Real food

Yep, the dogs would have had some of this with their protein.

Real - genuine; not counterfeit, artificial or imitation; authentic.

Food - any nourishing substance that is eaten, drunk or otherwise taken into the body to sustain life, provide energy and promote growth.

I love this definition stated above.  Does your dog food fit into this category?  Very few do.  I use the term 'real food' where most people say 'people food.'   Sitting in bed with Elsa and Luke, we just finished sharing a plate full of turkey.  Turkey, just real turkey.  Every morning we share breakfast in bed.  Because of the possibility of bloat in my breed I don't feed them breakfast until about an hour after we get back from morning exercise.  But they need a snack before they start their day as do I before hitting the gym.

I love the fact that I can give my dogs pretty much anything and they will not get upset from it.  That is I can give them any 'real food' item.  The simpler the better when dogs are concerned.   Last night I made peanut, mushroom chicken on rice noodles for us.  The dogs got the chicken plain.  Although Elsa does love peanut butter and no matter how quietly I open a jar, she hears it and comes running.   My guys eat a huge variety of foods throughout the day.  I've grown accustom to giving Luke food whenever I can get it into him just to keep some meat on him.  So Elsa enjoys in this as well albeit at a much smaller portion size.   She tends to gain whereas Luke never does.

Real food is unprocessed, it still retains nutrients that the body can use.  The higher the quality of food the less you need to feed of it.  With many of the dog foods out there, so much of it is filler.  Feathers, peanut hulls, corn bran, cellulose etc etc.  All of these products that go into our dog force the digestive system to work overtime on something that the body cannot actually use.  It ends up reprocessed in your yard having no nutrient effects on your dog.

The other day I was having a bowl of cottage cheese for lunch.  Elsa of course came into the kitchen to see what I was doing.  I got out another bowl and put a couple of tablespoons in it for her.  She looked adorable with it on her nose.  It makes me feel good when I give my dogs good food.  I know that the turkey that we just ate will sustain me through a very rigorous and strenuous weight lifting work out.  So too will it get Luke and Elsa through their fun trip to the beach this morning.

Sure their are things that we all eat just because we love it; even though it holds little nutritional ingredients.  But the bulk of food that we take in should be something that our body can use.  The same goes for our dogs, get the good stuff in there.  If you are worried about stomach upset, start small.  Start by offering real food treats throughout the day.  Your dog's system will adjust to different foods making it possible to offer all sorts of good stuff.

The big dog food companies have brain washed us into thinking that we are incapable of feeding our dogs ourselves.  They have come up with elaborate schemes to show us that what they put into those well thought out and enticing bags is better for our dogs than 'real food.'  Hogwash.  There is so much information made available to us now about feeding our dogs. We can do it, we totally can do it.  Even if that means reading ingredients lists and choosing a better food, closer to real food than the low or no quality foods with the fancy bags.

I have heard many people say "that food costs too much." How much is too much for good nutrition?  There are better quality foods out there that cost just a fraction more but hold so much more nutrients within the bag.  I certainly understand that not everyone wants to feed their dog 'real food,' but at least look for a food that has nutrition within the bag.  The giant feed companies have done an amazing job at making us think that good food is cheap, dirt cheap.