Val's Green Variety Diet

This is the diet I currently feed my gliders. I began making changes to my diet based on a few things happening in my home and a few of my personal beliefs. The basis for these changes included the following:

1) The number of gliders in various stages of healing

2) The fact that Dr. Walsh has advised and encouraged me to feed green foods for their many health benefits.

3) My personal belief that providing a wide variety of textures, tastes and food locations is more important than balancing a Ca:P ratio. Now, don't hear what I am not saying. I do believe that the Ca:P ratio is important, but I think that many times I see people sacrifice variety of texture and/or flavor because they are so very focused on having a perfect ratio. I do not balance my ratio every day. I don't balance it ever. That ratio is the same ratio recommended for many, many species, including humans. BUT, I don't balance it for myself either. I believe that it is important to feed a HEALTHY diet, but I will not overthink it or sacrifice the enrichment of a good meal with good variety in an effort to meet a ratio. Plus, I am lazy and don't want to do the math. I admit it. I have seen many gliders get very well from very bad conditions on this diet, and I feed it under my vet's supervision. That is what matters most to me - the outcome. I also do not think that we REALLY know what a glider's nutritional requirements are. Therefore, the only way to know we are for sure meeting them some of the time is to feed the widest variety of foods possible.

4) I believe that meal times should be an experience - not just about eating and getting nutrients. Part of this experience should be VARIETY - It is my personal belief that a glider should not come out of a pouch and know right where his food is and what it will taste like. Each day should be a different experience, not the same thing over and over. For people prone to depression or other emotional disorders, eating the same thing every day would not promote emotional health. I believe the same is true for gliders.


SO, I will do my best to describe my diet, but to be honest with you, I make every batch differently. One batch makes roughly 70 servings (give or take).

Here are the key ingredients (these are the ingredients present in every batch):

1 1/2 cup Knudsen MEGA GREEN juice http://www.rwknudsenfamily.com/products/simply_nutritious/mega_green
(this juice includes spirulina, barley grass, wheat grass and other beneficial green foods)
1/4 cup organic apple sauce
1/4 cup collard greens
1/2 cup alfalfa sprouts or 1 tablespoon dried alfalfa leaf
3/4 cup any other juice (I use a variety of organic fruit juices, but most of the time Just Pomegranate by Knudson)
1/2 Tablespoon bee pollen
1 hardboiled egg - no shell
1 Tablespoon flax seed oil
1/2 teaspoon milk thistle (this was at the advice of Dr. Walsh as well - given that I have several gliders with some liver issues. You may omit the milk thistle if you like.)


IN ADDITION TO THESE INGREDIENTS, add 2 or 3 of the following to each batch. Again, I make each batch differently, so I vary what I put into each batch. None of these ingredients should be used in EVERY batch made. This should not be stressful. Varying your glider's diet should be a fun and enriching experience.

1/2 cup plain yogurt
1/8 teaspoon liquid vitamin E
1/2 cup kale
1 crushed/pulverized SamE tablet
1 additional teaspoon of barley grass powder
1/2 cup fruit puree or a different flavor fruit juice
1/4 cup chopped okra
1 Tablespoon ground chia seed OR chia oil
2 Tablespoons apple cider vinegar
1 Tablespoon wheat germ
1/8 teaspoon Primal Defense - powdered form
1 Tablespoon raw or manuka honey
1 Tablespoon Wombaroo High Protein Supplement powder
1 teaspoon Calcium Carbonate powder
1 Tablespoon acacia powder
1 Tablespoon yucca powder
1 teaspoon red palm oil


Throw it in a blender and mix it all thoroughly, Then freeze.

* I purchase every one of these things at my local health food store. - one stop shopping.


For nursing moms, I add one extra egg or use High protein wombaroo powder as suggested in the additional ingredients.

Because the ingredients in this diet vary, I do not have a Ca:P ratio for the mix. One must make sure to balance the fruits and veggies and to choose them wisely.


Because of the amount of fruit juice/applesauce, I decrease the amount of fruit given each night.

So, each glider gets 1 1/2 teaspoons of this mix (1/2 Tablespoon, or 1 Tablespoon for each pair)
1/2 Tablespoon (1 1/2 teaspoons) of fresh fruit
1 1/2 Tablespoons of veggies (basically, I just fill the TBSP to overflowing and give them that).

I offer a wide variety of fruits and veggies EACH night - I chop into a very large bowl at least 6 different veggies and 3 different fruits each night and mix them up (fruit in one bowl, veggies in another). Most days, they get 8-10 different veggies. I cut them into tiny pieces that Jackie Chan and Riddick can hold with one hand, and since doing that have found that they get a wide variety in one tablespoon if the pieces are small. I sometimes offer organic juice (or homemade juice) instead of fruit or part of their veggies (my gliders love carrot juice). I use a wide variety of foods. We only avoid those that are unsafe. All others are fair game.

Then, every 4th day or so, I don't give the mix and give scrambled eggs, shrimp, or chicken instead. This is just for variety and is not necessary. You can feed the mix every night if you wish.

2-3X per week I give a hard pellet food (dog kibble, cat food, or happy glider pellets) IN ADDITION TO this diet. They get 2-3 pieces per glider placed in the cage.

For treats, I give dried papaya, yogies, pine nuts, mealies, wax worms, walnut pieces, pecan pieces or pecans in the shell, almond pieces, honey nut cheerios, baby puff treats, yogurt dipped nuts, and unsalted sunflower seeds in the shell. I greet each and every glider every morning and offer one or more of the above. I do not give meal worms every day - I rotate them with the above things. Gliders also get treats during nail clipping, during tent time, when I take them out for bonding, if they go out with me and meet other people, after/during each vet visit and pretty much any time they give me the cute little pleading eyes. I am not a treat miser - I am generous with my treats and with my love.

This diet is not just about the food they eat, but about the experience of eating. I routinely hide foods all over the cage and/or change the location that they eat in the cage. I offer different textures, different size bites, different colors and a variety of different tastes in one meal. I believe that gliders enjoy being able to take their food to a different place in the cage and eat it, while others enjoy sitting at the dish and eating, so I do not recommend feeding this diet as a pureed diet. Eating should be an experience that stimulates their taste buds as well as thier intellect (by encouraging foraging and hunting for food) and their emotions - making it an enjoyable and unique experience each night.

My gliders LOVE this diet and have far more energy than they did before. Dr. Walsh has been very pleased with the health of my gliders (as have I) in the time I have been feeding this dite. I love that it is full of healthy, organic things and not so much supplementation.


*** edited12/10/10 to more accurately reflect current diet choices ***

Just a note (because it does not show when I edit), I have made several edits to this diet since first writing it up. The most recent one was a few days ago.

So, if you are looking for the diet I feed my gliders, here it is. If you have been feeding it, you might give it a look over to see the changes I have made and determine if you want to make these changes too.

Here are some photos of EXAMPLES of items that can be used in this diet.

I do not worry so much over brands or manufacturers - instead I ensure that the products are produced and stored appropriately. So, I utilize a wide variety of milk thistle supplements, for example.

Here are some of the items I put in my diet:

Pictured are: Apple cider vinegar, various juices, dried alfalfa leaf, organic apple apricot sauce, milk thistle seed oil, liquid vitamin E, dried camomile flower, milk thistle seed, and hard boiled eggs

Here are some of the juices I might use when making my diet:

You use so many interesting things. I wish I did not have this fear of killing my gliders by adding things to their diet.

I will say it I AM AFRAID

I've been feeding Val's diet for about a month now and my gliders love it!!

What do you use the apple cider vinegar for? And when you add the milk thistle seed how much?

The Apple Cider vinegar is an experiment right now. I've been using for about a year with my birds and we decided to try it with the gliders as well.

I don't really measure much, so the milk thistle seed I use about a pinch or more.

Brenda - so many people have these fears. You are not alone.

this is the best diet ever!!! and easy to make. dont let the ingredient list scare you, or the fear of trying something new. there is nothing out there like this diet. 99.9% of this stuff can be found and that same place. I would never use any other diet then this. Just looking at the ingredients its amazing!

Okay, I think I am pretty alone on this but when I froze my batch it was a solid cube the next day. Nothing like the consistency of ice cream so I had to take it out and put it in the fridge. How long will it keep like this until it goes bad? What did I miss in the freezing process, is an ice cube tray suppose to be used?

This diet freezes solid and yes Ice cube trays work best.

I do both ice cube trays and large containers for freezing. BUT, I have a ton of gliders to feed every day. When using the containers, I set them out to thaw about 2 hours before I feed.

It really depends on what you put into it how hard it will be. If you use a lot of juices, it will freeze harder. If you use acacia, honey and okra it will freeze a bit softer. Either way, I just take the frozen cubes out and plop them on the dish. They melt in time. I've never had an issue doing it this way.

I been looking at this diet and I wonder if you could use a capsule of the milk thistle, I know we don't have the oil of milk thistle here and i only have a few gliders so if i ordered some seed it would go bad before i used it up I'm thinking. Could you open and use some of the powdered stuff in the capsule? If so about how much do you think it would be?

I bought milk thistle seed and am hoping that will be fine. I didn't think that seeds would go bad. I've been gathering what I need to start this diet. The gliders love the HPW, but I think they are getting a bit bored & like the variety in Val's. I still have to find the oils. Hopefully this weekend I'll have what I need to make a batch.

Pretty much EVERY health food store has milk thistle oil. It is a widely used product. I would be surprised if you could get the seeds and not the oil.
That said, the seeds would last you a very long time.
For this diet, either seeds or oil are used. Some people buy gelcaps and squeeze those into measuring spoons.
Honestly, milk thistle oil is not hard to find. It is used by health conscious people very widely. I can even get it here in little ol' Borger, TX. and anyone who has ever been here will tell you that I live in the middle of nowhere in a town that only exists because of an oil refinery.
Ask at your closest health food or supplement store before giving up on finding the oil.

Ok, i ordered some milk thistle seeds a while back when i took a herb class. I guess i just wasn't thinking when i responded to this. I was late last night and my brain was tired I order everything I can't get at my Kroger where I work, they do have the capsules of powder they sale. Like i said I was brain tired. I will order me some like i do everything else :) thanks for your patience.

One more thing, where it says " 1/2 teaspoon milk thistle " do you mean the oil. Well, maybe 2 more things, I give my dogs a yucca supplement in powder form. Would that yucca be okay to give to the suggies?

I have the powered capsules and just pour the powder in a spoon until I get to whole Foods.
I have been feeding Val's diet for 3 nights now. The first night I mixed it with the left over HPW I had so it was 50/50, the second and third nights were fed 100% Val's Green Yummy food. I have lots of happy gliders even MR. MAGOO who is a very fussy eater loves it. Going to go buy a bunch of the other extra ingredients to mix it up for them when I make a new batch.

Val

I ordered things like milk thistle seed online - now I have a rather large bag of the seeds themselves. I will go into the next town over and look for the oils. I like the idea of mixing the two and working into the change over a couple days. This is going to be the weekend! And since the grand-gliders will be here, they will get some new fruit & veggie experiences!

I use desert pure yucca powder for my dogs, will this be okay for the suggies? Is there a certain milk thistle oil i should get, I don't want to order one that is to concentrated and it be to strong.

Woo hoo! I found the rest of my ingredients today! Good thing I ordered some things online, tho. Our health food stores did not have things like barley grass powder, acacia powder and yucca powder. Today is my designated cage cleaning day, so now it is also staple-making day! I also bought some shrimp that they can try...if I can keep from eating it all myself!

I made 3 batches of the staple today, all a little different. We will try it tonight - in about an hour. I hope they like it!

Ok....I just fed the gliders, and I'm feeling a bit guilty about the batch they got tonight. I made 3 batches this past weekend - each had the same basic ingredients, but each had a different mix of about 3 from the additional list. I'm in the process of freezing them. It will take a week since I have limited freezer space and trays. Ok...the guilt part...I used yucca powder in one of the batches. I suspect it's the batch they got tonight. I pulled it out of the fridge and tried to pour it...it was disgusting!!! It looked like thick, slimy snot! It didn't pour, it hung and I cut it. I also used some acai/pomegranate juice in this batch, so the color matches the consistency perfectly...eeewwww! I'm bringing it back to room temp in hopes that it will become pourable for making ice cubes. Has anyone had this happen before? The way it plopped onto their fruit/veggies, and then just slid over them, was SO wrong! It will be interesting to see if they eat it. My kids are both very texture-oriented in their food choices....wonder if my glders are, too?!

I have not had that happen. If you use okra or nopales in it, it will get pretty slimey.

I don't know how I feel about making them and refrigerating for days before freezing. I always freeze on the same day that I make the batch.

Ok...I did use okra as well as the yucca powder. I kept it refrigerated (made them yesterday), but I'll pick up some more trays and get the process done faster.

I put the batch back in the blender, added about 1/4 cup of pomegranate juice (Knudson) and blended. It is back to pourable - still slimy - but it's now all in ice cube trays :o)

Last night was our first night on Val's diet. Prior, they were getting LGRS Suggie Soup and I was not happy with how they rarely ate all/most of the fruits and vegetables.

Well, Val's diet was a hit. Every single cage has a spotless plate. The staple is licked clean and there is only a piece or two of fruits/veggies leftover. Now my question is: Do I need to up the serving sizes or should I be content that they are finishing all of it?