Life force in food – what it means for your dog’s health

Considering how much life force in food you are serving on your plate is not something you may have thought about before with your diet, let alone for your pet’s.

When a food is freshly picked it is full of vital energy and all of its vitamins and minerals are there in abundance.

After harvesting, the life force in food will naturally gradually start to decline. However, it is pretty much deleted all together when processed at high temperatures in baking, frying, the extrusion process for dry dog food and irradiation, which is also used in dog food processing to help reduce bacteria – though this does not always work of course when you consider all of the dry pet food recalls.

Just like us humans the life force in food is central to a dog’s good health. So, when raw foods are snap frozen, dried or dehydrated, like they are in the Big Dog Pet Foods raw food diet and Little Bites, it helps to ensure the life force in food is preserved and able to deliver all of the essential vitamins, minerals and other nutrients your dog needs for optimal health.

As they are frozen or dehydrated as soon as their ingredients are mixed, they can be stored for long periods without losing life force or nutrients, and without the need for preservatives, which the majority of other highly processed dog foods are full of.

In addition, if your dog is eating a highly processed dog food that is designed to last for months, some even years on the shelf, the life force in their food is pretty much negligible. Not to mention the high carb content and poor-quality ingredients that impact negatively on your dog’s gut and overall health and wellbeing.

Highly processed, high carbohydrate pet food diets can lead to many diseases including leaky gut syndrome, skin allergies and weight gain, which in turn can lead to cancer, diabetes and many other diseases that are associated with poor nutrition in us humans as well as our pets.

At minimum to ensure there is more life force in food for your dogs, if you are feeding a dry kibble, do make sure you include some lightly steamed vegetables such as broccoli, carrots, spinach, green beans as well as superfoods like blueberries and turmeric, Omega 3’s from oily fish and even chia seeds and fresh, human-grade muscle meats and organs.

Ideally though, if looking for maximum life force in food, slowly transition your dog to a complete and balanced raw food diet. Here’s some tips on doing it yourself, or Big Dog have made it easy for you, so check out their website for more information, tips and advice on food and nutrition.

Lara Shannon is a certified dog behaviourist and trainer, pet food nutrition specialist, Executive Producer and Host of Pooches at Play on Channel 10 and editor of Poochesatplay.com. Lara also runs her own dog training business in Melbourne’s Bayside area and is the Author of World of Dogs and Eat, Play, Love (Your Dog).