What Health Conditions Would BARF Be Good For?

THE IMPORTANCE OF REAL FOODS...Let me count the ways by Dr. Patricia Jordan

I was never taught this in veterinary school yet it is the first topic they teach in Naturopathic school, - the topic of the necessity for fresh whole food feeding as the very foundation for immune system health in any living species.

It took over two decades to learn and not from our higher institutions that nutrition was the key to health and wellness. 

What conditions would BARF be important for?

There is NO chronic disease, no autoimmune disease and certainly no cancer or other chronic condition in your pet that would not benefit from being "fed out of disease", via feeding your pet a BARF or real fresh food diet. I tell my clients that feeding raw whole foods is the best way to detox cats, dog and even for us.

Synthetics are possibly first utilized by the body but in the long run, they will lead to waste as the unnecessary pathways, resource expenditures and metabolic wastes that come about from synthetics cause disease and cost the body ever more resources to deal with the mistake. 

GMO foods like glyphosate are bad for the body. When consumed the body doesn't realize the mistake in the glycine analog/chain that glyphosate is, until it's too late. 

An example of this synthetic effect would be using the wrong thread to sew a dress. The thread causes a major flaw, goes unnoticed for some time and then when it is discovered, it's too late down the road to unpick it and the whole dress is made completely wrong, or ruined.

Using processed or fake foods, chemical based food enhancers, synthetics supplements, and consuming genetically engineered substitutes are the wrong type of thread for the body. They work to being about massive waste in and on the body. Not only of resources within the body to deal with the consumption of these "fakes" but also, to the whole metabolic process itself. 

As the waste produced by these false foods being broken down, also requires other resources to try to deal with their left over "trash". 

Basically the consumption of un-real food means the body misses out on the opportunity to use real food for the correct metabolic pathways.

Fresh is best, flash frozen is second best 

Fresh is best, flash frozen is second best and with proper thawing and feeding just a smidgen less that best. 

Vitamins from fresh will benefit the body by resource, by efficacy and efficiency and will not drag the body down like processed foods and synthetics ultimately do. 

The worst thing about processed foods is the way they are produced using "high heat" cook methods or processes, killing off all the natural vitamins and minerals. Then they way to get the vitamins and minerals back in, is to ADD in fake synthetic vitamins and minerals. These do a lot of damage to the body as they don't actually supply any real nutrition for the immune system, for the body, the mind, the brain...well for everything.

My colleague who has passed, did a lot of work showing us that processed foods are also full of metals. Dr. Gloria Dodd studied the heavy metals and aluminum content found in our pets processed foods. Read more on this here.

The pet foods tested by atomic absorption methods, showed aluminum levels ranging from the lowest of 17 ppm (in canned wet foods) to 855 ppm in the kibbled product. 

Can the body recognize unnatural vitamin and mineral sources?

Would caution need to be applied when giving a raw diet if the cat or dog is unwell?

If your pet is so sick it can't digest its food, of course, then BARF isn't the place to start. Also, really old animals near death should have food that is not raw but sauteed. 

I wouldn't think end-stage animals would even be able to digest the food. But still, feeding fresh whole foods but slow-cooked, below 118 degrees and feeding readily available nutrition in porridges would be the way to go. However, these patients are not the ones we see as those are mostly in the "too late" category.

Giving your pet fully cooked food or processed foods is not feeding the animal nutrition. 

Cooking takes the nutrition out of the foods and in turn, also kills enzymes and probiotics, click here to understand the importance of these for your pet's health. 

Long and slow-cooked foods with enriched top dressing with small amounts of what is needed, is how I would try to work with sick patients devoid of the ability to digest foods.

Elderly patients that are unable to digest, they would be in the porridge category. Even this group of patients would fair better than those pets that are feed the old fashioned "rice and chicken" method. Check out these recipes to get you started.

The other factor to remember is, sick animals are GI corrupted and don't have a healthy microbiome that could be adversely affected by a robust natural diet. In a diet of cooked rice, it is the starch that is available for the animal, not a nutrient-rich diet with comprehensive pre and probiotics, enzymes, etc. 

You should aim to feed your pet away from disease, illnesses, allergies and inflammation by getting them started on a fresh food diet as soon as possible. Puppies will take to it straight away. Older or poorly pets may need more encouragement but they will benefit from a BARF diet. Both for yourself and your pet, think of fresh whole food as pure nutrition for the body and the aim is to get/keep the gut healthy to fight disease in both you and your pet.

NOW, we'd love to hear your feedback so LEAVE A COMMENT and feel free to share this with people you think will love it.