Nutrition

Food Is The Best Medicine.  If our animals are manifesting symptoms that cause them discomfort and we do a little adjusting and it goes away we tend to forget about it.  But if the imbalance keeps coming back on a regular basis we have to look at our approach for the answers as to what is causing these symptoms or why your animal keeps getting out of balance.  Many times they get out of balance because the food we are feeding is not doing the job of supplying the nutrients needed for them to stay in balance. The food they are consuming on an ongoing basis is a major factor to their physical and mental state of health. Even if you are going to great lengths to feed fresh wholesome live food you still need to evaluate your choices.  It makes sense to eliminate the foods that work against your goal of a healthy, energetic, and youthful animal.

Case Study 1 – Animal

F.& S. N. came to us looking for ways to help their Collie be more comfortable in the summer. Every year like clock work their animal would scratch himself raw, exuding a lot of body heat with scabs all over, rubbing his muzzle on the furniture or carpet till it bled. He was on a combination of raw meals alternated with an Organic Commercial Pet Food from a can. He was basically being fed the same foods every other day. The different approaches they tried always worked at first but eventually the pattern would resurface especially in the heat of summer. During the Nutrients and Diet Consult F & S were encouraged to alternate Proteins and Veggies daily using a 4 to 5 day rotation of veggies and proteins that were complimentary to their animal. The list of food choices was identified during the Nutrition consultation. In that consult they were also informed that when you have an animal with skin issues you have an animal that is sensitive to something in their environment. Most of the time food is the culprit because we are exposed to the foods we eat repeatedly. The “new” list of foods consumed by their Collie began to show relief right away. Treats were also limited to a list of choices. After showing great improvement F & S’ dog experienced a set back because while on a visit at their neighbors he consumed a treat that was on the NO list; Rawhide. It was a very DRAMATIC turn of events, undeniable proof that their animal had to be kept on the suggested list of foods for a while longer anyways.

Case Study 2 – Human

A great human example of a dramatic change in health by a dietary change happened to one of our partner here at RAW! 4 PAWS AND MORE. This partner suffered with chronic painful skin eruptions on hands, face and neck for 30 years. From the early 1970’s to early 2000’s we sought different types of approaches from allopathic to homeopathic with very little relief. One day a health care practitioner suggested following the beneficial list on the Blood type diet. What a lucky BREAK for this partner. After three weeks on the Beneficial foods list and getting great results foods on the avoid list were reintroduce and (you guest it) the symptoms began to resurface. The moral of this story is “FOOD IS THE BEST MEDICINE.

Case Study 3 – Human

Another example of this Consult choice is one we experienced with a young man who was referred to us by one of our Main Coon Cat Caregivers. He was complaining of discomfort after eating a meal. It was not serious but enough discomfort to make him seek some answers that would work for his lifestyle. He did not want to take medication or digestion aides of any sort. During our consult it came out that he was a Blood type B. We recommended that he try following the Beneficial list of the B type diet for awhile and take a food supplement. He refused to take anything additional but was up to following parts of the Blood type list for B types. It turned out that he was addicted to tomatoes, which he ate several times everyday raw and or cooked. When this came to light we encouraged him to stop eating them or at least limit the frequency of eating them. He said he would try. He was very pleased to report that he experienced great relief by staying away from tomatoes. Who knew?