Bird food any one?

Bird food any one?

A fervent curious that I am, leads me to continuously search the internet and through word of mouth for herbs, nuts, seeds which are not well known or understood.  Constantly I´m drawn to other continents, to learn about locally consumed fruits, veggies and such which just by looking at them reminds of out of space movies, and walking through the markets depicted there.  However I discuss this with Darin on several occasions, and imagine how puzzled these people from other regions would look at our local varieties of natural foods.  Much more so at the actual foods the average westerner eats, they would question all together if we where natives of earth as a whole for eating dyed plastic as most of today´s food would seem.

Never the less, a simple common apple would seem just as exotic to an Amazonian as their local fruits would seem to us.  So, I fly off in my mind to distant lands just wondering of the vast untapped natural gifts available, and wonder at the diversity that this magnificent planet we live in provide us with.  That I sometimes forget to plant my feet on the earth and take advantage of what we already have, here and now.   Through discussing a potential mixture with Dr. Neugebauer, he brought to my attention Alpiste, I re called this name vaguely from my early years in Mexico.  Then as I typed the name on line, it came back with all this bird feed logos, and bird know how´s, then I realized the English name is canary seed Phalaris canariensis and it all made sense. Just the sheer idea of eating bird food, would seem out right preposterous maybe in an extreme circumstance, but I would not believe it would be on your shopping list any time soon.

I did remember, they would sell it toasted as a street snack in Mexico, and that in certain regions they would make atole a rich thick beverage dating back to pre-Hispanic times usually made from corn.  As well as being used as confection for sweets, and to make other foods, so the idea was not as unfounded and coming from Dr. Neugebauer It definitely was a serious proposal.  So I did my research and came up with some extremely interesting information, which I would like to share.

Canary seed is a grass native to the Mediterranean regions of Europe.  Where in ancient and not too ancient times, flour was milled and made in to bread.   Presently I have discovered that still in some parts of North Africa, Italy and the Canary Islands it is still a very much part of their diets as sunflower seeds might be to ours.  What we need to consider here before I proceed any further is that in the relation of the information being shared, we need to consider many factors before we run to our local bird store and purchase this seed.

Primarily I have started using the seed my self for over a month, no side effects have occurred so I can testify that is not harmful.  There is a secondary issue and that is the quality and origin of the seed in of the words making sure it´s organic.  Then comes the facts, since like with any other product out there, some one or some people take advantage of the hype and over exaggerate with not even the slightest trace of validity behind their claims.  Once I went through a hand full of web sited mainly out of Spain, glorifying canary seed as the next reincarnation of some deity.  I came upon a good website in Spanish which actually broke down the pseudo-science, and it started making more sense.

First Canary seed is believed to help in reducing weight, cholesterol, hypertension, triglycerides, balance blood sugar and help detoxify liver, kidneys and gall bladder.  Sounds good right? Well let´s take it a step at a time, first let´s look at the nutritional profile

It has been analyzed to contain 61.0% starch, 18.7% protein compared to 15.0% in wheat, and the proportions of prolamin and glutelin in the protein averaged 77.7%, exceeding that in the control wheat protein of 73.5%. Canary seed proteins were more deficient in lysine and threonine than wheat proteins but were very rich in cystine, tryptophan, and phenylalanine. For a cereal, canary seed groats were very high in crude fat, 8.7%, and purified total lipid, 11.0%, containing 55% linoleic, 29% oleic, 11% palmitic, and 2.5% linolenic acid, fibers ranged in the 8-12%. The composition of small granule starch and gluten-like proteins, rich in tryptophan, suggests unique functional and nutritional properties for canary seed. With high amounts of Iron 68mg/kg, phosphorus .55%, copper 7mg/kg and sodium 185mg/kg, Zinc 48mg/kg

Nutritionally is no powerhouse, we can admit that, never the less I would like to rescue the little if any importance we have given to Canary seed.  To find a larger range of foods we can consume if we choose to increase the digestive enzyme functions, given that eating a small diversity of foods tends to wear the enzymes required to digest and process these foods.  Take in to account the digestive system contains a range of any where from a couple hundred to probably a couple thousands enzymes.  So the greater the diversity, the best chance at being less nutritionally depleted given the millions of people consuming Canary seed in a wide diversity of forms, we can safely assume you won´t get ill from trying it.

Contrary to the many claims and promises of lowering your weight, blood pressure etc.  I NEVER, recommend diving in to anything with our first understanding what it is you are trying to do and understanding the component you are attempting to add to your diet (supplementation).  Second if your situation is chronic and you are taking medication consult with a competent nutritionist or MD. Also never depend on solely one product no matter how outrageous the claims, also incorporate in to your LIFE STYLE routine of which diet is but one component.

Now if you are some what curious of what this whole Canary seed is all about, I recommend the following.  First of all the ways the seed is consumed is always semi to completely process.  The most common forms of consuming and reaping the nutritional benefits of the seed is to Soak and sprout it, you can soak the seed 12-24 hours in the fridge other wise it starts fermenting a good thing but not what we are looking fore here.   Drain the water at least 1 time, then you have somewhat of a wheat berry like seeds ready to eat they become soft but watch out for the seed hull which tends to get stuck in your teeth.  I tend to soak then mix it with cinnamon, honey, sunflower seeds, and cashew nuts and then eat it like a muesli type.  Other forms to consume it is to sprout it and eat in a salad, the most famous form is to obtain an ¨enzyme milk¨ as is called in Spain, simply made out of the soaked seed and then blended with water or another liquid of choice  and strained.  You can sweeten with Yacon syrup, Agave, Honey or what ever suits you better, don´t like soy milk, almond milk too expensive? Try canary seed milk…..Now the mayor claims surround the idea that, the benefits of Canary seeds are found in the extremely rich enzyme diversity found in the seed.  This is believed to regenerate the pancreas, primarily due to assisting in taking part of the work load of it´s ¨shoulders¨, also this enzyme diversity are said to detoxify liver, gall bladder and kidneys and the list goes on.

As much, as I would love to believe all this information there is just so little actual validation and even less scientific information to back up all these claims. When it sounds too good to be true, it usually….. Rather I present the seed to my belief to be very similar to flax seed (though much lower in the omega-3 factor), eventually found to provide many benefits when used in a conscious form.  I do believe we can harness the nutritional benefits, from which the body in it´s wisdom will put to good use in creating and supporting health.  In a time when there is no lack of ¨food¨ we see mal-nutrition type symptoms, when food industries attempt to control our food supply, reducing the diversity to the minimum most profitable crops for them.  And where exotic diversity driven foods, tend to get expensive, it makes sense to me to complement your diet with a bit of bird food.  Maybe well grow wings, and that would not be a bad thing.

I close this article with a quote from Dr. Bernd Neugebauer

¨We tend to complicate our diets, and we forget to observe the diets of the worlds humblest populations, simple, diverse, non-processed, nutritious.  It´s the best¨

References

http://www.cropweek.com/presentations/2009/2009-jan12-canaryseed-patterson.pdf

http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/jf970100x

http://www1.agric.gov.ab.ca/$department/deptdocs.nsf/all/anim3752?opendocument

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