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Do You Feed Your Dog Like You Feed Yourself?

FOOD = FUEL. Nothing more, nothing less.  We want it be more, but it just isn’t.  We wouldn’t feed our pets different foods for every meal because they looked happy or sad, so why do you do that for You? Most Americans purchase specialty or organic dog food, formulated for their type of dog (puppy, adult, mature, small dog, etc.) and only prepare a carefully measured quantity of their food into a dish, two times a day.  Many even have fancy food dishes that they eat from, and always in the same location in their home.

Who are we kidding, Besides ourselves? If your dog got a stomach ache from a “treat” you bought her, you wouldn’t just give her an anti diarrhea tablet and say “well I know she enjoyed it while she was eating it”, like we do to ourselves. Instead, we would never buy or give that food to her again. We need to reconsider what we say to ourselves in order to make it “okay” to eat certain foods that we know our body doesn’t need, shouldn’t have, is allergic to, or can’t tolerate.  I am not exempt from this.  For years, I ate dairy thinking it was the only option I had for protein as a vegetarian in the 80’s and 90’s -but, that wasn’t true.  What it was doing, was creating eczema all over my hands and patches on my body, that I just kept getting prescriptions to treat, instead of finding out what could be available to help me. *Please note not all eczema can be treated by removing dairy from your diet, but it worked for me.  Removing dairy for 3-4 weeks is all it took for all signs of eczema to be gone. I chose to keep it up and live prescription free.


Location, Location, Location: I mentioned before, pets have a specific place in our home that they eat. We don’t let them wander around with their food, or take it with them in the car.  We ask that they eat their food in one spot.  So that they know, when they are there, it is a time for eating only. They don’t multitask, just eat, and many families I know, only give their pets a certain amount of time to eat and then they remove their dishes.  WOW. What if WE only ate at the dinner table in our homes. What if we NEVER ate in our cars. What if we ONLY gave ourselves certain time periods each day to eat?

If you asked friends of yours who you know eat and live Healthy, you might get a similar answer.  We eat when we NEED to eat.  We eat every 3 hours to maintain a good metabolism, and we eat foods that FUEL our bodies and make us feel great!  Try it!

Emotional and social eating is an epidemic in the US and most larger nations.  Yes, it is fun to share a great meal with family and friends and you should continue to do so for special occasions, but it doesn’t have to be the norm. 

A Health coach can help you figure out what YOUR body NEEDS (not wants) and fuel yourself with only those things.  It isn’t easy, and most of us need help to accomplish big changes, but it is possible.  When you do, you will feel better, sleep better, think better, and live better.
 

*For an interesting viewpoint on Athlete Dog nutrition and how your recovery SHOULD be the same – head over to my friend Ken’s post at Athletic Time Machine.

Have questions or comments about this post or want more information on coaching with Mary? Send her a message!

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