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A family of robins has nested in the eaves of our front porch! What fun it has been to watch the mom and dad settle in, then settle down to the springtime business of creating a family. When the babies were about three days old and hungry as could be, Mom and Dad were busy 24-7 feeding them, standing on the edge of the nest and gently dropping food into the wide-open beaks.
But that morning my husband Bob noticed something different. After feeding a youngster, the father had pulled something OUT of the nest, and quickly swallowed it! It looked like a bead of honey, but was hard to tell. For Family Home Evening, Bob had the answer, and it left us gaping in wonder.
It turns out that baby birds need just as many Pampers as a newborn child, since like all babies, they eat and need diaper changes many times each day. Of course, our feathered friends don’t wear diapers! Now multiply this need by three or four birds in one tiny nest, and without some kind of plan, there’s a real problem! Our wonderful Heavenly Father, however, ALWAYS has a plan! Even for how birds can beautifully care for their families and little homes. His eye is indeed upon the sparrow, and upon their nests!
His divine plan for baby birds is a little built-in disposable diaper in the form of a tiny mucous bag that they pass at about the same time they eat. Mom or Dad simply lift out the little bag with their beaks! For the first 2-3 days, they actually swallow it, like many animals do as they care for their newborns. The babies tiny systems only partially process the food (bugs and worms), and since they are newborns, there is little bacteria in their intestines to make it smelly or germy. Eating that little bag is actually a little snack for Mom and Dad. After those first 2-3 days, these devoted parents pluck the bags from the nest in their beaks, fly 20-50 yards, and drop them in flight! These birdie diapers, of course, are so infinitely small that none of us even know there is a steady supply of them falling out of the sky. Oh, yes, our Father is in the details!
You can see it all here on youtube https://youtu.be/NsOzfya3iSA or read the entire article HERE.
https://www.learner.org/jnorth/tm/robin/FecalSacs.html
No one instructs animals or birds on how to care for their young. Divine instinct tells them what is best! Mother dogs also eat puppy feces to both create a clean environment, and as a natural born instinct to hide the scent of her puppies from predators. By eating it, she lessens the smell of her babies which might have attracted predators. Carnivore mammals like lions and cats which eat meat and little else have very short digestive tracts, which helps them eliminate their toxic waste quickly before it can poison them. They also have a stronger concentration of hydrochloric acid in their stomachs than humans, which helps kill more bacteria and parasites.
While this is all fascinating, what does it have to do with us? I guess it’s just my overall awe of how the Lord provides a way for us all – humans, animals, birds, and every living thing – to grow, live and fulfill the measure of our creation within the structure of our own divinely created body.
Feeding, digestion and elimination are the foundation of growth and health.
Bacteria In The Colon
There are many types of bacteria fighting it out in your digestive tract. When it is balanced, you feel healthy. When they are out of balance, you can become sick, sluggish or overweight. While there is not room in an article like this to explore this topic in detail, the basic information is simple to understand, and there are several easy ways to address it with information and diet. (Of course, you should always work with your doctor.)
Probiotic vs Pathogenic Bacteria
Good bacteria (bio-friendly bacteria like Lactobacillus acidophilus) in our digestive tract help digest the fresh food passing through. In a healthy digestive system, there should be about 80 to 85 percent bio-friendly bacteria (like Acidophilus and Bifidus) and only 15 to 20 percent yeast and fungus. When the food passing through our small intestine is not properly digested and the nutrients are not well absorbed, we will tend to eat even more food in an attempt to get the missing nutrients we need to survive. This is one of the causes of weight gain.
These bio-friendly bacteria or probiotics displace those harmful pathogenic micro-organisms (the bad bacteria, parasites, yeast and fungus) that cause constipation (and a host of other problems) and do not leave them room to attach themselves and multiply on the inner surface of the colon and small intestine.
Those which cannot attach themselves to the lining would normally end up being excreted from the body in the feces. Health professionals disagree on the possible presence of a “mucoid plaque” which may coat the lining of the colon as a build up of mucous and waste material sticking to the lining. Proponents say it provides a perfect place for pathogenic bacteria, yeast, fungus and parasites to reside, feed, reproduce and multiply, and produce their poisonous toxins, with resultant health problems. Mucoid Plaque believers say that this lining blocks the absorption of nutrients through the colon walls.
Lactobacillus acidophilus is the most important of the lacto bacteria in the digestive tract. It can survive in both acid and alkaline environments and has the potential to inhibit at least 26 different kinds of harmful pathogenic bacteria.
The various types of “good bacteria” or “probiotics” live in symbiosis with us and provide many beneficial functions which are absolutely essential to our health and well-being – and even our ability to stay alive:
Many probiotic bacteria produce enzymes which enable us to digest various types of food
some probiotic bacteria make natural antibiotics which help control or destroy the harmful bacteria
All probiotic bacteria help protect the intestinal mucosa and vaginal mucosa tissues from harmful fungus or yeast infestation – mainly by crowding out the yeast and fungus organisms and preventing them from adhering to the tissue where they could grow and spread.
Some manufacture vitamin K which is necessary for strong bones and the ability of blood to clot. Some probiotics manufacture some of the B vitamin. Some prevent toxicity from nitrites added to processed foods
Some bacteria aid in the absorption of magnesium. (Asthma and migraines have been closely linked to magnesium deficiencies)
These probiotic “good bacteria” are essential in digesting the food we eat. For example, the helpful Lactobacillus bacteria produce lactase enzymes which digest the lactose found in milk and dairy products (and may also aid in reducing migraine attacks). Other lactobacteria digest carbohydrates.
Without probiotics to digest our foods, we could not get enough nutrition to survive.
Taking antibiotic drugs kills the good probiotic bacteria along with the pathogenic bacteria.
This can be a health crisis (both short and long-term.) Meridian author Darla Isaacson has suffered all her life from losing the bacteria in her gut after severe childhood burns.
LINK: https://www.mymiracletea.com/Meridian.html
What Can We Do To Promote A Healthy Balance? This is where a whole food plant based diet shines again! Bananas, blueberries, artichokes, broccoli, kale, cabbage all release substances that reduce inflammation and reduce the risk of bladder, colon, liver, lung and stomach cancer!
Beans, glorious beans … any legume releases fatty acids that strengthen your intestine cells, improve absorption of micronutrients and help with weight loss.
It’s sad but it’s true: Science is continuing to show that our modern diet focused on sugar, meat, refined carbohydrates, cheese and far too much dairy promotes and feeds the growth of bad bacteria.
While so many people come to us for our health product that helps whisk away toxins and poisons, along with impacted fecal matter, much can be addressed with the simple basics of healthy nutrition, (we love Jane Birch and www.DiscoveringTheWordofWisdom.com!) and lots of water.
If colon health is of interest to you, there is much to learn, and much to embrace in going back to a simpler diet.
Bring on the birds, bring on the beauties of the earth, and bring on the celebration of the miracle of our bodies!
Carolyn Allen is the Author of 60 Seconds to Weight Loss Success, One Minute Inspirations to Change Your Thinking, Your Weight and Your Life, available HERE.
She has been providing mental and spiritual approaches for weight loss success both online and in the Washington, DC community since 1999 presenting for Weight Watchers, First Class, Fairfax County Adult Education and other community groups. She and her husband Bob are the parents of five children and grandparents of ten. They are now happy empty nesters in Jackson Tennessee, close to Memphis where they center their online business, a very helpful herbal detox in keeping with the Word of Wisdom.