Don't Feed That to the Dog!

Since we are having such nice weather, I thought that I would have some light-hearted humor. The other day I was at my friend’s place and I mistakenly gave an offer that I didn’t think was that big of a deal. Their cute little mutt was making its case for the remains of a pastry that was offered by the home owner. I am not sure if this dog knew how charitable I was, but surely it looked confident that I would comply with its guile melodramatic eyes. That is when I made the mistake.  I was caught red-handed feeding the dog “people food!”

This is the point where my friend stated that “people food is not healthy for the dog!” I found that to be quite interesting as it is not the first time that I had heard that.

People food is not healthy for the dog. I am in no way a veterinarian, but I would tend to agree with my friend.  However, I do know a lot about nutrition, and people food is not healthy for your children either. This same family was feeding this treat to not only me but also to their children too. This means that they are feeding their children and me food that is not fit for a dog. Should I have been insulted?

Again this got me thinking.  Why do we think that people food is good for us, and not good for our pets? That is because we have been sold that this food is good for us. We have been marketed that all kinds of questionable foods are good for us even though they are contributing to heart disease, diabetes, and stroke. Not only have these foods been sold to us, but they have been engineered to work the physiology and psychology of a consuming human. It is because of this tricky salesmanship that we don’t really know what is good for us.  We are told complicated ways to get a “good diet.”  All kinds of fads and health crazes fuel an ignorance of what is really good for us.  The more complicated healthy is the more products that can be sold to the public.

So then, what is good for us?  The best advice I can offer is that if you are at a store, and you see a food with a nutritional facts label on it, then it is probably not that good for you.  .....by the way.  Apples and green peppers do not have nutritional labels, but frozen pizza has one.  On a nice above-70s March day I can find some humor in that. 

Call to action: Next time you are shopping for your food ask yourself, “would I get mad if this were fed to my dog?” If you would get mad, then you should probably move on and get something else. Don’t get rid of everything fun, but stay conscious. An investment in good food is a divestment from expensive health care.