Feeding your Dog People Food

The woman is thinking that Broccoli is good for people so it is probably good for the dog. The dog is sniffing the broccoli wondering, “Where is the MEAT?”

Your dog doesn’t really differentiate between people food and dog food.

It has a nose designed by Mother Nature to differentiate between meat and non-meat.

Its ancestors, according to recently available genetic information, appear to be a species of wolf that went extinct some thousands of years ago (not the Gray Wolf as was once thought). Either way, your dog and its ancestors are carnivores, designed by Mother Nature to eat a diet that is primarily meat and fat.

Dogs are carnivores as determined by their Mitochondrial DNA which determines the metabolic pathways and the food they are designed to eat. The Mitochondrial DNA is only passed on by the female and as a result remains consistent for thousands of generations, which means todays dogs still need to eat like their carnivore ancestors.

Nuclear DNA can be manipulated to make a wolf look like a Schnauzer over a few dozen generations, but that doesn’t change what they are designed to eat, and need to eat, which is dictated by the Mitochondrial DNA.

Dogs and wolves are designed to eat meat and fat and have absolutely no need or requirement for carbohydrates of any kind. That is a known nutritional fact. They can eat carbohydrates, but it is not a food they were designed to eat, or need, and they have no dietary requirement for carbs. They are designed to produce all the energy they need from meat and fat. 

People are omnivores and convert carbohydrates into glucose for energy. They have the ability to produce the enzyme Amylase in their mouths, (the enzyme that digests carbohydrates), to begin the digestion process while chewing.

Carnivores, like dogs, do not produce Amylase in their mouths which is an indication they were not designed to use carbs as a primary source of energy.

When omnivores eat carbohydrates they are converted into glucose for energy, but a carnivore converts them into glycogen which it stores in the liver. Eventually, if the glycogen is not used, it is converted to fat and stored in the muscle tissue, which helps explain why over 60% of dogs are overweight eating todays carb heavy dog foods.

 

Dogs have no need for carbohydrates because they can convert the protein and fat they eat directly into glucose for energy. 

Many Veterinarians and nutritionists claim that dogs have evolved into omnivores based on having lived around people for centuries and gotten used to their food, specifically the carbohydrates.

I think it is more reasonable to assume their human families have fed their dogs the leftover meat, fat, and bones that dogs prefer, rather than the carbohydrates.

If you place grain, potatoes, or carbohydrates on the floor dogs will sniff them and walk away based on the instincts Mother Nature gave them to determine what food is best for them to eat. I’m not aware of anyone who has seen a dog attacking an ear of corn, licking up grain spilled from a silo, or raiding a vegetable garden.

Dogs will not instinctively eat carbs unless they are soaked in meat flavor, which is how they are being tricked into eating dog food that is loaded with grain, potato, and other high glycemic carbs.

In the final analysis I find it unreasonable to claim that dogs have evolved from carnivores into omnivores in a relatively short period of time based on the theory that they have been eating a constant diet of carbs fed to them by their human families. If this were the case, it would not create an omnivore out of a carnivore - it would just create a sick carnivore, which is what the present carbohydrate laden dog foods are now doing.

The large dog food companies ran tests which show dogs can produce more of the enzyme Amalyase (that digests carbs) than their wolf ancestors, and based on that they claim that dogs are now omnivores and 75% of their diet can be carbohydrates. They say carbs are actually healthy for the dog because there are no scientific studies to prove otherwise.  

However, this has recently changed. A massive increase in research on the Gut Microbiota in the last few years is changing everything. It has revealed the mechanism that shows how too many carbohydrates in a dogs diet cause an imbalance in the Gut Microbiota that leads to major health problems, including Leaky Gut, allergies, systemic candida, immune system over-reaction, and no end of physical problems connected to those conditions.

The high glycemic carbohydrates feed the harmful bacteria in the Gut Microbiota and cause an imbalance (called Dysbiosis) where the harmful bacteria overgrow, and lead to Leaky Gut. This results in fecal matter, toxins, partially digested proteins, and the Candida Albicans Fungus leaking into the blood stream.

Diet is the cause - Diet is the solution!

Dogs on todays high carb diets are afflicted with numerous problems including allergies, dry itchy skin, ear infections, gnawing of feet and tails, dry, brittle hair, skin rashes, weepy eyes, lack of energy, bad breath, joint pain, pancreatitis, diarrhea, excess gas, shedding, itchy butt, hazy cloudy eyes, stomach problems, and over 60% of them are chronically overweight. We saw them come through our store every day for fifteen years.

Something is causing all these problems that their relatives in the wild, eating a diet of meat and fat, without all the carbohydrates, are not experiencing and now research into the Gut Microbiota is showing it is diet.

After 15 years selling food to thousands of customers in our dog food store I have personally witnessed the numerous problems that high carb dog food can cause. When we put a dog on a diet of high protein, low carb, balanced nutrition the problems usually went away in a few weeks, unless the dog has developed Systemic Candida, which can take anywhere from a few weeks to a few months to resolve. 

 

Leaky Gut can be traced to the vast majority of problems that are afflicting dogs including allergies, systemic candida, skin problems, and constant itching.

While carbohydrates can be fed to dogs in limited amounts, there is reason to challenge the present belief that it is good to feed a dog food that contains up to 75% carbohydrates.

The ability to metabolize something does not in itself make it healthy to eat. A child can metabolize a candy bar but that does not mean it is healthy to eat any amount of them.

A child can metabolize a bowl of sugary cold cereal, but a steady diet that is  46% to 76%  sugary cold cereal would not be a healthy choice.

Mother Nature designed dogs to thrive on a diet of meat and fat alone without any need for carbohydrates and going from minimal carbs to 75% carbs is definitely excessive. Dogs were not designed to process anything but a minimum amount of carbs, as is evident by the number of health problems dogs have developed eating these high carb dog foods.

The process of evolving from a carnivore into a omnivore is more involved than simply being able to produce more of the enzyme Amylase than their wolf relatives. 

I strongly recommend that you feed your dog food with more meat and fat in it then high-glycemic carbohydrates and it does not matter whether they come from your kitchen, dinner leftovers, or a quality, high protein dog food as long as the protein is animal sourced protein and not all vegetable protein.

Finally, I have witnessed extensive health problems caused by carbohydrates in hundreds of dogs over fifteen years. While dogs may be able to metabolizable certain carbs, it appears too many, or the wrong kind of carbs (like high glycemic grain and potato ),can throw the biology of the gut out of balance and lead to Leaky Gut, Systemic Candida, and a host of skin problems.

Leaky Gut causes allergies, a hyper-active immune response, and a form of auto-immune disease where the immune system attacks its own body parts.

Systemic Candida is a fungus that leaks into the blood stream through a porous gut wall, and almost always accompanies a Leaky Gut condition.