A latest article within the New York Occasions posits an concept as to why individuals get fats; it isn’t their fault. As a substitute of blaming meals decisions, lack of train, gradual metabolism, or easy gluttony, the authors imagine that the provision of “junk meals” makes us fats. Excessive calorie quick meals, snacks on the motion pictures and sports activities venues, and merchandising machines all make unhealthy meals a lot too tempting and straightforward to acquire. Consequently, 40% of us within the U.S. are deemed overweight. There is no such thing as a consensus as to why these meals make us fatter, however scientists appear to agree that processed meals, reasonably than complete meals, share the blame, particularly carbohydrates.
Search Google for the time period “hen weight problems” and also you’ll get 27 million hits, however just about all of them check with pet birds – fats parrots and chunky cockatiels, or to poultry. It’s simple to see why confined birds, that are fed and don’t train a lot, get fats. However what about wild birds at hen feeders, consuming high-carbohydrate seeds reminiscent of millet with 6 grams of protein and 36 grams of carbohydrate per quarter cup and 374 energy per 100 grams? Sunflower seeds include 5.5 grams of protein and solely 6.5 grams of carbohydrate and 584 energy per 100 grams. (One ounce = 28 grams.)
Current analysis examines the metabolism, eating regimen, and exercise of birds, elements that decide their weight. Hen metabolism is pretty excessive so that they use power at greater charges than mammals. Bigger birds lose much less physique warmth due to their measurement, and so use much less power (per unit of physique weight) than small birds. For instance, Trumpeter Swans use 46 energy per day per kilogram (2.2 kilos = kilogram) of physique weight; White-crowned Sparrows use 346 and hummingbirds 1600! Most birds at your feeder are comparatively small, so their fundamental metabolism quickly makes use of the meals power they eat. Plus they’re lively, feeding, flying, and avoiding predators. Backside line, any wild birds which are overweight and transfer extra slowly can be at a drawback; the evolutionary course of will weed them out.
However there are occasions when birds do placed on some weight, reminiscent of earlier than migration. With the intention to undertake such a difficult journey, birds eat as a lot as they will in anticipation of flying lengthy distances and maybe throughout giant our bodies of water. Maybe probably the most hanging instance is that of the “dough birds.” The Eskimo Curlew, now most likely extinct, was as soon as an ample shorebird which bred on the tundra of western arctic Canada and Alaska, migrating to the pampas of Argentina within the late summer season and returning in February. They have been hunted for meals and when shot they hit the bottom and infrequently break up open, revealing their huge shops of fats which gave the looks of dough.
And younger birds, nestlings or fledglings, are inclined to have a variety of fats till they’re able to adequately fend for themselves.
Is there a lesson right here for us pleasingly plump people? My physician’s recommendation: “eat like a rabbit and run like a deer.”