Alternatively Speaking:
A Modern Twist on Ancient Feeding Wisdom Dr. Anne Carroll, DVM, CVA
Pumpkin
M
y husband is in kitchen cooking and our dog Pumpkin is planted on her bed eagerly waiting to be tossed any dropped bits or trimmings. She takes her job of clean up seriously and will not be disappointed; who could refuse that cute face? I imagine this is how many of our dogs get fresh additions to their meals, adding a welcome level of nutrient quality and bioavailability superior to processed dry kibble. But beyond helping with scrap clean up, fresh feeding as part or all of the main diet is becoming more popular for dogs and even cats. Pet owners are more conscious of the role food plays as part of their own health care, so it is natural to question whether feeding their 4-legged family members all dry dog food can meet their standards for what promotes true health. Besides all the benefits of eating fresh food compared to processed food, home cooking allows you to customize food to your pet’s needs. Just as individual humans have different body types and therefore need different diets to maintain health, our pets are not one-size-fits-all either. Local foods influenced dogs’ development as they were domesticated and bred. This means that individual dogs, and sometimes breeds of dogs, have different needs and biological preferences for what to eat. From a different perspective, each individual also has their own inherent patterns of weakness or imbalance that may be in part related to their genetics Summer 2017
but also their own experiences and exposures. Chinese medical practice assigned many attributes to foods: temperatures, effects on body function, and effects on different meridian systems. They used food as a tool to proactively address imbalances and reduce the chance of disease, or with medical therapies to assist in treatment. This is not completely unique to the Chinese. Body type or ‘constitutions’ have been identified in the medical philosophies of many cultures. Today, the growing field of Nutrigenomics has identified how our bodies actually express different genes based on what we eat in our food. Foods that promote healthy gene activity help us thrive while foods that turn off these genes create weaknesses and predisposition to disease. Once again, new science Continued Next Page
www.4LegsAndATail.com 31