written by Robert Hart, Vitality Science
Who doesn´t love fried foods? Fried chicken, fried fish, chicken fried steak, fried veggies; lunches and dinners are often accompanied with fried; potato chips, corn chips, tortilla chips, french fries, onion rings… Detail breaks often include meeting fellow officers for donuts and coffee. The tastier donuts are deep-fried- Of course!
The FDA estimates the average American eats 4.7 pounds of trans-fats each year!
The two primary reasons why doctors caution against eating fried foods are:
- Since saturated fats are impossible to process, they clog the liver and arteries (early on causing GI issues, and over time immune disorders/diseases).
- High heat destroys any nutritional value the food might have started with; High heat also chemically changes trans-fat oils into potential carcinogens.
Fast Food restaurants are in business to make a profit. Instead of replacing spent oil with fresh oil, they simply top off the fryers with fresh oil.
If you like fried foods that much, eat them at home, where you control the quality of the oil (coconut is very good), as well the cooking time and temperature. CAUTION: Do not reuse the spent oil!
Eventually though, all restaurant fry oil (and fry grease) gets dumped and replaced. Ever wonder what becomes of it?
The law requires all restaurants to have grease traps. The more fried food cooked, the faster the grease traps fill up. Grease removal service is big business. But what do the Grease Haulers do with it?
They “Recycle it”! Grease Haulers make even more money “recycling” the grease from these traps. What could this rancid, carcinogenic, artery and liver clogging goop possibly be used for- an alternative bio-fuel perhaps? No, not exactly.
Here´s a trick question: What could possibly be worse than ingesting 4.7 pounds of high temperature trans-fat oils per year?
So what is the connection to your K-9 partner?
A dirty little secret of the dry pet food industry is that they buy the spent oil! Why? Hint- it´s not to power their generators!
The competition for the pet food dollar is fierce. Each company is outdoing the next with ever more eye-catching packaging. If you have a working knowledge of nutrition, you will be appalled at what is inside the bags.
Dry pet food is extruded under high heat and pressure, destroying any nutritional value it might have started with. And, if that´s not bad enough, the so-called vitamins and minerals they include are the poorest quality, least beneficial, yet they meet the legal requirements to be included as ingredients.
Alas, if their multi-billion dollar advertising budgets were spent on the contents, dogs would be a lot healthier. Buyers beware!
Did you ever wonder what the oily residue was that gets all over your hand if you don´t use a scoop to get the dry food from bag to bowl? Recycled grease and fry oil are actually sprayed on -to give this otherwise tasteless, nutritionless bulk some “flavor”!
If you´re wondering why the FDA hasn´t stepped in, the fact is most of the human dry foods on grocery store shelves are as bad. It seems that the FDA is a feel good government agency that lobbyists steam-roll over.
Don´t think for a minute that canned foods are much better; they´re not! The sickest feed lot animals, those that do not sneak by the meat and poultry inspectors, are sold to dog food manufacturers.
Food digestion is a time sensitive process; too long, or too short leads to health issues. Meals that lack nutritional value are difficult to process. There´s a big difference in an occasional fast-food meal versus a steady diet of fast foods. Over time, a steady fast-food diet leads to health problems.
The movie “Super Size Me” is well worth renting. Your health, and that of your K9 partners´, may depend on you watching it.
“Fully 90% of all disease is caused by an unhealthy intestinal system” Royal Society of Medicine Great Britain
It is no coincidence that today, tens-of-millions dogs are dealing with the same diseases that we are! During the last 40 years, a frequent diet for police officers (and their K-9 partners) has become fast food.
Early warning signs include skin disorders, gas, bloat, abnormal bowel movements. Over time, more advanced GI and immune disorders/diseases develop.
At least 5 generations of domestic dogs have been raised from weaning to the grave on dry foods. Each generation is genetically weaker. Today, many breeds are born with severely compromised GI and immune systems. Failure to thrive, hip displasya, and cancer are but a few examples of compromised immune systems in German Shepherds.
The good news: Most diseases can be reversed (or prevented), especially in dogs. Why dogs more than us? Well, unless you give them junk food treats (dog or human), once you improve their diet, they can´t cheat. Recovery signs follow quickly as vital GI and immune defense systems are reestablished.
You Can Domesticate The Dog, But Not It´s Diet!
To know what the best diet is for your dogs, you only have to observe their wild relatives.
Feral animals instinctively supplement their fresh kill diet by eating grass and dirt for the microflora and soil based microorganisms (SBOs) that are essential digestive aids.
Pesticides, insecticides, chemical run off, and chlorinated lawn water have effectively killed SBOs. Today, these essential digestive aids are grown in environmentally controlled laboratories.
Drinking water is often overlooked as a health risk. Obviously, you don´t want your dog to drink from a puddle, but municipal water contains large quantities of Chlorine, to kill a growing list of pathogens. If your dog drinks enough of it, it will kill the good bacteria he needs!
By the way, antibiotics are indiscriminate killers; they kill off the essential food processing bacteria, as well as the ones causing GI issues. Most of time, all your K-9 needs is a few extra doses of SBOs to overcome a GI problem. An added bonus is that SBO administration does not require withholding food or water!
If you want to make sure your K-9 partner stays healthy, introduce a more natural diet.
No matter what you feed your dogs, if you supplement each meal with essential digestive enzymes, vital oils, and SBOs you will soon have a healthier, happier, more mentally alert and physically stronger K-9 partner.
If your K-9 partner is not responding to improved diet and supplement, chances are the intestinal wall is inflamed. The intestinal wall is your K-9s lifeline. This is where nutrients are absorbed into the body, AND, where waste products are dumped into the intestines for elimination.
If the intestinal wall becomes inflamed, this vital nutrient/waste exchange cannot take place. When that happens, your K-9 partner is not only not getting the nutrition it is desperate for, waste products are building up and recycling throughout its´ body, making him sicker. Natural anti-inflammatories need to be administered before the benefits of any medication, or diet changes will have a positive effect.
Nutritious food, clean water, and essential supplements are vital to maintaining and restoring optimum K-9 performance.
The author of this article is Robert Hart, co-founder of Vitality Science, Inc. The company formulates natural alternatives to restore and maintain optimum K-9 health and performance. Vitality Science had a booth at K-9 Magazines February 07 Seminar in Orlando.