Val's Green Variety Diet

You can order ground Flax seeds on Nut's.com. It is a lot but it is what you need. Or go to a health food store and buy it and grind it with a coffee grinder.

I feed several fruits and several veggie's every day. Variety is a good too.

The diet calls for a wide variety (i.e. many different) of fruits and veggies each night.

Brenda has given you good advice for the flax seeds/oil.

Made an additional update to the initial post. I added some new "additional" ingredients that I have been using and some additional notes. :)

Val - could you post the link to the original post with your updates? Thanks!

This IS the original post, Bobbie dear. Just click to page one and there ya have it. ;)

Hahaha.....I thought so! Just wanted to be sure I wasn't missing anything :-)

Val - what is your thoughts on Australian bee pollen. I see you've avoided both pollen and honey in your mix, even as an occasional add in. I'm currently feeding HPW with green juice, but I love your concept of variety.

Bee pollen is one of the staple ingredients of Val's diet. I myself use the Australian bee pollen. I had a choice between generic and Australian, and chose Australian becuase it was from the same country as the gliders. I don't think it really matters which you use, tho. You will find the basic ingredients on the first page of this thread, or at this link:

https://thesweetspot.forumotion.net/t86-val-s-green-variety-diet

You know what. I read that like 3 times and somehow overlooked the bee pollen. Haha. Oops.  

It does not matter which bee pollen you use, IMO. I use Australian sometimes and sometimes use what I get from my local health food store. Just part of the variety.  

I've tried HPW Complete from both Peggy Brewer and Exotic Nutrition, The Priscilla Price diet and Val's Green Diet and I have to admit, Val's is their favorite! I'm happy about this because I love them and believe that it is the healthiest diet as well as it's a lot less expensive! My question is...I am worried that my babies won't get enough calcium in this diet. It seems that all of the other diets have additional vitamins and minerals added or required to be added. Would it hurt to add in a pinch of vitamin supplement every night? I have one glider with health issues and another who is a baby Joey, so I am a paranoid Momma ;)

You should feed Val's diet as directed. If you feed a good variety of fruits and veggies then you should not have to add anything else to it.

There is plenty of calcium in this diet. NONE of the supplemental/optional ingredients should be used every batch. The calcium sources in this diet are derived from the foods in the diet rather than from a supplement, which is one of the driving forces behind this diet - that all of the vitamins and minerals needed are provided through fresh or whole food sources rather than a supplement.

I have spoken to you about adding calcium to your diets in the past and have shared the potential negative effects of doing so. Trust the diet you are feeding. You have had gliders a very short time and have already fed 4 different diet plans. You need to choose one, feed it as directed and stick with it for a good while to be able to appropriately judge how it is working for you and your gliders.

Thank you Val. You know me, I am a worry wart. So far so good. Everyone likes VGV and seems to be eating very well. I'm very pleased with it and they are too! Have a very happy holiday!

Thinking about giving this diet a try but I cant find the green juice here... Can you use something similar in powder form?

Where are you from maybe we can help you find the Green juice?

im from Denmark lol... Ive never heard of that kinda juice here

Here are links to the Knudson green juice and the Bolthouse Farms Green Goodness (I use this). Maybe it will give you an idea of what is in these juices/smoothies and you can find something similar near you.

http://www.rwknudsenfamily.com/products/simply-nutritious/mega-green

http://www.bolthouse.com/product/greengoodness

You are looking for a juice that includes "green" foods (see this thread for more information on them: https://thesweetspot.forumotion.net/t1066-green-foods )
Because of the inclusion of green foods in the juice, the juices will be green in color.

If you are unable to find something similar in Denmark, then send me a PM and I will help you find what you need to create a substitute.   

I finally broke down and purchased a juicer. I made a green juice out of collard greens, kale, a bit of spinach, two apples, a dash of ginger root and two carrots.  My babies gobbled it up. I feel that a $150 investment is much better for me than purchasing $7/bottle green juice. A lot isn't as pricey but I am very picky for my babies. Plus, you can't get any more fresh!

Also, I want to report that after being on VGV for a while, my babies are doing very well and loving their food! They no longer gobble up protein (eggs, shrimp, chicken etc) and act like they are starved like when they were on Exotic Nutritions HPW Complete. I'm very happy with the ease of this diet and concept that I can get vitamins and nutrients from a fresh food source. I also like that it's a recipe and not a packaged diet that is sold

Making your own juice is an option.  However, if you are going to do so, then it is necessary for this diet plan that you include the green foods that the juices are intended to provide.  To leave them out makes the diet/batch less nutrient dense.

Green foods as in those classified as "green foods" (see the thread linked above), not green foods as in foods that are the color green.

So to be clear, both fresh barley grass and/or wheat grass are the only acceptable "green foods" for this diet when making your own juices, based on their nutritional content?

No, that is not correct.
While wheat grass, barley grass and spirulina are the primary ingredients I aimed to use in the green foods portion of this diet, you can also use blue green algae, chlorella, or kelp.  

Broccoli and green leafy vegetables ( spinach, dandelion greens, kale, watercress, parsley, lettuce, endive, broccoli sprouts and mustard sprouts) are used in the vegetable portion of the diet, but can also be used along with those listed above in the juice.  Wheat grass and spirulina should be included in each batch of this diet.

The Mega Green juice was chosen as an easy way to provide a few of these green foods and fruit juice. If you are going to make your own juice for this diet nectar/staple mix, then you should focus on using the same ingredients in your juice as are in the bottled form. When you are looking to be creative, it would be advisable to contact the diet creator for advice on how to ensure you are staying within the parameters of the diet plan.

I have about 5 or 6 6 oz containers of greek yogurt, Should I try to do am off night/treat night or can i give with their normal dinner nights?

Normally my gliders do no like their staple fresh, they want frozen ice cubes. They dont care with this diet, they love everything.

I will often have a "off night" where I give my gliders yogurt on top of their veggies/fruit instead of the staple blend. Usually it happens at the end of a staple batch. Then the next staple batch is a bit different anyway, so they have a couple nights that are a fun change from the norm :-) I generally buy Greek yogurt as well.