In my first blog entry I mentioned lessons learned and how one can relate them to dogs.

I am a bagel and ice cream addict. On the face of that, no big deal. However, I have had a very interesting experience lately with my own diet and wanted to share. For the past 2 years, I have been having problems with depression (mild), major problems with my cycle (I won't get into too much detail here, but I was considering surgery), panic attacks, heart palpatations and hormonal problems.

I did a 5 week Body Cleanse and within 1 week, my heart palpatations stopped, my panic attacks stopped as did my depression and apparently, so did my cycle (yippee!) On top of all of that, I lost 18 pounds without even really trying to lose weight and my wrinkles diminished! Turns out I am allergic to wheat, dairy (cow milk products), yeast, sugar and basically anything processed.

So, what does this have to do with dogs?

The pet food industry has been having problems, as I am sure you all know from a year ago. I didn't have to worry at all, nor did I have to check the new lists of tainted food coming out almost daily because I feed a raw diet and homemade treats.

I don't feed my dogs the not-fit-for-human consumption ingredients that comprise most of what passes for nutrition for animals. I have seen many dogs behavior change once put on a raw or cooked diet. I don't feed myself any of the processed food that passes for nutrition for humans either (well, once in awhile I do indulge in Annie's Mac and cheese, although I make it with almond milk instead of cows milk). I have seen my own well-being, health and behavior change, once I put myself on a whole food diet. (and I can finally say I eat as well as my dogs now <g>.) I never in a million years would have attributed my panic attacks or cycle problems to diet. I never in a million years would have seen me eating Swiss chard or kale - I only ever fed that kind of stuff to my dogs. Maybe others wouldn't have had such a dramatic change, but I did. I can see first hand how diet CAN affect behavior. Because we are what we eat, why then, do we think that dogs aren't what they eat?

A few of the typcial "symptoms" of eating a commercial dog food diet (none of which my own dogs have):

yeasty ear problems (I haven't needed to clean my dogs ears in 10 years)

tarter (Beau, my 10 year old BC has pearly whites)

bad breath (just as an aside, a few years ago I bought some Wellness dog food just to use as treats. Their breath was disgusting and their poop smelled really bad. I threw the rest of the bag out - all went back to normal)

IBD (possibly)

cancers (possibly - but think about it - human cancer rates are very high and growing all of the time - was there this much cancer way back when before pesticides were in such wide spread use?)

refusing to eat (believe it or not, I see quite a few dogs that refuse to eat their kibble - smart doggies!)

hair and coat problems

some behavioral issues

copophragia (poop eating - I doubt I spelled it correctly, although I finally know how to pronounce it)

weight problems (too thin or too fat)

lethargy or too much energy

There are plenty more symptoms/conditions that may relate to the quality of food you may be feeding. I just know that the more processed a food is, the further away from nutrition it really is.

Dandelion greens, anyone?