The birds in my garden aren't fat... they're very well fed... in fact they're pretty spoiled! I feed them in the morning whilst I'm boiling the kettle... I buy them nuts and seeds... I hang up tasty little balls of suet fat for them, where neither the magpies nor the neighbours cat can get at them... they have a fresh bird bath ever week... and for the winter the BBQ becomes a runway for my feathered friends... in fact I have a little robin who is getting a little demanding right now.... and isn't one bit afraid of me! Chirping away in protest when something isn't to his liking!
But he's not fat.. despite having a full buffet in front of him every day... he knows when to stop!
He fluffs about all day ... chirping ... sometimes just sits on the fence in the morning sun with his eyes closed which I just love to see ... he has his own little routine and it's fascinating to watch, but he knows how to stop eating when he's full... he listens to his body... Something he is teaching me!
It's WAY to easy to be over weight these days, that's not an excuse, convenience food has been the demise of our health... it's cheaper to buy 4 large sausage rolls at the deli counter than a punnet of fruit... we can eat strawberries in December, which taste NOTHING like the ones ripened by the sun in the summer and not bat an eyelid... Life is so much faster now... not so long ago, everyone had seasonal fruit and veggies... for a reason.. they're fresher... cheaper... they taste better... anything that has to be forced in a greenhouse and fed isn't in it natural form...
My birds are very picky.. took me ages to work out why some weren't eating certain nuts whilst the blackbirds devoured them.. they only eat what is good for them.. they only eat what they need... and in winter its kinda tough so my little bird house just helps them along, but it's not a binge-fest!
Maybe if we listened to our bodies more.. took a day off from 'DEAR GOD IT'S 1PM I MUST HAVE LUNCH!' and had lunch when we were actually hungry and ate what we really, REALLY wanted... just listened to our bodies, no one would be on a diet! We don't really want chocolate.. our bodies have been conditioned to want chocolate, especially my generation... TV dinners were magic when I was a kid.. space food no less! But my mum always had stew in winter.. salads in summer... and because money was tight junk food didn't feature in my diet until I had to fend for myself!
I recently read a book by Michael Pollan about 'Food Rules'... and it's something my grandmother could have told you... only eat what is in season... if something has an ingredient you can pronounce it's not suppose to be in your body... anything with more than 5 ingredients isn't fresh and is officially called 'processed' .. how many of our grannies had processed food? and this is less than 50 years ago... Chocolates were a treat, not a daily snack to keep our energy up... coffee wasn't on tap... maybe today be like the birds and listen to what your body needs and wants...
