Labrador Retriever Dogs Blog

You've started bloating and retaining water, and now feel more uncomfortable and larger than ever! What is this – you've been on your diet and exercise plan for two weeks and now this?

To answer this question, one must realize that bloating is a completely natural response to sudden changes in your body. With a Exercise Routine, especially if you haven't had a regular routine in place, and are suddenly working out with high intensity, it can actually throw your body into a bit of a state of shock – your body interprets the extra stress as a physical emergency, and beings to try to stockpile necessary nutrients (which would also explain protein cravings directly after a workout as well!) and water. Another aspect is quite simple: you've worked your muscles hard, and now they've become inflamed. One thing to really keep in mind is that when you're starting your Exercise Routine, you're moving muscles in ways that they're not used to. This causes minor rips and tears, which causes the muscle to inflame to try to stabilize itself while it heals.

Solutions to exercise-related swelling:

Drink at least 64 oz of water per day, and make sure to drink before and after a workout. I've found that if I try to drink water during a workout, I get nauseated. So, what I do to combat this is take a mouthful of water and swish it around in my mouth before swallowing. It's refreshing enough to keep me going, and also keeps me from barfing.

Make sure to eat a small snack before a workout. My Wii Fit is constantly recommending bananas – not only are they a great source of easily-burned carbs, but they've got potassium, which can help reduce swelling and cramping. Read the rest of this entry »

The raw food diet is as much a life-style as an eating plan; a naturalistic approach which excludes, in addition to cooked and animal foods, processed and refined ingredients.

In the ever-hungry quest for new fads and health panaceas, the raw food diet, with adherents such as Woody Harrelson and Donna Karan, is growing in mainstream popularity. Unlike many other bandwagons however, raw foods (also referred to as ‘living foods’), offer unarguable health benefits and one can reap rewards even as a 50% dabbler. To be a 100% extremist takes commitment, discipline and education and is best introduced gradually to avoid the overwhelm of inevitable detoxification.

A food is essentially ‘raw’ if it is kept below 115 degrees Fahrenheit, the temperature above which enzymes are destroyed. Eating raw food ensures an opulent intake of nutrients, fibre, healthy oils and life-giving enzymes. Raw food is much more easily digested, taking half to a third of the time of cooked food, around 24-36 hours compared to 40-100 hours. Raw vegetables and fruits, are also predominantly alkaline so help to optmize the pH balance of the body (around 60-80% alkaline foods being recommended for a healthy internal environment resistant to disease).

Sprouts, raw juices and superfoods are favoured in a raw food diet, and dehydrating ‘ovens’ effectively concentrate the flavour of certain raw foods to assist in the creation of a mind-boggling array of as-cooked dishes. I’ve eaten a raw food pizza that unbelievably contained no wheat, no cheese and no cooked ingredients! It tasted delicious and I was stumped to figure out what it was actually made of!

Raw Power

Raw plant foods are healthy, regenerative, cleansing, energising, predominantly alkaline, and packed with vitamins, minerals, healthy oils, enzymes and antioxidants that promote health, beauty and longevity. As well as enhancing digestion and protecting against aging and disease, a raw food diet has noted weight loss benefits and promotes clear, beautiful skin.

The benefit of raw food becomes even more apparent in view of the effects cooking can have on constituents in food

The Effects of Cooking

Arthur Baker writes in Awakening Our Self-Healing Body, ‘Overly cooked foods literally wreck our body. They deny needed nutrients to the system since heat alters foodstuffs such that they are partially, mostly, or wholly destroyed. Nutrients are coagulated, deaminized, caramelized and rendered inorganic and become toxic and pathogenic in the body.’

The indigestible end products of cooked foods can linger in the gut, clogging the intestines and interfering with healthy elimination. They can cause a build-up of toxins, mutagens and carcinogens. Carbohydrates ferment, proteins putrefy and fats become rancid, creating free radicals that enter the blood stream.

Lipufuscin, the ‘aging pigment’, is an example of a waste product created from damaged proteins and fats. It accumulates in the skin and nervous system and is visible as brown ‘liver spots’ on the skin and eyes.

Toxic by-products and excess free radicals from cooked foods can weaken the immune system and accelerate the aging process.

Enzymes

Cooking destroys enzymes in our food. These delicate, heat sensitive proteins can destabilise at temperatures as low as 115 degrees Fahrenheit, hence even light steaming can render them inactive.

Enzymes, so abundant in a raw food diet, are highly functional catalysts involved in various health-regulating tasks in the body, such as breaking down food in digestion, delivering nutrients, carrying away toxic wastes and strengthening the endocrine and immune system. All living cells contain enzymes which function in cooperation with other minerals. As there is not an unlimited supply of enzymes, eating them in our food lifts the burden off organs to produce digestive enzymes which allows a greater use of enzymes for other metabolic purposes, freeing up more energy for the performance of other tasks.

Nutrients

In cooking food we can loose up to 97% of water-soluble vitamins (B and C) and 40% of fat-soluble vitamins (namely A, D, E and K).

Proteins

Heat denatures proteins, modifying their molecular structure and rendering them unusable. The bacteria in the gut feeds upon undigested proteins that tend to putrefy, giving rise to toxins. Raw foods provide healthy, readily available protein in greater supply without unwanted residue.

Fats

As oils are heat, light and air sensitive, heating can destroy the goodness of the and can alter molecules generating toxins and free radicals. Unrefined oils that are cold-pressed contain all their natural healthful substances (olive oil for example is rich in phytonutrients, flaxseed oil a great source of omega-3 fatty acids and so on). They should be kept refrigerated in dark sealed containers.

Fibre

Fibre is essential for health and helps to flush out the intestines, scrubbing them clean and aiding elimination. With cooked food fibre becomes a soft substance, loosing its brush-like quality. It can partially rot, ferment and putrefy in the gut, causing toxins, gas and heartburn.

Super Raw

Eating superfoods enhances a raw food diet even further. Superfoods are the most potent, antioxidant rich, nutrient dense, disease fighting, anti aging, beautifying, mood enhancing, immune boosting foods on the planet. Raw superfoods ensure an optimum intake of nutrients and phytochemicals for ultimate health, beauty and longevity.

Raw Food Diets For Dogs and Cats

A raw food diet for dogs and cats is natural and species-appropriate. Not only does it provide a rich supply of nutrients, antioxidants and enzymes, but ensures a move a way from low grade, inappropriate, highly processed and toxic ingredients found in commercial pet foods that can damage your pets health. If embarking on a homemade raw food diet for your pet (sometimes referred to as BARF – Biologically Appropriate Raw Food), thoroughly research the area first as nutritional balance is essential.

One of the many responsibilities that come with owning a dog (or being owned by one, depending on your particular outlook) is feeding that dog. There is a relatively new fad diet called the BARF Diet for Dogs. The acronym stands for Bones And Raw Food. Your canine friend eats raw dog food.

The concept is this: before humans got involved with their fancy cans of gourmet dog food and what are essentially bags of meat-flavored dry cereal, dogs happily ate all things raw, and managed to not choke on bones, or get sick on greenery. Developed by Dr. Ian Billinghurst, a veterinarian from Austrailia, the BARF Diet for Dogs claims to improve the overall health of your furry friend by reducing periodontal disease, strengthening the immune system, providing exercise while eating, reducing or eliminating anal sac issues, and improving the psychological health of your dog.

With all these benefits, what could go wrong with the BARF Diet for Dogs? The primary concern is that raw food has a much greater potential for deadly bacteria than cooked food. This bacteria can not only be deadly to the one on the raw dog food diet, but also to the humans living in the same space. Many families with young children might balk at having raw meat and bone remnants hanging around ready to be used as a make-shift teething toy.

Another concern with raw dog food is that raw bones, like cooked ones, can perforate the gastrointestinal tract of even the sturdiest of ogs, forcing emergency surgery onto the unsuspecting dog and his family. The risk of bacterial contamination becomes even more severe.

Yet another concern with an all raw dog food diet, whether it is the BARF Diet for Dogs or another label, is that of parasites. Parasites thrive in raw food, and many dogs are susceptible to them.

There are also other dietary concerns that might not be met through an all raw dog food diet. High phosphorous content in raw meat can and does often impede calcium absorption, which dogs need for their bone strength, just like humans. Many vets also are concerned with skin health, anemia issues as well.

Still another consideration in determining whether the BARF Diet for Dogs, or other raw dog food diets are right for your pet is the question of if it is even wise to feed dogs solely according to what their ancestors needed. Dogs of decades and centuries past, and current cousins of dogs, such as wolves and coyotes, all eat raw dog food, but does that mean that their domesticated counterparts should or need to do so? Dogs living in the wild are used to all the bacteria found in scavenging for food, but most domesticated dogs have never been exposed to more than the smallest morsels of raw meat, and usually that comes from a scrap of fatty tissue cut off a steak before a human cooks it. This table scrap raw dog food is a far cry from traditional canine scavenging.

No matter what you decide for feeding your dog, don’t make any decision without consulting with the dog’s veterinarian. As with human fad diets, the BARF Diet for Dogs sounds good on paper, but should only be initiated after careful research and consideration for other alternatives.

Like most dog owners, you probably assume that commercial dog foods with brand names that are easily identifiable – Purina, Iams, Pedigree, etc. and surely you would not give your dog something harmful. Unfortunately, after lots of careful observation and tracking it has been found that dogs fed commercial foods, both wet and dry, from the cheapest brands to the so-called “premium” brands are weak with less life span than those dogs who were fed vegetarian diets, as well as those fed raw meat and bones known popularly as the BARF Diet.

Undoubtedly the best possible diet to feed your dog is raw meat and bones with an occasional Wet feed made up of vegetables, fruits, and organ meat that will lead to three amazing results: much better overall health, excellent dental health, and longer life spans. If you recall the past food habits of dogs you will find that they evolved eating prey the pack took down and feeding the carcasses raw! They did not have processed commercial food from bags or cans, cooked meats or vegetables, fruits, and grains.

This is the fact every dog owners should concentrate and plan the diet accordingly for their dog. Many owners bear a common fear over the bones getting caught in their dog’s throat or splintering and cutting them internally. There is a solution for it and that is stop feeding your dog with a cooked bone and especially chicken bones. Raw chicken cages are ideal because they provide a good balance of meat and bone but at the same time remember not to feed your dog always with chicken instead alter their diet by supplying some pork and some beef now and then to vary their protein sources a bit and remember to mix up a slop of green veggies, carrots, apples, bananas, and some raw livers or hearts at least twice a month. It is recommended to have your pet checked for allergic reactions to any food and then plan the diet.

The raw meat and bone diet should be prescribed for your dog for 60 days. A meat and bones source that is close to a 50/50 meat-bone ratio for example chicken breast cages are ideal, or you can also try pork necks or beef ribs from any grocery store. If you do not see any noticeable improvements in your dog then it is better go back to his former diet and if you find healthier coat, more energy, better teeth, excellent blood work-ups then you can conclude the main idea behind the success of the raw meat and bones diet which imitate what dogs naturally fed on for tens of thousands of years.