Then, to bulk out the already cheap ‘meat’, a non-nutritional filler is added. That can be sugar, as there’s a world glut of it at the moment, or melamine if you live in China. Then, to keep the product indefinitely at room temperature a preservative is added. When you see a packet of dried dog food in the shop, with the slogan ‘preservative free’ ask yourself this question – how can dried ‘meat’ be kept indefinitely at room temperature without preservatives? Do you think you wouldn’t have heard of a new way to do this, if there was? So either there is no ‘meat’ or there is preservative present. Trouble is, the preservatives used are very strong, cause huge health problems and aren’t allowed in human food.

So commercial dog food can be crossed off as an all natural dog food!. I see quite a lot of ‘dog experts’ on the internet advocating you cook your own dog food. Whilst that is hugely better than commercial pet food, it’s still missing the nutrients that are lost in cooking. Typically these are vitamins and enzymes, both essential for a healthy dog. But other nutrients are altered by cooking. Fat changes during the cooking process from a beneficial food to a harmful one. So you can cross though this one too, as an all natural dog food. What about table scraps? That depends so much on the table scraps.

If the human food is a good, natural one of lots of raw fruit and veg, with lightly cooked meat, then these table scraps have the potential of being the best dog food out of all three options, as long as there is enough left over to satisfy your dog’s nutritional needs. If, however, your diet is typically fast food with a lot of processed food, then these table scraps will be little better than the commercial dog food. Yet another cross through. There is only one all natural dog food and that’s the one dogs evolved on. Nothing that mankind has done has improved one iota on that. And considerable decline has occurred.

Dogs have evolved over millions of years on an all natural dog food and it keeps them happy and healthy. Once you get to grips with the idea of how dogs evolved, duplicating that diet within the constraints of what is available and the limits on your time, is not that difficult. However, there are a few important things you need to know such as: what food should not be given more than once a week should bones be given what carbohydrates are the best ones and how much are there any fruit or vegetables that shouldn’t be given what amino acid is essential to a dog’s healthy skin should you supplement the diet how do you convert the diet of an elderly or sick dog safely.

When you change the diet of your dog from a commercial pet food to an all natural dog food, there may initially be a de-toxing period. This is normal and natural, but can seem a bit scary to you if you don’t understand why it’s happening and the symptoms. It should be of short duration, depending on your dog’s age and level of health. Dogs digestion is robust. They have evolved on eating raw meat and carrion. They can’t cope with preservatives, fillers, high fat or low grade protein, none of which occurs (at least in high proportions) in nature. Once you have your dog on an all natural dog food, you’ll find fewer and fewer health problems. I’m sure you’d be as happy as anyone, to cut your dog’s professional health fees.

It is fair to say that as the industry becomes more main stream, the collective responsibility to ensure objective and concise information is readily available, increases. In their very broadest sense, sports nutrition products are designed to improve performance and help aid recovery from intense exercise. Many sports nutrition supplements are in fact food supplements which mean that they provide nutrients that are found in everyday foods but in a concentrated form. For example, whey protein is exceptionally high in protein (typically 80%) and can provide the same levels of protein found in a chicken breast but without the inconvenience of having to prepare and cook it.

As the name suggests, sports nutrition supplements should be complementary to a balanced diet. The majority of a person’s nutrients should always come from a diet being rich in unprocessed foods, using supplements to fill in any nutritional gaps. Sports Nutrition Limitations As the sports nutrition industry has grown in size, marketing by companies has increased. Unfortunately, some of the communication used builds unrealistic expectations. As someone who may be recommending sports nutrition products to users, it is key to understand what can be realistically achieved by using sports nutrition products. Sports nutrition products are not miracle potions, they will not yield huge gains in performance, however they will aid the user when combined with other important factors.

In its simplest form, the key pillars to achieving physical goals fall into the following areas: Diet – Arguably the most important factor. With a diet that isn’t tailored towards the correct goals, the goals may well not be realized. In its broadest sense, diet will also include the use of sports nutrition supplements, although it is important that they are not the main source of nutrition. Training – Without the correct exercise plan, the body will not be subjected to the right stressors from which it can adapt. For example someone wanting to put on mass would not train the same way as someone preparing for a marathon.

Rest – As the adage suggests, ‘you don’t grow in the gym’. Essentially recovery takes place in the days after training. If there is insufficient rest, training gains will be hindered and the body may go into a state of over training. The most important aspect when recommending sports nutrition products is making sure that they are suitable for the user. Understanding the user’s goals and any potential intolerances is key to finding the right product for any given person. Additionally having an understanding of their lifestyle (active/desk job) and diet will also play a factor in the type of products that are suited.

When you consider all the chemicals most pets are subject to, there is little wonder their immune systems go on strike. Drugs, vaccinations, pesticides in the garden, harsh cleaners in the house, but perhaps worse of all by virtue of it’s frequent ingestion, are the preservatives in their daily diet. A typical cat food is processed and comes in a box, packet or can. The dried cat food must contain high levels of preservative to keep it at room temperature, indefinitely, despite what the packet may say. Believe me, there’s no other way to have such a long shelf life. Cats are particularly sensitive to chemicals, so readily succumb to them. A stay in a cattery may well overload them, as most catteries fastidiously clean their pens with strong disinfectants or bleach, to ensure there’s no cross contamination. There are several things you can do immediately, to help your cat overcome this serious disease, even if they have had it a while.

You never know how much good you can do until you try. The first thing that’s really important to address is their diet. Start giving your cat a good quality, raw, diabetic cat food. Human grade raw meat, from a butcher, will generally not contain any preservatives or colour as most countries have laws against that. It’s better to feed a diabetic cat 3 or 4 small meals a day, rather than 1 or 2 larger meals. Diabetic cat food differs slightly from a normal healthy cat food by the fat content. The food must be low fat (but not no fat), as the pancreas is responsible for the production of enzymes which help break down fat. No healthy cat food should contain any sugar, in particular diabetic cat food. Many, perhaps most, commercial cat food manufacturers use sugar as a filler. It bulks out the meat and is cheap, with a world glut.

No cat food should not contain large amounts of carbohydrates, which are a manistay part of almost all processed cat foods, including those for diabetic cats. The mineral chromium assists the body in utilising the insulin more efficiently, so the addition of half to one teaspoon of brewers yeast to the diabetic cat food will help your cat. Chromium is also in liver, beef and spirulina. Including vitamin E in the diabetic cat food reduces the amount of insulin required. Vitamin E occurs naturally in raw meat fat and spirulina. Vitamin E is also in eggs and wheat germ oil, but diabetic cat food should be low in oil and fat, so while these are recommended, they should be in small quantities. You can also supplement it in the d alpha tocopheral (the natural form). Try to avoid the synthetic form, which is more commonly used. Synthetic vitamins are not as well utilised by the cat. Dose 30 IU per day until you see improvement.

And play with your cat, so she gets some exercise. Exercise tends to decrease the need for insulin. A good diabetic cat food, like any good cat food, is as close to that of a wild cats food as possible. Cats have evolved to efficiently use raw food. They can’t use processed and cooked food in the same way, as they lack the nutrients destroyed by cooking. Once you have your cat regularly eating good quality raw food, she may need less insulin. And if it isn’t too far advanced, there’s no reason why she shouldn’t recover completely. Recovery from serious disease is not uncommon when the cause is addressed. Ensuring your cat only eats a healthy, high quality, raw, diet, at the very least will reduce her need for insulin.

Coaches will pay large amounts of money to go to coaching clinics or will study new coaching schemes. Yet, one of the areas that coaches haven’t explored is the nutritional factor of their athletes. Coaches will always do everything they can to get the best workout for their players. They will also look to get them into a weight lifting regiment. Yet, when it comes to what the players are putting into their bodies the coaches usually leave that decision up to the individual player. At some point each player has to take personal responsibility for making themselves into a better player. One of those responsibilities is to have a healthy diet.

It is very hard to force anyone to eat a certain diet; however, there is an easier way for coaches to increase the nutritional advantage that their players have. Increase the amount of protein that their players have in their diet. An increase in protein allows the players to create more lean muscle, which will increase their performance on the court, durability during a season, and over all endurance. The body almost never converts protein into fat, taking away any worry that a player would be getting too much protein in their diet. There is also a simple metric for how much protein a player needs in their diet. The amount of protein that someone who is actively training should intake is equal to half of their body weight in grams. For example a person that weighs 180 pounds should have 90 grams worth of protein in their daily diet. That amount of protein is very difficult to accomplish through pure dieting. Providing your players with whey protein is a very simple solution to improve the nutritional conditioning of your team. Whey protein is very cost effective, with good supplements providing at least 19 grams a serving. Isolated whey protein is also very low in fats, and consists of 90% pure protein.

Whey protein is produced with dairy products that make it easier to metabolize than soy based protein products. Whey protein is very easy to use. There isn’t any cycles or timetables that players need to follow. The players just need to take a certain number of servings per day depending on their weight. This nutritional advantage is something that professional coaching staffs take very seriously, and a coach that will use the power of protein to their advantage will get a competitive edge over their competition. It is easy, legal and effective. Coaches should start to use protein to their advantage to gain a nutritional edge.