Author |
Message |
|
|
Sun Nov 19, 2006 9:49 pm |
I agree with Sormui. Bird's nest harvested in this day and age is no longer the cruel stuff it was perhaps 10 or 15 years ago. Most of it is now done under the watchful eye of all government and environmental conservation bodies involved. That being said, bird's nest is still one of the most expensive health supplements out there and only the very rich can afford to consume it on a regular basis. There is a very high-profile actress where I live who eats it every week and at 35 she has the smooth, flawless skin of an 18 year old. For ordinary folks like me though, I can only rely on more attainable methods like good skin care and regular vitamins. Also, bottled bird's nest and cheaper grades simply don't work, sadly. |
_________________ Asian, normal, prone to dehydration, fine under-eye lines, pale, 31( seems like it was late 20s just yesterday). HG : Avene Ystheal gel, Candy's dmae/ha serum, Vivier's 20% Vit C serum |
|
|
|
Mon Nov 20, 2006 8:18 am |
Is the watchful eye of the government the same that turns a blind eye while Chinese fishermen cut fins off sharks? China has one of the most appalling human and animal rights records in the world. My statement is not against the Chinese people it is against the goverment and its' agencies. Birds nest soup might be harvested in a different way but I've read conflicting reports online. Some say that they carefully take parts from the nests others say that they toss the birds out and take the nest. Unless you're there watching it you don't really know.
I'm not eating or buying products made with it to be on the safe side. I hope my post doesn't come across as angry because this is not how I meant it. |
|
|
|
|
Mon Nov 20, 2006 9:11 am |
I don't mean to hijack the thread, but this whole "bird nest" beauty thing has got me thinking of this:
http://chidoriyaworld.stores.yahoo.net/nigdrop.html
Eating birds' nests, putting birdy poo on your face...I love hearing about strange (to this silly American) beauty secrets of other countries! |
_________________ 32, Fair Skin, combo/break-out prone. Simple routine of REN No. 1 Purity Cleansing Balm and Argan oil as a moisturizer; Clarisonic when needed. That's it! |
|
|
|
Mon Nov 20, 2006 9:16 am |
ParisTroika wrote: |
I don't mean to hijack the thread, but this whole "bird nest" beauty thing has got me thinking of this:
http://chidoriyaworld.stores.yahoo.net/nigdrop.html
Eating birds' nests, putting birdy poo on your face...I love hearing about strange (to this silly American) beauty secrets of other countries! |
OMG, I totally forgot about the droppings!!! Has anyone actually tried these??? |
_________________ 27, sensitive/reactive/acne prone skin, dark brown hair, blue eyes, possibly the palest woman alive... |
|
|
|
Mon Nov 20, 2006 9:41 am |
I believe that some of the bird nest collectors are cruel to the birds. But since the demand is getting higher and higher (mainly due to more and more Chinese people are getting rich), actually, many people in Southeast Asia have been raising their own swallows by building houses to attract those birds building nests and living in them.
There are many different kinds of bird nests, some are collected from swallows living on the cliffs or caves and some are from those houses I just stated above. |
|
|
|
|
Mon Nov 20, 2006 2:00 pm |
Hi: I find this topic so interesting that I registered so that I can participate !
I asked my Chinese doctor (third generation) about bird's nest and she said it does have it's uses but she can subsitute other inexpensive herbs and ingredients to achieve comparable results. She said this is true of almost all expensive ingredients, bird's nest, "winter worm grass" - a herb that cost just as much if not more, snake gall bladders (cut live from a snake) ..
I google this woman, who according to history( can't say how accutate this is, but as absolute ruler of China during most of her life, she sure could have it) had bird's nest for breakfast everyday. She still look her age to me. She was 73 when she died, and she looked that. Bird's nest or avoiding the sun regardless.
I just found out I can't hotlink because I am new, but here is part of the link.
wikipedia.org/wiki/Empress_Dowager_Cixi |
|
|
|
|
Mon Nov 20, 2006 6:26 pm |
I think that "winter grass worm" is more for your body inside, such as keeping your more energized and regulate everything inside your body; People usually put snake bladder and another kind of Chinese herb together for curing coughing. Some men eat it taken out from snake alive for men's health.
I rear an article in a Hong Kong magazine, the merchant who is selling bird nests mainly stated that bird nests actually good for lungs, in Chinese medicine's point of view, the health condition of lungs are related to skin and hair, that's why bird nests are good for skin. Also, a famous professor of Harvard who is specializing in Chinese medicine also stated that the special protein in bird nests cannot be replaced, but there are some other kind of Chinese food can provide similar advantage. |
|
|
|
|
Tue Nov 21, 2006 12:34 am |
Chinese do have some delicious, healthy food. however, I can't agree with the concept of 'bird's nest'. It is supposed to be made from saliva of birds. Well, what else can I say? |
|
|
|
|
Tue Nov 21, 2006 1:09 am |
If you are lucky enough to have a nesting cave on your land, you in no way want to harm the birds. Most likely you employ armed guards to protect the cave. The only people who would disturb nests with chicks inside are thieves.
I've been to one large nesting cave. The chief of the tribe who owns the land said they harvest twice a year. They harvest once before egg-laying and the swiftlets make a second nest. Then they harvest the second nest after the chicks leave. The second nest is a whole lot dirtier than the first. To clean it you have to soak it in water, let the nest fibers loosen, and then remove the feathers with tweezers. It's very labor intensive and destroys the shape of the nests.
All the beautiful boat-shaped nests in stores are most likely first nests or fakes. There are so many fake nests out there, I think a lot of people are eating the fakes.
I don't really think the nests give much benefit. If it was a choice between an apple a day and a nest a day, I'd believe the apple to do the greater good. I saw the chief and his wife. They have access to all the nests they want (which have funded their beautiful home). They certainly didn't look like they had discovered the fountain of youth, and looked their age. Many of the Hong Kong ladies who eat the nests live a life of leisure. Is it the nests keeping them young looking or going to the spa when everyone else goes to the office? |
|
|
|
|
Tue Nov 21, 2006 1:39 am |
I don't think there's a magical product out there. Basically bird's nest is sort of like a healthy chinese supplement. And hey if you can afford it, why not? It's a luxury just like Shark's Fin and Abalone and it's not just about health issues, it's status and pride for the Chinese if they can go out and treat their friends to the best. Sort of like good/expensive wine in the Western culture. |
|
|
|
|
Tue Nov 21, 2006 1:45 am |
Moocheez wrote: |
I google this woman, who according to history( can't say how accutate this is, but as absolute ruler of China during most of her life, she sure could have it) had bird's nest for breakfast everyday. She still look her age to me. She was 73 when she died, and she looked that. Bird's nest or avoiding the sun regardless. |
Hi Moochez - I should imagine Empress Cixi also had her fill of * spam *'s combs. I read they were reserved as an imperial food and are the usual source of Hyaluronic Acid for serums these days so no point eating them either. |
|
|
|
|
Tue Nov 21, 2006 8:51 am |
I agree with everyone who think there is no single magical ingredient. Good health, a balance in life and a positive outlook probably do more for our skin than any single magic elixir. .... |
|
|
|
|
Mon Nov 27, 2006 7:11 pm |
I'm here to report back - after a week of consistently eating a jar of bird's nest daily I can't say I see anything noticeable externally OR internally. I actually feel like I have a cold coming on. My skin is doing a lot better than when I started but that's due to introducing Clarisonic to it and not the bird's nest - no difference in my skin's moisture level either. Honestly I've eaten bird's nest all my life (usually made in soup, and never the jar/dessert ones, so should be more 'effective') but I've never actually noticed that it has made a difference. Of course my intake is not regulated either. But anyways I've been eating this stuff since I could remember (so maybe 3 or 4?) and I still developed very acne-prone skin during puberty along with rougher skin texture due to congestion and clogged pores. So in conclusion I'd have to say if you want nice skin stick with topicals and if you want to stay healthy just eat a balanced diet. But I like eating bird's nest as my mom makes it very delicious (bird's nest by itself is tasteless fyi) so I will still continue eating it whenever we have some at home. |
|
|
|
|
Mon Nov 27, 2006 9:36 pm |
poofybabypenguin wrote: |
I half disagree and half agree. Sure, there is alot of Chinese culture, medicine especially that don't make sense to Western scientists, but a lot of them have undergone thousands of years of 'testing'. Perhaps not as rigorous as clinical testing in the Western world, but I think that if people have used something for thousands of years and have continued with it, there must be something behind it even if our current knowledge of science cannot explain it. How many times have there been when we CAN explain a certain mechanism behind a drug or nutritious food and decades later find out it is actually bad for you. So therefore, I personally trust something that has been used for thousands of years rather than new fads that have not been tested for enough years... |
When I suddenly exploded with eczema 7 years ago at the age of 45 (whole body: head to toe)my dermatologist told me he couldn't do anything else for me, so I told him I was going to try Traditional Chinese Medicine. His reply was that it certainly works, although they don't know why. The only reservations he had were that they can be damaging to the liver, so he tested me every two weeks for ages. The TCM did get rid of my eczema... it was foul smelling and even worse tasting, but it worked. That's not to say that it never came back, because it does, and I now control it with more mainstream methods. But they don't prevent it from getting out of hand (a week in hospital in May), so I do go back to it when I have to. I'm a bit on the fence: drugs (and their side effects) and TCM (and it's possible side effects). No question but that it worked, though. They do definitely know something. Don't fancy bird spit and faeces, tho'. |
_________________ 58. Fair, sensitive and dry-ish skin with freckles. UK. |
|
|
|
Mon Nov 27, 2006 10:31 pm |
I would have to say that there is a huge difference between Traditional Chinese Medicine and stuff like Bird's Nest or Snake's gall bladder. The later are just stuff that people believe is scarce and hard to come by, and like Creme De La Mer, attribute alot more beneficial potency than it deserves. I know a person who studies Chinese medicine and agrees with Moocheez that these expensive ingrediants have very effective substitutes that does not involve harmful practices to animal species or the environment.
I love Chinese medicine (except for the taste), but I am seriously against all these delicacies. Like Anna_in_Sweden says, what is the careful eye of the government? It means nothing when most of the stuff on the market is probably black-market. [/b] |
|
|
|
|
Tue Nov 28, 2006 9:54 am |
You know what, almost every Chinese girl in Hong Kong eats Bird Nest regularly for a couple of months before their weddings, during their pregnancy and after they gave birth to their babies. I did that too. It certainly works.
If you don't eat it consistently, it won't show any difference. Don't try it, if you can't afford eating it regularly. Now in Canada, I can only eat it as a treat. |
|
|
|
|
Tue Nov 28, 2006 5:10 pm |
simplenpure wrote: |
You know what, almost every Chinese girl in Hong Kong eats Bird Nest regularly for a couple of months before their weddings, during their pregnancy and after they gave birth to their babies. I did that too. It certainly works.
If you don't eat it consistently, it won't show any difference. Don't try it, if you can't afford eating it regularly. Now in Canada, I can only eat it as a treat. |
No way! Not every Chinese girl! That would be too many to count!
Anyways, I thought after pregnancy you eat that other thing, the one made with vinegar, pork trotters and ginger. |
|
|
|
|
Tue Nov 28, 2006 8:18 pm |
Yeah... you are right!
After pregnancy, I ate both birth nest and the stuff you mentioned. |
|
|
|
|
Tue Nov 28, 2006 8:46 pm |
My sister is giving birth in 2 weeks. She has been having bird nest for about 6 months. She says it's very good for her skin and also for the baby. Actually she made me want to have that as well but I think it's too expensive and it's a bit of a hassle to cook it. I am too lazy! |
_________________ Skin: normal to dry, sensitive, freckles, 31 |
|
|
|
Tue Nov 28, 2006 8:51 pm |
I can attest to the curing effect of the bird's nest. My daughter is prone to get colds and coughs easily in the winter months. I let her eat bird's nest and she gets much better. Once in a while I also have bird's nest as a treat. |
_________________ Asian-40's-combination/dehydrated skin-on endless quest for perfect skin-like you! |
|
|
|
Wed Nov 29, 2006 8:58 am |
I underwent 3 surgeries in my whole life. Everytime I ate bird nest for a couple of months after the surgeries. The bird nest definitely worked in speeding up the healing process. The scar on my neck and the incision on my tummy after c-sections are very smooth and hardly noticed. |
|
|
|
Fri Mar 29, 2024 7:42 am |
If this is your first visit to the EDS Forums please take the time to register. Registration is required for you to post on the forums. Registration will also give you the ability to track messages of interest, send private messages to other users, participate in Gift Certificates draws and enjoy automatic discounts for shopping at our online store. Registration is free and takes just a few seconds to complete.
Click Here to join our community.
If you are already a registered member on the forums, please login to gain full access to the site. |
|
|
|