Sylvia Riley asked:


Some of the ingredients that end up in commercial pet foods are truly shocking. What’s more, many of these will not appear on the label and others are hidden under umbrella terms such as ‘meat meal’ and ‘meat by-products’. How can this happen? The pet food industry is highly unregulated. As Ann Martin, author of Foods Pets Die For, writes in her article The Pet Food Industry and its Questionable Practices, ‘Governments in the USA and Canada regulate the labeling of the food, the name and address of the company, the weight of the product, and whether it is made for a dog or cat – nothing more.’

The meats used in pet food can be extremely low grade and unfit for human consumption. Summarized as the ‘4 D’s’ (dead, diseased, disabled and dying), these can include roadkill, zoo animals and infected and cancerous meats.

At the rendering plants ingredients are highly heated and processed, destroying nutrients and enzymes, with strong preservatives added which do not appear on the labels. These include fat stabilizers such as BHA (butylated hydroxyanisole) and BHT (butylated hydroxytolulene), both of which are known to cause liver and kidney dysfunction and Ethoxyquin, a suspected cancer-causing agent. Semi-moist dog foods may also contain propylene glycol, a relation to ethylene glycol (anti-freeze), which can destroy red blood cells.

Pets in your pet food

Though reportedly not the case today, it is well recorded that dogs and cats have ended up in dog and cat food. In his 1990 article How Dogs and Cats Get Recycled Into Pet Food, John Eckhouse, an investigative reporter, wrote: ‘Each year, millions of dead American dogs and cats are processed along with billions of pounds of other animal materials by companies known as renderers. The finished products — tallow and meat meals — serve as raw materials for thousands of items that include cosmetics and pet food.’

Doctor of weterianry medicine Wendell Belfield in Foods Not Fit For a Pet (Earth Island Journal, 1996), reports that ‘federal and state agencies, including the Food and Drug Administration and medical groups such as the American Veterinary Medical Association and the California Veterinary Medical Association, confirm that pets, on a routine basis, are rendered after they die in animal shelters or are disposed of by health authorities, and the end product frequently finds its way into pet food.’

Toxic Grains

The very use of grains in pet food is questionable as grains are ill-suited to the digestive physiology of carnivores. This is especially so for cats who are obligatory carnivores and meet their glucose requirements through amino acids in their diet. Further, the grains used in dog and cat foods may contain mycotoxins, fungi that can cause chronic conditions and even death in both humans and animals. As the grains used in pet food are low grade, they are dealt with last in the handling process and because of this are often left in storage where insects, mites and mycotoxic molds can grow.

The consumption of dead mites can cause skin allergies. If your pet has skin allergies, change their diet first before turning to steroids which can be seriously detrimental to your pets health.

Alfatoxin poisoning, a common mycotoxin that grows on corn as well as other foods, has been reported for over 50 years. Vomotoxin is another mycotoxin found in wheat products. Where large doses of mycotoxins can cause cancer and even rapid death, small continuous amounts may suppress the immune system and damage organs over time, leading to long-term chronic health conditions.

Just recently at the end of 2005, over 100 dogs were killed in the United States because of alfatoxin found in pet food, with some 19 brands of Diamond dog food being recalled. It is likely there were many more deaths than those reported, and as alfatoxin attacks the liver it is likely surviving dogs may develop chronic liver disease or liver cancer in the future.

Toxic Chemicals

The toxin sodium pentobarbital, a chemical is used to euthanize animals and pets, has been found in commercial pet foods. The US Food and Drug Administration’s Center for Veterinary Medicine performed two studies (1998 and 2000) to test for pentobarbital. Of the 74 samples analysed, over half were found to contain pentobarbital. What’s more, none of the 43 brands and product lines that tested positive warned of its presence on their labels.

The FDA researchers also tested the food for the presence of dogs or cats but reported none present. It was believed the pentobarbital residues were entering pet foods from euthanized, rendered cattle or even horses.

The FDA say the small amounts of the drug found in these foods were harmless, but not all veterinarians agree. Long-term continual doses, even at small levels may be increase the onset of chronic and degenerative diseases.

Aside from the toxins and base ingredients of commercial pet foods, these harshly processed and high-carbohydrate products in no way match the natural diets dogs and cats would have eaten in the wild. They are species-inappropriate and ill-suited to canine and feline physiology. I recommend healthy, homemade, raw diets or optimum natural, holistic alternatives for the health and well-being of your dog and cat. Before embarking on a raw food diet (otherwise known as BARF – ‘biologically adequate raw food’), thoroughly research the area first as nutritional balance is essential.

Sylvia Riley asked:


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.

Helen Hecker asked:


If you’ve thought about eating a healthier diet a good way to do it is by substituting some raw food recipes for some of the daily cooked food recipes you use now. This is just another way to look at copy cat recipes.

Although most people think a raw food diet consists of eating fruits and salads and maybe a handful of nuts and seeds, the raw food diet is much more than that. You can prepare dozens of copy cat recipes, those that mimic the standard American diet fare you are probably used to eating.

For example one of the best raw food recipes that is easy to make is almond milk. You can easily make your own almond milk cheaply, at home, to substitute for harmful cow’s milk and boxed soy and rice products. Soy milk and other boxed milks are highly processed. Although a better alternative to cow’s milk they still do not have the health benefits you get from a nice tall glass of homemade almond milk.

Making almond milk is relatively easy and doesn’t require any unusual ingredients. You can use dates, honey or agave nectar for sweetener and still keep it in its living or alive state.

To make almond milk you only need about a cup of raw almonds. Make sure not to buy or use roasted almonds. You soak these overnight in pure water, drain and put in a blender along with 3 cups of pure filtered or spring water and blend for about 2 1/2 minutes. Then pour into a nut milk bag, sprout bag or fine mesh strainer. Squeeze tightly if you are using a bag. Pour into a glass jar, add your sweetener and refrigerate.

Almond milk will keep for up to five days or so. Use it on sliced strawberries and bananas in a bowl, drink as is, add nutmeg for an eggnog flavor etc. Use it wherever you would use other milks.

Of course it can be used on cereal, muesli, granola in a bowl if you still eat those. At the least try to incorporate it into your diet. It’ll vastly help improve your health. This is especially true if you eliminate cow’s milk and other dairy products. Raw food diets are the healthiest diets and help you lose weight naturally.

There are many other copy cat raw food recipes you can make with living foods that will replace the cooked foods in your diet. If you’re a mom with young kids or teenagers, you will be greatly benefiting your kids’ diets with almond milk and other great living food recipes. They will never know the difference and their overall health will benefit. There are many other simple and easy raw food recipes you can fix for breakfast, lunch, snacks and dinner.

Amelie Mag asked:

In this day and age, everybody wants to improve their looks with a thinner waist line. For that, people may need some directions for finding healthy solutions to lose weight. The best choice someone can make in order to lose weight and gain health, energy and vitality is switching to a raw food diet.

People discover each day the benefits of raw food recipes. When switching to a raw food diet you will see improvements to your daily behavior like improved sleep, some anti-aging benefits, increased vitality and health. Owing to such advantages, the popularity of raw food diets is bound to increase, because we all want to improve the way we look and the way we feel about ourselves, don’t we?

In the beginning people didn’t cook their food and they consumed it raw. Eating like this helped them keep very healthy. Our bodies are built so that we can consume raw foods. The only thing we need to do is to rediscover the way we were in the beginning and enjoy all that nature has to give us. Consuming raw foods helps our bodies because they contain enzymes that help digestion. These enzymes are destroyed if the fruits and vegetables are cooked. Our body digests the foods through its own enzymes, but the enzymes in our body also give us energy. Therefore, when we use the enzymes in our bodies for digestion and not the ones in fruits and vegetables, it means that our energy levels and vitality are decreased.

Basic guidelines for planning your healthy raw food recipes recommend that you should include in your diet mostly fruit and vegetables, which are our most biologically conducive meals. Something that can help you in planning your raw food recipes is the categories in which fruits and vegetables are divided.

Fruits can be divided in sweet fruits (tropical fruits, persimmons, sweet grapes), acid fruits (lemons, citrus), sub-acid fruits (apples, pears, tart grapes) and fatty fruits (avocadoes, durian). Melons constitute a separate category of fruits. Some of the vegetable categories are non-starchy greens (spinach, cabbage), fruit vegetables (cucumbers, tomatoes) and root vegetables (carrots, celeriac). Another category of vegetables includes lettuce and celery. The vegetables named here can be found as items on a list of raw low carbohydrate foods. All these fruits and vegetables are the common components of raw food recipes.

Now that the categories have been established, here are some rules of combining them in order for you to avoid fermentation in the intestines, indigestion, water retention and toxicity. Sweet fruits are to be eaten with other varieties of sweet fruits only or with sub-acid fruits. Don’t eat acid fruit with anything other than celery and lettuce. Avocadoes and olives should be eaten with non-starchy vegetables. Melons should be eaten alone or not eaten at all. These are combinations that you should try. But there are a few combinations that you should try to avoid like starch and acid (tomato and potato), protein and protein (avocadoes and nuts), sweets and starch (maple syrup and rice). Think about these combinations when you are developing your own raw food recipes.

Raw food diets are not all about fruits and vegetables. Organic foods can also be included in the diet. Organic cheese is very nutritious and can be included in raw food diets because it does not involve a cooking process that destroys enzymes. You should make sure that the organic cheese you buy is organic, and not a scam. The process that is followed by farmers to obtain organic cheese consists of letting nature take its natural course, from harvesting the milk from the cows and letting it coagulate with no help from additional catalytic agents. Incredible products made from raw ingredients and that may include organic cheese can be found here, on rawbakery.com.

Frederick Patenaude asked:

Have you bought the idea that a completely raw food diet is the ultimate, most logical, best diet for all humankind, no matter where they live in the world? (Like eskimos eating watermelon…)

It seems to me that it’s the implied idea transmitted by many raw-foodists, raw food website, books and seminars.

The idea is:

Raw Food is Good, Cooked Food is Evil, and the World Would Be a Better Place If Everyone Ate Only Raw Foods

OK, I may be exaggerating, but often that’s the general tone of many of the raw food gurus’ message.

Is it actually true?

Would it be possible that the resources required to transport those foods would actually make the raw food diet fairly unecological, considering the fact that eating a diet of bananas and mangoes in Northern Canada isn’t the most natural choice?

How much food do you need as a 100% raw food eater?

It’s fairly well-known that anyone deciding to eat only raw foods in a sustainable way (for health) needs to eat a tremendous quantity of fresh fruits and vegetables.

In order to get enough calories from fruits and vegetables, without using too much raw fat (which would be detrimental for health), here’s the average amount of food that’s necessary:

For a 2000 calorie diet: 10 pounds a day (with peels and all)

For a 3000 calorie diet: 15 pounds a day (with peels and all)

I based those numbers on average consumption most 100% raw foodists go through in a typical day (those who are not on a detox program!).

So basically, 70 to over 100 pounds of food per week!

That’s a lot.

Where does your food come from?

If we would want to get a more accurate picture on the ecological impact that eating a large quantity of imported fruits would have versus a smaller quantity of local cooked, animal or grain foods, we would need to analyze a lot of variables. I haven’t been able to get an accurate estimate from the data that’s available.

But just knowing that most imported fruits come from fairly far away, and that large quantities are necessary on a completely raw food diet, I can draw the obvious conclusion that eating this way is not necessarily the most logical, natural and ecological choice.

Consider that:

- Grapes from Chile travel a minimum of 4000 miles to get to you

- Bananas from Costa Rica travel about 2000 miles or more to get to you

- Mangoes from Mexico at least 1000 miles to get to you

- And so on…

All of the fossil fuels used to transport all of these foods leave an impact, which may offset or even counter-balance the possible environmental benefits of choosing a raw vegan diet (which requires less resources when produced locally), versus a local diet that would contain both raw, cooked, plant and possibly even animal foods.

It’s always been obvious to me that a diet of all raw foods in Canada makes less sense on many levels that one that includes some cooked foods, more local foods and fewer imported fruits.

There’s also the fact that these fruits are picked unripe in many cases, the acidity level is too high and the nutrient level too low.

So is the solution for all raw-food enthusiasts to move to the tropics? Certainly not!

My point is:

- There’s no need to demonize cooked food – A diet that includes both raw and cooked food makes a lot of sense on many levels. You don’t have to eat 100% raw. This is really an individual choice based on your health, your location, and your preference.

- A raw food diet can be unnatural – Eating 100% raw foods in the north can be unnatural and unsustainable. And for many more reasons that I can expand on in future articles, it’s certainly not a solution that can be proposed to the entire world!

- If you live in the north, follow the seasons – Many people, as summer approaches, have the desire to include more raw food in their diet. But in the winter, instead of freezing to death, they choose to incorporate more raw, cooked foods. That is perfectly fine, natural and even desirable for most people.

Here’s a list of some additional tips to enable you to eat more ecologically and sustainably, while incorporating more raw fruits and vegetables in your diet, no matter where you live:

1- Freeze Berries and other Fruits in Season – Berries are some of the most nutritious and antioxidant-packed foods you can eat. To avoid the consumption of too much imported foods in the winter, I encourage you to freeze a huge quantity of ripe, local, organically grown (or wild) fresh berries when they are in season. I personally freeze a lot of wild blueberries, which are local. Then, use them throughout the winter in your recipes. You can thaw them in advance to avoid the negative effect of consuming cold foods.

2- Grow Sprouts – Grow some fresh, toxin-free sprouts such as clover and sunflower greens, to get a supply of cheap, fresh, local vegetables in the winter!

3- Avoid out of Season Fruits – Some fruits may be available in your store, but may actually be out of season in your hemisphere of the world. If you live in North America, the season for grapes usually ends in September or October. Grapes during the winter are imported from countries situated in the opposite hemisphere, such as Chile, where the seasons are reversed. Avoid that! Learn the seasons of different fruits and vegetables and choose to avoid foods imported from such far-away places.

4- Make Different Salads and Vegetable Dishes in the Winter – In one of my recipe books, I give different kinds of salads and dressings depending on the season. In the winter, I recommend salads made with cabbage, carrots and other root vegetables. In the summer, I incorporate more lettuce, tomatoes and fresh vegetables. You should do the same.

5- Shun Exotic Fruits – Exotic fruits such as durian, Thai coconuts and litchis can be great to try, but they inevitably come from faraway countries such as Thailand. In addition to leaving a huge ecological impact for being imported from so far, they are also heavily sprayed with toxic chemicals. Durians are particularly notorious for that. Try them for fun, but stick to fruits and vegetables as local as possible – at least from somewhere you could drive to.

Finally, I would like to encourage you to continue making the best choices for your health. Sometimes, that may sometimes mean:

- Eating fresher, locally grown commercial foods instead of less fresh, imported organic foods

- Eating ripe, local commercial food instead of unripe, imported organic foods

- And eating some cooked, warm “local” food instead of just cold imported fruits

Lookt at true consequences of your own choices, and realize that there’s not one size that fits all.

Madeleine Innocent

A friend’s daughter, Susan, was house and cat sitting, something she enjoys and which gives her an additional income. She was concerned for the cat though, as he was dirty, smelt, looked ragged and thin.

Now, healthy cats NEVER smell, are dirty or look ragged. Or are thin, for that matter, although neither is an obese cat healthy.

So I asked her what the diet was, knowing full well what the reply would be.

And it was.

Dried food, out of a box.

OK, so it wasn’t up to Susan what the cat was fed, but she takes her responsibilities seriously and was concerned the cat wouldn’t last til the people returned from their long holiday.

And the cat is very affectionate and wants to sleep with her. She’d prefer not to share her bed with a smelly, dirty cat and feels bad about it.

What could she do?

So I suggested she feed the cat raw cat food.

I told her what food to buy and how to manage the change over.

Older cats converting to raw cat food are likely to experience a toxin purge. Unless you’re prepared for it, it can look as if your cat’s health is rapidly deteriorating. It isn’t, it’s just having a good spring clean.

Young cats don’t have such a toxin build up, so when their diet is changed to raw cat food, they don’t experience the same purge.

Sure enough, once the raw food was started, Susan saw signs of a toxin purge. She was glad I’d prepared her, as it did look a bit alarming for a couple of days.

By the fourth day, she told me, the cat just seemed more content.

On day six, Susan reported that the cat was washing himself.

On day nine, she said the cat was eagerly looking forward to his meal, and ate it with gusto, consuming every scrap.

By day twelve, she told me the cat was almost like a normal cat – clean, smelt sweet, was filling out, was content and gave her no concern whatsoever for his chances of survival.

And she was happily sharing her bed with him by now, too.

It’s great to report that the cat’s people were amazed at the different cat they came home to. One can only hope that they retained the raw cat food diet Susan had had the courage to implement.

This cat was in his middle years, so the purging period at the start of his new diet was a bit shorter than an older cat might experience.

It’s worth every minute of the disdain your cat will treat you with in the early days, while they acclimatise to raw cat food. They may look at you accusingly, refuse the food, paw the food as if to bury it, turn their back at you, the works.

Keep your eye on the long term health gain.