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The Ensure Diet

Posted By: Anonymous

The Ensure Diet - 10/12/05 05:41 AM

Can anyone please tell me what this is? How long has it been successful for you and exactly what portions are given? Did you always use this diet or switch from something else to it? Thank-you!!
Posted By: Anonymous

Re: The Ensure Diet - 10/12/05 10:50 AM

Well, I've been getting asked about my version of the ensure diet quite frequently lately. There are several different ways to feed the ensure diet. I personally prefer to keep calcium to phosphorus ratios naturally high, so I don't add any extra calcium to the ensure, but instead, I choose higher calcium fruits and veggies.

First things first... I personally prefer to feed my gliders the WalMart brand of ensure. It's slightly cheaper and it taste so much better. Even the gliders prefer it <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" /> I usually switch between strawberry and vanilla. After I finish a case of one, I buy the other.

**I only feed vanilla to gliders with young joeys. Joeys don't seem to like strawberry ensure much at first.

I also have a little fruit mix that I feed that helps balance out calcium to phosphorus ratios.
It consist of:

1-50 oz jar unsweetened apple sauce
1-20 oz can of pineapple in it's own juices/unsweetened (pureed)
1-12 oz container of orange juice concentrate with extra calcium
1-32 oz bottle Gatorate (I prefer to use the mango flavor)

Here is what I feed on a daily basis PER GLIDER:

1 tablespoon ensure
1 tablespoon applesauce/pineapple/orange juice/gatoraid mix
1 tablespoon other fruits and veggies
1 protein source

The other fruits and veggies I feed depends on what I have on hand. Since I have a bearded dragon, I often use the same fruits and veggies for him as I do the gliders. This includes, but is not limited to: various types of squash, kale, various sprouts, raspberries, blackberries, carrots, grapes, kiwi, mango, papaya, etc. I try to stick with fruits that have a higher calcium to phosphorus ratio so that I don't need to supplement.

Right now, I'm feeding mealworms and crickets for protein (something else my beardie has to share with the gliders, lol). I plan on switching my gliders over to powdered egg whites soon though.
Posted By: Anonymous

Re: The Ensure Diet - 10/12/05 10:58 AM

Oh, I forgot to mention... I have been feeding my gliders this diet for a little over a year now. In that time, my females have started producing some of the fattest babies I've ever seen and Smegal, my little wonder glider, has pretty much stopped having seizures (7 months and counting!). I have had 0 diet related heathy problems and the only 2 rejected joeys I had were from a female with a pouch infection.
Posted By: sugarglidersuz

Re: The Ensure Diet - 10/12/05 11:58 AM

[:"green"]Leyna,
Thanks for the information. It sounds very good.
Posted By: Anonymous

Re: The Ensure Diet - 10/12/05 12:18 PM

I feed Leyna's version of the diet exclusively. I purchased my Joeys from her and they were healthy, strong, happy and perfect. I discovered that the 'brand name' Ensure wasn't as popular as the Wal-Mart Brand Leyna had suggested initially. They are thriving. I asked about adding vitamins or supplements but judging from the tremendous success she has with all of her gliders and her breeding successes, I am not going to change a thing. My Babies are positively thriving on it and I have no reason to change a thing.

Thanks Grandma Leyna! The boys are doing fantastic.
Posted By: Anonymous

Re: The Ensure Diet - 10/12/05 02:05 PM

Higher calcium to phosporus ratio? How does one know about this or figure it out? Also, do you gutload the mealies and crickets - what do you use and how many do you give? Is there a difference in the gliders smell that you know of (compared to them on other diets?) and last but not least - do you serve the fruits and veggies pureed or just finely chopped?

Thanks so much for sharing this!!
Posted By: Anonymous

Re: The Ensure Diet - 10/12/05 08:11 PM

There are many sites out there that list calcium to phosphorus ratios. If you go to the diets link here on GC, there are links to several sites with CA:PH ratios.

Gut loading crickets and mealies is more or less just feeding them good healthy food, which is good to do anyways because it makes them live longer and reproduce <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

Compaired to every other diet I've tried, this diet has improved their smell the most. I currently have 13 gliders in my glider room and it doesn't really smell much different than it did when I just had 1 or 2 pairs.

How you serve the fruit is up to you. Some of the stuff I feed, I puree and freeze, others I feed fresh. It usually depends on how much of it I have and how long it last in the frig...
Posted By: Anonymous

Re: The Ensure Diet - 10/12/05 09:06 PM

Leyna,I`m just a bit confused about the canned pineapple. I never give my gliders any canned fruits because I learned they are not good for gliders. Is the pineapple different? I`m not doubting you by no means but I`m just trying to understand this stuff <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/thanx.gif" alt="" />
Posted By: Anonymous

Re: The Ensure Diet - 10/12/05 11:05 PM

Canned pineapple, specifically Dole, is extremely healthy. There are no added sugars or preservatives and Dole cans are lined with a protective coating that prevents heavy metals from seeping into the fruit/it's juice. Pineapple is actually one of the only truely healthy canned foods.
Posted By: Anonymous

Re: The Ensure Diet - 10/13/05 12:44 AM

wow, that`s great to know! I`ll have to stock up on some of that <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wave.gif" alt="" />
Posted By: Anonymous

Re: The Ensure Diet - 10/13/05 03:19 AM

Leyna.... I was thinking of doing the same thing giving the gliders the powered egg whites. It is a great alternative to the worms and crickets when one has picky eaters. The BML does not seem to do well with my little ones. Since I changed over to Ensure a few months ago by advice from Sheila, they are all doing much better and lick the bowl clean every night. But back to the powered egg whites, how much do you think per glider, and sprinkled on the food and fruit ? or maybe mixed in the Ensure ?. Whats your thoughts.

Bill (KicksNJ)
Posted By: Anonymous

Re: The Ensure Diet - 10/13/05 09:07 AM

Well, the stuff I was looking at, 1 tablespoon equals 1 whole egg white. So, about a teaspoon would be a serving of egg whites. I was just doing to sprinkle it over my gliders food. I already sprinkle puppy milk replacer over the food of my females that are prego/nursing and they are really good about eating it all up <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />
Posted By: Anonymous

Re: The Ensure Diet - 10/14/05 03:04 PM

This is the first I have heard of this diet I may have to try it thanks for posting it
Posted By: Anonymous

Re: The Ensure Diet - 10/14/05 03:07 PM

where do you get powdered eggwhites?
Posted By: Anonymous

Re: The Ensure Diet - 10/14/05 03:17 PM

From what I understand the powdered eggwhites are in the baking section of the grocery store. I checked one here and they didn't have it so my search continues. I thought of maybe trying a healthfood store? If all else fails, Leyna is going to be selling them on her website once she is up and running. I'm not sure of the ETA of that though. Good Luck.
Posted By: Anonymous

Re: The Ensure Diet - 10/14/05 05:00 PM

Leyna- I have some questions for you since I've been doing a lot of contemplating on diets lately...

When you buy a case of Ensure- how long does that last you approximately?

As for the fruit mix you have- do you think it would be ok/better to use fresh pineapple rather than canned? I only ask because I love fresh pineapple & haven't found a canned yet that I like- so it's really for me that I'm asking this <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/tongue.gif" alt="" />

Hmmm... what else, what else.... oh! Is that 1 tablespoon EACH of fruits & veggies or 1 tbsp combined?

Ok - I think that's it... You're diet sounds really interesting & I'm intrigued!
Posted By: Anonymous

Re: The Ensure Diet - 10/14/05 07:09 PM

Okay, well, first things first. 1 can of ensure has 16 servings (tablespoons) in it. That means that:
1 case will last 1 glider 96 days
1 pair 48 days
2 pairs 24 days
3 pairs, 16 days
4 pairs, 12 days
5 pairs, about 9-10 days
and, for me, with 13 gliders, a case last about a week.

I personally prefer the canned pineapple because it's cheaper, already messured, and easier to come by. If you want to use fresh, I don't see a problem with it though <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" /> The pineapple is in there for the enzimes and electolytes it offers. Fresh and canned both have these <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

1 feed my gliders 3 tablespoons total of food each a night. 1 tablespoon of ensure, 1 tablespoon of my fruit mix, and 1 tablespoon of fruits/veggies. Since I have a bearded dragon, I have a shredded fruit/veggie mix on hand at all times.

**For fat gliders, I don't offer the extra table spoon of fruits/veggies until their weight is undercontrol. The fruit mix and ensure offer all of the basic nutrients that the gliders need and the extra fruits/veggies are just treats in a sence. Once my gliders weight balance out, I start adding the extra fruits/veggies back in until I find a balance between how much they eat and how much they weigh.
Posted By: Anonymous

Re: The Ensure Diet - 10/14/05 07:12 PM

Thanks!!

I'm definetely going to consider this diet... it's something I've been thinking about for a while- not necessarily only the ensure but also PML and a few others.

*And of couse I will ask a qualified vet first <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/tongue.gif" alt="" />*

lol Thanks for the breakdown on how long it will last for different amounts of gliders!

<img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/roflmao.gif" alt="" />
Posted By: Anonymous

Re: The Ensure Diet - 10/15/05 10:53 PM

Zotix... Here is the place I ordered my powdered egg whites

http://www.store.honeyvillegrain.com/index.asp?PageAction=Custom&ID=2

Just go to the bottom of the page and you will see the sizes they sell.
Posted By: Anonymous

Re: The Ensure Diet - 10/16/05 04:57 AM

Leyna, I have a few questions for you about this diet. First of all, do you by any chance know the Ca:P ratio on this diet?
How much protein should you offer? Or is protein not necessary but offered as a treat?
I assume that you use the juice from the pineapple, is this correct?
And last question....I couldn`t find applesauce in a 50 oz jar but in 48 oz jars. I got 2 jars of 23 oz=46 oz. Is it really important that I make up for the extra 2-4 oz? I`m thinking the answer is "yes" but I wanted to double check because I`d hate to waste almost a whole bottle of applesauce by making up the difference, I don`t really eat applesauce lol. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/thanx.gif" alt="" />
Posted By: Anonymous

Re: The Ensure Diet - 10/16/05 12:15 PM

People, I just checked somethings out and the information that I was given by the companies about the CA:PH ratios of the foods in the fruit might be WRONG. Please, do not feed that mix until I get this checked out. It's looking like the person gave me the information backwards, which totally screws up my ratios. I'm not a happy camper right now...
Posted By: Anonymous

Re: The Ensure Diet - 10/16/05 06:45 PM

Whooo!! I guess you're not happy!! Can you please let us know what to do as soon as you find out?? Is there anything in particular we should do in the meantime? YIKES!
Posted By: Anonymous

Re: The Ensure Diet - 10/17/05 01:06 AM

Well, I calculated evrything up using the values on the USDA site and as long as you feed the fruit mix along with 2 of my other mixes (berry and mellon), I come out with a 1.2:1 CA:PH ratio, lol. If if feed it with a variety of fruits and veggies, the ratio might be slightly inverted, but it shouldn't be bad... I need to post all of my mixes and what not on my website, lol.
Posted By: Anonymous

Re: The Ensure Diet - 01/13/06 07:20 AM

Leyna, would u please email your different mixes to me?? I would greatly appreciate it! []txshields2005@yahoo.com[/]
take care!
Posted By: Charlie H

Re: The Ensure Diet - 01/13/06 01:13 PM

If you guys are planning on formulating a glider diet you really need professional help. There is so much more to a glider diet than focusing on the C/P ratio. Quiet often people look only at these figures and do not take into consideration how other things in the overall diet effect them. Earlier you were discussing pineapple. There is a world of difference in the amount of sugar in fresh pineapple and canned. And even the canned will differ depending on whether it is canned with regular syrup or heavy syrup. The amount and type of protein in the diet has a direct effect on how the body utilizes calcium.

Can any one of you (without looking) actually tell me what type of calcium is in a bottle of Ensure? Or how this type of calcium differs from other types? Have you taken into consideration how much magnesium your diet has? And don't forget the oxalates.

I have mentioned just a few items to make you think. There are so many more that have a direct effect on a balanced diet. Just be very careful when experimenting with diets! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/worried2.gif" alt="" />
Charlie H
Posted By: Anonymous

Re: The Ensure Diet - 01/13/06 02:16 PM

Charlie, there is no sugar in the pineapple I use. I only used pineapple canned in it's own juices and the nutritional values of it are pretty much identical to fresh pineapple (I've checked).

Ensure had Calcium Phosphate in it. Calcium Phosphate is extreamly good for building and maintaining bones. It's best consumed with/during meals. And, it is used in most animal foods as a calcium source. The CA:PH ratio of ensure is 1.2:1.

It is not yet known how much magnesium gliders need in their diet. Ensure is an omnivor diet, so the nutritional values are balanced for animals that eat a variety, much like gliders do. I would never feed ensure to a plant or meat eating animal...

My diet isn't really an experiment, it's just a way of trying to reduce suplimentation in a diet that already exist. Since Ensure is already a dietary and vitamin suppliment, I don't like the idea of adding even more calcium, so I found a way to feed it that doesn't require as much suplimentation.
Posted By: Charlie H

Re: The Ensure Diet - 01/13/06 10:27 PM

Sounds like you are on the right track here. I would suggest adding some boiled chicken breast as a way of upping the protein a little more.

I can't really comment on the powdered egg whites. Never have looked into them. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/nixweiss.gif" alt="" /> Regular eggs are an excellent source of protein though.
Charlie H
Posted By: Anonymous

Re: The Ensure Diet - 01/13/06 11:29 PM

Fascinating thread!! Great comments! I've seen Leyna's gliders, and WOW, are they pretty and have such lovely coats. Also, the joeys that 1angel bought were just the most loving, tamed, and healthy looking joeys!

When I had to pull AnnaBear from Reese, I used Ensure to get her started, and she loved it! I moved her to BML, though, because it's what I was feeding all of my other gliders. Thanks to Leyna, AnnaBear is a happy little "teenager." <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />
Posted By: Anonymous

Re: The Ensure Diet - 01/14/06 05:57 AM

Thanks Charlie, I try to stay on top of things when it comes to my critters... In fact, my diet has worked so well that I'm acually using it (quite successfully) with my short tailed and mouse opossums <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

I still haven't ordered any powdered egg whites. Right now, my gliders are just getting mealies and a bit of egg for protein every night. I would really like to get some powdered egg whites to try, but I can't find any in my local stores and to get a reasonable price for the stuff on-line, you have to buy a ton...
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