Many people believe that if they feed good quality food or the best natural food that their dogs or cats diet will be complete. This is not true.

Intensive agriculture has caused a severe degree of soil mineral  and nutrient depletion which has caused deficiencies in the whole food chain including plants, herbivores and finally carnivores.  We have seen sailors dying of scurvy, iodine deficiency causing goiter, vitamin B deficiency causing beri-beri, a neurologic disease and death. It is a paradox that most people and even medical practitioners do not ask the most important question. What is missing in our own and our pets’ diet? Is it possible that these deficiencies cause serious health problems?  Of course they do!

The story of Peggy and Skai

A few years ago I was asked by one of the local natural pet food manufacturers to come up with a better alternative for calcium and mineral supplement. First, I looked at several different mineral sources and found a unique species of mineral absorbing algae that has been used with great success in the treatment of osteoporosis.  I formulated GreenMin with the idea of providing the essential minerals.

First I used it  myself  and felt great, more energetic and less achy after exercise and yoga. Then I gave it to my dog Skai and his sister Peggy who lives with my friends. As time went on I started to see a huge difference between Peggy and Skai.  I was puzzled.  Skai’s coat became softer, shinier and rich colored, his digestion was better than ever and he was full of energy with no signs of stiffness.  Peggy, on the other hand, started to show some stiffness and my friends complained that she  limped on occassion. Her coat was dry and bleached out and she continued to have occasional diarrhea.  How could it be?  Then I  asked my friends if they were giving the supplement.  They sheepishly confessed that they forgot!

This was the picture of mineral deficiency.

Natural versus Synthetic

Most people understand the need for supplements,  however many do not realize the difference  between  synthetic supplements, natural extracts and whole food based supplements. While synthetically made supplements resemble their natural cousins, their comparison is similar to wholesome organic oranges and artificially colored and flavoured pop soda.  Generally, I try to avoid  synthetically made supplements. Many people do not know that many synthetic supplements are made in chemical labs from crude oil and other chemical substances.In fact artificial vitamins and supplements create a state of excess and chemical imbalance that I have gradually learned to recognize by observing subtle shifts in the energy of different organs and the body.

Deciding whether to give synthetic or natural is relatively easy. The more challenging part is to find the right product because many supplement label claims are inaccurate or untrue.

Beware of shady production practices, go with products you trust

I discovered this by doing research on certified organic spirulina which is no longer available in the western world. The reason is that Spirulina doesn’t grow without a naturally occuring Chilean nitrate that can no longer be used in certified organic foods. It is shocking that there are still many suppliers of “organic” spirulina from China which was  clear proof that the Chinese organic claims are untrue.

For most people it is hard to recognize products backed up with solid knowledge or those formulated haphazardly. Learn more about the company, learn to know people who formulate the products and their background. I also prefer having several different products rather than mixing everything in one. If products have too many combined mixed ingredients, choose others that are simple and made with human grade ingredients. I have chosen to make  GreenMin locally in Vancouver and source the ingredients directly from the growers.  If they do not want to show me their certification documents,  I don’t deal  with them.

Extracts versus whole food based supplements

Natural extracts are better, however they are still “extracted” from the whole food. The difference is similar to eating an apple and drinking apple juice. One is nutritious,  the other one is pasteurized sugar loaded  drink that can make the body acidic and imbalanced.

Whole food supplements are made of wholesome food with hight nutrient content and positive effect on the body. A good example is a turmeric, holy basil and ginger based anti-inflammatory supplement that has a very strong antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and superfood qualities that is much safer than conventional drug  Metacam that causes side-effects . Probiotics supplements are another good example. Vitamin supplements and minerals can also be sourced from whole food and these are the products that I like to use.

What do my pets get?

My 9 year old dog Skai receives

A whole food probiotic cultured multivitamin.

GreenMin – an essential mineral, phytonutrient and superfood formula that also detoxes the body of heavy metals and other toxins

Wholemega – essential omega oils sourced from virgin salmon oil and certified organic flaxseed oil.

Nondairy probiotics.

Mobility and joint support made of Perna mussel.

Turmeric based anti-inflammatory, such as zyflamend after vigorous exercise which has also strong antioxidant – anti-cancer properties.

Once every 6 months, I do a liver cleanse with a herbal supplement and chlorophyll complex

My 19-year-old cat Mina receives

A whole food glandular and vitamin supplement formula ( available through email order only at contact@peterdobias.com due to manufacturer regulations)

GreenMin for Cats Esssential mineral supplement.

Non-dairy probiotics

For  senior cats I add a glandular supplement to support kidneys ( available through email order only at contact@peterdobias.com due to manufacturer regulations)

If you’re interested in learning more details about supplements, description and dosing, visit our webstore.  I’ve created easy to follow categories according to age and  specific organ support.

With gratitude,

PS:  A percentage of the proceeds from the purchase of any products goes to Healing Foundation  to conduct medical research in the field of  holistic disease and cancer prevention and  to provide free education to you and other holistically minded pet lovers.

Recently, I have had the pleasure to interview one of the Vancouver’s most talented healers, Ryan Carnahan on a very interesting topic of detox.  Heavy metals are one of the most serious pollutant and disease causing factors out  there.  Learning how to detox naturally may ad months and years to your best friends life.  I hope you will enjoy this interview.

With gratitude,

Dr. PD:

Hi  Everyone,  I have the pleasure to  introduce you to Ryan Carnahan  who has  been  very  kind and  agreed for me to interview him. He is a person who has a deep knowledge on the level of nutrition, supplements and  energy healing and I would like you to hear  a little about   minerals and their function and foremost,  how they  contribute to getting rid of  heavy metals in the body.

Ryan,  what  is  your background?

RC: I have been  in  practice 17 years,  in my practice, I combine homeopathy, osteopathy, herbal medicine, energy healing and of course  nutrition. I integrate all these in my practice to provide  people with a  well rounded  approach to maximize  health and longevity.

I have also heard that you’re a new owner of a dog?

RC: Yes, Reina,  we have had her for 8 months, she is a rescue dog from Mexico.  We are  very  blessed to have her in  our life and she has really taught me a lot and I have learned a lot from you in our discussions in how to take care of her.

What has she taught you?

RC:She is an ongoing reflection of what is going on  in my life.  I have always known that  pets are  very similar to children but  experiencing this is very different.  In my  practice,   I see the dynamics between  children  and parents and see how directly children and pets are  influenced by the things that  happen in the families and may be outside of the awareness of the parents. I can  look at  Reina and  I can see what is going on with me. It is apparent that they pick up the energy in the household and they adapt to the household and other relationships.  It is a constant reflection of ourselves and it takes away some self-centeredness of ourselves  because  we devote our life to taking care of someone else and it is an honor to do so.

I would like to go back to the topic of minerals and what  function in the body they  have and what  happens  when  we  provide a whole food source of minerals.This is quite important and I know you have picked up on it  when  you created GreenMin by seeing that  the best  quality raw diet  can be  still deficient in minerals. We can be feeding the highest quality diet from the most  pristine  environments but the plants are growing in soil that  is lower in minerals than it once was. The body needs to  use these nutrients for detoxification and maintaining health.

The liver is the most  important detoxification  organ  and it  requires a huge selection of nutrients in order to detox the  body from a  wide  range of toxins – including those produced during metabolism and from microbes such as bacteria, yeast, as parasites as well as environmental toxins.

The liver is  constantly working to metabolize these toxins and if the body is not receiving the full  spectrum of nutrients such as  minerals  and vitamins, the liver’s enzymes will not be able to process these toxins efficiently and they will start to create health problems.

So when  we  talked about GreenMin,  I  was  thinking especially about minerals and how the animals  may be benefiting from that. Animals  eat  food with  bones  and organs and  these contain  heavy metals.   Particularly the kidneys and brain  can contain  high  levels of  mercury and other metals like cadmium. Lead is often stored in the bones. If our  animals  eat  bones and organs which is  a part of their natural  diet, their liver, kidneys, bowels and lungs – all of the detoxification routes – need to metabolize and process toxins in the best possible way.  In  order to  do this, they need a full spectrum of nutrients to handle this.

Coming back to  some of these minerals like  sulphur, selenium, zinc, magnesium etc – these are crucial in  the production of detoxification enzymes in the body and the liver.

Mercury is a real  problem and  it comes  from the environment, vaccinations that the farm animals and our pets  get and these compound into the pets bodies and hopefully,  if your pet is healthy, it will be  able to excrete as much of the heavy metals as possible.  Sulphur, selenium, zinc, manganese, magnesium and others are all required for these enzymes, especially in the liver for detoxifying these metals.

Now coming back to mercury in specific, sulphur and selenium bind to mercury in the body so what happens is that mercury attaches to these minerals and can create a depletion of these minerals in the body.

Zinc will compete with cadmium, lead can compete with calcium and become deposited in bones, so these toxic metals have a way of sneaking in and using our metabolism and nutrients that we are ingesting to wreak a little bit of havoc.  So it is important that we have a really healthy supply of the good minerals so that our detoxification enzymes can be in the best form possible and so that they can help shovel these metals out of the body.

So if we are in a nutrient deficient state, like many of our pets are who may be on a very poor diet to begin with, you compound that nutrient deficiency with the environmental toxicity with the toxicity of the vaccinations and all of these things and they are really not in the best place possible to be able to recover and rebound.

Now, it can sound kind of doom and gloom but ultimately we don’t have to be afraid of environmental toxins.  We need to be wise, we need to be prudent and we need to be informed.  We just have to do the right thing so that we are in the best place possible so our bodies can be the natural detoxifiers that they are.

Our bodies will eliminate toxins through our bowels, our hair, our sweat, our urine but they need the proper nutrients in order to do that and that is where I products like GreenMin can come in and really put the animals in the best place possible for the toxicities that may be in the food that they are eating.

Dr. PD So if I understand well, the minerals are basically the soldiers of the body for the detox system and they work really hard to eliminate any heavy metals or any toxins that are in the system through being part of the liver and the enzymatic system and just helping to eliminate.  That makes a lot of sense because we have seen this especially in middle aged and older animals that are probably much more burdened by heavy metals and different toxins, they suddenly can look renewed and that is most likely what is happening.

Now some of our listeners and clients and customers have been wondering whether they have to put vitamins and essential oils in the food on top of minerals and some of them also believe that if they put vitamins and maybe essential oils that they do not need to put minerals in.

What is your opinion about that?

RC: Well, you know minerals, vitamins and oils are all very different categories of nutrients. You can try and just put eggs and flour in a cake and see how that tastes but really you are going to need a little sugar, a little baking powder and whatever you need to make the cake that tastes its best! In my book I talk about the three top supplements.

For me it is a good quality multivitamin, a high quality fish oil- and I say high quality because there is a lot more popular fish oils coming out there now that are not high quality. So yeah, fish oils are important.  They don’t have to be fish oils, Omega III’s can come from a plant based form but they are not as potent and bioavailable as the fish oils. And the third is a probiotic supplement. So we have these top three things that I think are very important.

Ryan, I have always believed that the health of people and their animals come along together.  It sounds like you may be a perfect person for some of our listeners and clients to be in touch with.  Where do you work and what do you do?  I know that you work in the human field and I would like to know a little bit more about your practice.

RC: Sure, I practice in Port Moody, BC ( Vancouver Lower Mainland region) and work with a wide range of people dealing with conditions ranging from back pain to digestive problems, immune system problems, etc.  I specialize in chronic pain but I do treat a wide range of ailments.  As we spoke about earlier, my approach is quite holistic and I use different modalities to approach the body to try and look at it from as many angles as possible to really see what is going on.

The goal of the treatment is really about balancing the body so it can heal itself, it is as simple as that. So we identify imbalances on a physical, mental, emotional and energetic level and then use herbs, homeopathy, osteopathy and energy balancing to restore balance to the body.  It is all about balance and once the body is balanced it will heal itself.  And I say the same thing about animals.  If we are providing the nutrients that they require, the body will tend to go back into balance and that will in turn create much better health.  So this is what I aim for with my clients.

Dr.PD: I love the simple approach to healing because I usually say that we need to eliminate toxins and what doesn’t belong in the body and then provide the body with nutrients that it needs then rebalance and realign the energy and that is all that needs to be done because the body does the rest.  I think we will have a lot of opportunity to talk in the future and I believe that you are still open to new clients although I know you are very busy.  What is your website address?

My practice site is www.RyanCarnahan.com and I have another website which is healerathome.com where I offer a series of ebooks covering the most important natural first aid remedies and there is a free ebook on treating colds naturally, which I am really excited about because it is just packed with good information that can be used on a regular basis.

It has been great talking to you Peter – what we really focused on today is the physical aspects of health but the other important aspect of health is the mental and emotional aspect of ourselves and our animals. This is also very important for detoxification as well – perhaps we can talk about another time.

Dr. PD: Thank you Ryan,  those  are definitely topics that I would like to have the future discussion on.

Take Care

PS:  For more information of Green Min, FAQ and how to purchase GreenMin, CLICK HERE

If you have ever seen a dog dressed in a  T-shirt laced up the back or another one looking like a punk with bald spots  shaved all over his body, his owner doesn’t  need to be  an eccentric dog person.   The poor  pooch may be dressed or  shaven because  of hot spots.

Depending on what hemisphere you are in, summer  may be in  full swing  and hot spots are likely to be  a hot topic under the even hotter summer sun.   It is also one of the most misunderstood  problems under the sun.

Things often are not what  they appear to be.

Dr. Peter Dobias

Often I ask myself, is all the hurry really necessary and why don’t we have enough time for her really matters to us, a dog walk, a cuddle with a cat, conversation with your partner, children or a friend and yes, a hug.

We have built up all this clutter and mind noise in our lives and it keeps us away from living. This video is a great reminder of  how important a simple hug is. I’m sending one to you, your cat or dog  and promise that as soon as I post this blog post I will get back to bring you more information about how to keep your animal friends healthy and long living.

With gratitude,

Dr. Peter Dobias

PS:  Enjoy the hug video!

Quite a few  people  have asked me what  to do  to  protect  your  pets from RADIOACTIVE FALL OUT and if they should use Potassium Iodide for their pets.  While the risks  of increased radiation in  North America are low, it never hurts  to learn the important facts.

What does Iodine do?

Following a radiological or nuclear event, radioactive iodine may be released into the air and then be breathed into the lungs. Radioactive iodine may also contaminate the local food supply and get into the body through food or through drink. When radioactive materials get into the body through breathing, eating, or drinking, we say that “internal contamination” has occurred.

In the case of internal contamination with radioactive iodine, the thyroid gland quickly absorbs this chemical. Radioactive iodine absorbed by the thyroid can then injure the gland. Because non-radioactive Iodine acts to block radioactive iodine from being taken into the thyroid gland, it can help protect this gland from injury.

What an Iodine supplement cannot do

Knowing what a good source of Iodine cannot do is also important. It cannot prevent radioactive iodine from entering the body. It  can protect only the thyroid from radioactive iodine, not other parts of the body. It cannot reverse the

health effects caused by radioactive iodine once damage to the thyroid has occurred. Iodine source  cannot protect the body from radioactive elements other than radioactive iodine.

How does Iodine Supplementation work?

The thyroid gland cannot tell the difference between stable and radioactive iodine and will absorb both. The good iodine source works by blocking radioactive iodine from entering the thyroid. When a pet is given a stable iodine source, the stable iodine gets absorbed by the thyroid.  The thyroid gland becomes “full” and cannot absorb any more radioactive Iodine from  the environment.

Can my pet be given Potassium Iodide?

Yes,  you can, however  this medication may cause  undesirable side-effects. Considering that the radiation fallout in most parts of the world are low, I would not  recommend it at the present situation in North America.  Even most areas of  Japan, it may be safer to go for a natural Iodine source alternative with the exception of area’s where radioactivity is high.

If you live in an areas seriously affected  by  radiation,  the dose Potassium Iodide for dogs  and cats is similar to humans  65 – 130 mg/day

Some general side effects caused by KI may include intestinal upset, allergic reactions (possibly severe), rashes, and inflammation of the salivary glands.

Can GreenMin reduce the chances of harm caused  radioactive Iodine?

While GreenMin has not  been tested for blocking radioactive Iodine out  of your pet’s thyroid gland, we know that  it is a source of stable Iodine. It is safe to assume that if you give GreenMin on regular  basis, its iodine will “fill up” the thyroid gland by healthy Iodine and prevents radioactive iodine from “entering” the thyroid gland. In addition,  GreenMin has many other health benefits.

Where can I learn more about GreenMin?

To find out more about  GreenMin – the all natural full spectrum broad spectrum mineral and phytonutrient supplement and receive FREE SHIPPING (USA, Canada) until April 15, 2011 with  your purchase click here.

PS: Please  share this blog to your friends and  especially those you know  have  animals especially in Japan.  I hope this will  bring  clarity into the current situation in Japan and around the Pacific Rim.

With Gratitude,

More then a half  of  most  countries’ budgets goes to the healthcare. Thousands of people and animals are dying unnecessarily from the side-effects of drugs.

How can we make a difference and change this situation. How can we help those who do not  believe this understand

that the medical establishment of drug and vaccine companies are driven by profit.  They do not act in our interests?

The defence  weapon is your knowledge.  It will help you be in charge of your own  health, help to transform our health care system and hopefully stop drug giants from poisoning millions and making countries  bankrupt.

Here is what we need to know to get ready for making the transformation:

What is health?

For most people, health is our most valuable asset.  It is that great feeling of calm and harmony that exists throughout the body, mind and soul – well being on the level of every organ, cell, molecule and atom of our body.

True health can be compared to a nice sunny, breezy day. It means stability, flexibility, vitality, and is the degree of joy and happiness we and our pets feel.

What is disease?

Disease, in contrast, is like a day in a polluted Shanghai or like being in  a storm. It is the loss of our capacity to maintain calm and harmony when we face external challenges. The damage is sometimes  reparable, but if our issues are not resolved they usually  result in chronic incurable disease.

The liver and kidneys do not walk around on their own.

Conventional medicine commonly categorizes diseases by a diagnosis a name of a specific set of symptoms. Practitioners often specialize in treatment of one organ system for example cardiology, gastro-enterology or dermatology.  The physician then prescribes toxic substances that the body needs to eliminate in addition to dealing with the disease itself.

Plus doctors become more and more specialized, treating for example a kidney case.  They often loose the sight of your beloved dog, cat or  family member.  They focus on the what and loose sight of the why.  Our loved one has become ill because of stress, loss,  injury, poor diet, nutritional deficiency or unhealthy lifestyle.

Would you like a health care custom tailored to your needs?

Conventional treatment is usually selected according to a generic protocol that is commonly used for every patient with the same diagnosis. Most often doctors do not have the time to get to the core, they are too busy, overwhelmed and frequently burn out.

Why?  I believe that intuitively they know that the drug driven approach to treatment is a dead end street.  Withholding  these thoughts back takes a lot of energy. Our caregivers also crumble under the pressure of seeing their  patients desperately looking for answers.

Side-effects or the effects of drugs?

In most cases, drug suppress the symptoms of the disease but are not addressing   the cause.  This  can be compared to you taking a sleeping pill at the time your house catches on fire.  This will  numb you and your  self-preservation mechanism will be disabled. However, the destruction goes on.

In addition, toxic  and side-effect-causing drugs create additional sets of symptoms.  These side-effects are “commercially undesirable” effects that are very cleverly put in a separate category.

Striking Example

Here is an example of  side-effects of Metacam, the “anti-arthritis” drug that is prescribed much more frequently than exercise, massage, physiotherapy or supplements.

• Gastrointestinal: Vomiting, diarrhea, inappetence, melena, hematemesis, ulceration.
• Central Nervous System/Behavioural: Ataxia, personality change, seizures, sleepiness, hyperactivity, depression, trembling.
• Renal: Elevated creatinine and BUN, acute renal failure.
• Dermatologic: Pruritus, eczema, focal alopecia, moist dermatitis (hot spots).
• Hypersensitivity: Urticaria, allergic dermatitis.
• Hematologic: Immune mediated hemolytic anemia, immune mediated thrombocytopenia.
• Hepatic: Elevated liver enzymes, jaundice.

Now, tell me,  isn’t this clear? We need to  change  our  thinking and stop buying into claims that this is the pinnacle of modern medicine.

If you and others will not buy Metacam,  it will cease to exist – end of story!

Surviving or thriving?

With drugs, the patient’s life is maintained, however, in reality toxic  substances can never  prevent a disease nor can they create a greater degree of health. In the best case, drugs are a crutch and in the worst case scenario, they kill.

This is not to say that  some parts of conventional medicine are very important; most holistic practitioners are open-minded and recognize when these treatments are  necessary. Good examples are: surgery, the use of thyroid supplements, insulin, cautious use of antibiotics or medication needed in  life threatening emergencies.

Choosing a  holistic practitioner

A good holistic  practitioner views symptoms  as signals of disharmony within the body and selects treatments that focus on eliminating or neutralizing causes of disease, enhancing the function of the immune system and promoting cleansing reactions of the patient.

A Holistic approach to medicine has existed for centuries and perhaps millennia. During the last century, holistic medicine use, research and development was artificially hindered by the powerful influence of the pharmaceutical industry and its financial interests to dominate the medical field.

How does healing happen naturally?

If there is harmony, the energy  flows to  all parts and cells evenly. In case of  a disease,  the energies from  the outside  like toxins, viruses, stressful  situations,  trauma disturb the body’s harmony and stop the energy flow.  This  results  in disease.

On the deepest  level,  healing is  simple.  All we  have to do is:

1. to provide the body what  it needs – good food, supplements, nutrients, love and care
2. to eliminate what  is foreign or toxic - drugs, toxins, negativity
3. restore the  energy  flow  in areas that  are congested – homeopathy, physio, acupuncture, massage, chiropractic and other energy healing teachniques.

See healing as bringing  the light where the darkness sets in.

The power of your mind  and intention

Modern holistic medical science also acknowledges other, less known, aspects of healing such as addressing  the invisible vibrations and energies that each person radiates.

These energy fields can represent lower or higher frequencies depending on the individual’s state of mind and health, and can affect the energy level and health of their family members – partners, children and family pets. It is quite common to see the same disease and location of pathology in people and their pets.

The effect of our thought processes and intention on our health has also gained more respect in medical circles. We know that terminally ill cancer patients can recover because they mobilize the power of their will.

For example,  placebo effect  is nothing less than achieving a cure or improvement through a belief: the subconscious power of the patient’s mind.

Placebo should not be looked down  upon but  celebrated as the least  expensive and one of the most powerful healing methods.

There has been clear evidence that individuals with a positive approach to life are less sick, heal faster and live longer lives.

My goal is to empower you, giving you a better understanding of your pet’s situation to achieve optimal health, happiness and longer life.

Plus wouldn’t it be nice to pay less for vet bills.   I  will do my best to  help you get there.

Just  stay tune and register here for more articles and info

Lately, I have heard of some people cutting corners by feeding mixes of left over meat from meat packers. Because there are currently no regulations that would prohibit selling meat that is spoiled or not suitable for sale as dog food, I highly recommend not going that route and buy your raw pet food from a reputable manufacturer that is known for its quality and integrity.

If the defrosted package doesn’t smell the same as good quality meat for human consumption, discard it immediately and  look for another supplier.

Also, meats – like duck, lamb or beef have a tendency to be fairly fat.  Some raw pet food companies use  fatty trim meat which is much higher in fat and pets  eating too fatty meat can suffer from fat overload. They may become obese or suffer from indigestion, pancreas or liver problems.  If you open the package and see that the meat  is too greasy,  try to use these infrequently and go for other leaner options.

When it comes to poultry, feeding regular “medicated” chicken, it is close to feeding flavoured protein water with antibiotics and chemicals. These poor birds are locked in cages, fed crappy  food and suffer greatly before they are slaughtered.  Feeding non-medicated free range chicken is not a luxury. By doing so,  your pet food will be more nutritious, your dog  or cat healthier and  you will not  support the torturous  practices of main stream poultry farmers.

Many veterinary clinics sell thousands of  dollars worth  of processed food. These  sales have become one of the ways of bringing in the  needed income to cover the skyrocketing costs of running a veterinary practice. It may surprise you  that  an average vet earns less then a plumber or a contractor.

Pet food companies strategically planted  the seeds  with their propaganda as early  as  vet schools and convinced  the veterinary community that  nature is simply wrong.

Some vets  have also been lured the exclusive nature of special pet foods in order to make up for the skyrocketing costs of running their practice.

However, there is a growing number of vets who decided not  to   follow the traditional  recommendations of pet food companies.  You have to be a little gutsy to be ok with many  “eye rolls” from some  traditionally oriented colleagues and in a way I understand why.

No one has  been taught at the vet college, how  and why  to feed natural diets. I was  introduced to it by  a client.

After 13 years of my own and my clients’ experience with feeding and recommending natural food, I can’t even imagine going back to feeding dry or canned processed food instead of raw. It is like saying that eating wholesome fresh food is inferior to dry and canned junk, Spam or  TV dinners.

Nature has “tested” its recipe on canines for thousands of years plus there is no difference between the digestive tract anatomy of a wild or a domesticated canine.

Plus, I am naturally  suspicious of any foods  that are ground up and processed to the point of not recognizing the original ingredients.  Have not we learned enough tragedies cause by melamine tainted pet food from China?

Whenever you are unsure about what decision to make, TRUST NATURE!

Do you feel  guilty  leaving your animal  friend  behind  when you are busy at work or with life in general?

Are you feeling like the world  is speeding up and at  any moment  you are going to fall on your face because the treadmill is going  much too fast?

I too have been challenged  so many  times;  trying to  find more time  to spend with my  friends and family, including Skai and Mina,  my  pets.

Are we getting busier because based scientists say  the universe is  speeding  up?

Maybe,  but  I  have stubbornly defended  the  idea that  life doesn’t  need to be a crazy  madness and that it is up  to us to make it better and more balanced.   I don’t mean perfect because that is  much  too close to boring.

What I  enjoy  is the process of  finding solutions,  making life better, simplifying, listening to our heart and doing what  we love.

I hope you will  enjoy this 20 minute podcast that  I recorded  without  preparation and cutting.  It  may give you some ideas on  how you can find you own way to create the life you imagine.

I urge you to follow  your  heart,  listen to your  soul and simplify… if you would like a good  read on that  subject.  I love the book called  Power  of  Less by  Leo Babauta ; 4 hour  work week by Timothy  Ferris and Inspiration by Wayne Dyer.

Enjoy the podcast!

Hi Peter

Thank you for teaching us to be more proactive with our pets and ourselves. It suddenly occurs to me that the reason for a lot of our problems is that we want that “magic pill”.

If someone is told they have high cholesterol, they want a pill to make it go down so they can continue to fuel their bodies with the junk that caused it.

When they have a sore joint, they want a pill to dull the pain, instead of curing the cause of the pain.

When they cough, they want something to stop the cough.  (isn’t a cough a normal way of clearing the passage?)

When we have a fever, we immediately want to get it down. (Isn’t fever natures way of fighting something bad in our bodies?)

If we are overweight, we want a magic pill to shed the pounds because it is easier than proper diet and exercise.

Allergies are a natural defense.  Unless it is extreme, as all the above mentioned ailments) why do we want to put a blanket over them.

The pharmaceutical companies are rich because they have convinced us that this is the answer to everything.  Shame on us for believing it.
Thanks for listening.

Michelle Saari