeds. Fatty Liver is the layman's term for Steatohepatitis. You won't know if your bird has steatohepatitis unless you have an avian vet draw blood and test your bird's liver enzymes. When we first got our U2, he was malnourished to the weight of my Timneh Grey. He was scary thin, having been fed a diet of peanuts and squirrel food exclusively. His first vet visit was within 2 days of getting him and his labs were not encouraging; his liver enzymes were bad. No more peanuts. The vet wanted him on pellets. I want to be a skinny rich blonde. But that doesn't mean it's going to happen. Frankly, things were going to get worse before they got better. Finding food that was healthy AND the bird would eat was like finding a needle in a haystack. Nothing I tried worked; and I tried everything. Harrison's, Higgins, Zoo-preme, raw fruits and veggies, etc. I still had a half bucket of Nutri Berries left from our Senegal who passed at 14, and I put a few in his bowl. I almost cried when I saw him eating them. And slowly, his weight started to go up. I never had a problem with my TAG, she eats everything. Over time, I noticed that the longer we had him, and the healthier he got, the more likely he was to take risks with food. He would sample the Higgins, and he would never miss an opportunity to have some pizza. I added some sunflower and safflower seeds to one of his bowls. He ate the sunflower and safflower seeds. He also started eating some of the Higgins. Now, with his weight closer to normal than it's been in who knows how long, I watch his eating habits and see that he's pretty much abandoned the nutri-berries (good thing I ordered 20 pounds huh). But he seldom finishes a bowl of sunflower seeds. I check the bowl daily to see how many seeds are left vs shells and the bowl can last several days. I have to conclude that if addiction was an issue, he would eat only the seeds and nothing else. For the record, I give him about a quarter cup of Sunflower seeds and that lasts about 3 days along with his other food. Whenever I read posts about the evils of Sunflower seeds, I keep waiting for someone to point out the benefits. They never do. So I will point out the benefits of Sunflower seeds which comes directly from Livestrong "Sunflower seeds may be small in size, but they contain a surprisingly large amount of nutrition, including vitamin E, fiber, folic acid and especially protein. Not only can sunflower seeds be part of a healthy diet as snacks and an ingredient in other foods, research is showing they may also have important health benefits." How does your bird get it's protein? If you use egg products, they get a little protein there, but egg yolk, the part that has the protein, is very, very dangerous. I feed it very sparingly and I'm rethinking offering it at all. Dr. David Spence published his most recent study of more than 1,200 people found egg consumption accelerates atherosclerosis or plaque build up on arteries. He claims the cholesterol found in the yolk is almost as dangerous as smoking. He said the culprit is the cholesterol found in the yolk, which is 237 mgs in a jumbo egg." So which is the lesser of two evils? Both contain protein, folic acid, omega 3 acids and vitamins. But eggs also have cholesterol. So, when considering an addiction to one of the world's healthiest foods, sunflower seeds, keep in mind that sunflower seeds contain large amounts of Vitamin E which is an important anti-oxidant, it also lowers cholesterol through the phytosterols they contain. Eggs have zero Vitamin E. Sunflower seeds also contain magnesium which counterbalances calcium, thus helping to regulate nerve and muscle tone. In many nerve cells, magnesium serves as Nature's own calcium channel blocker, preventing calcium from rushing into the nerve cell and activating the nerve. Sunflower seeds also have Selenium. Studies on animal models of cancer has suggested a strong inverse correlation between selenium intake and cancer incidence. Selenium has been shown to induce DNA repair and synthesis in damaged cells, to inhibit the proliferation of cancer cells, and to induce their apoptosis, the self-destruct sequence the body uses to eliminate worn out or abnormal cells. Sunflower seeds are high in calories and one cup contains 72 grams of fat and 800 calories. But who feeds that much to their birds daily? Finally, Steatohepatitis aka "Fatty Liver" is most often associated to alcoholism and obesity. When not associated with alcohol, it is referred to as Non Alcoholic Steato Hepatitis (NASH). Not everybody who is alcoholic get Steatohepatitis, and not everybody who gets Fatty Liver eats sunflower seeds. If you are concerned, have your bird's liver enzymes tested annually, or semi-annually.