Chocolate Pawberries, Tiramisu, Do We Really Have to "Balance" Dog Food? + Pup Noodle Update
This week both of our valentine’s treats recipes are available for free. We also included a new daily recipe without grains that is exclusive to Precious Kitchen. You can get those below.
Pup Noodles Update
Pup Noodles are almost ready! Cedric and Edith tasted the final prototype and LOVED IT. The noodle is made by an artisanal pasta manufacturer (for people) that’s been around for more than 30 years. They helped us develop a dog friendly noodle with oat flour, enriched semolina, coconut flour, egg whites and xanthan gum. The soup ingredients are beef bone broth, beef liver, carrots and spinach. It looks and smells as yummy as actual cup noodles—but it’s made with only the highest-quality ingredients. We’re so excited to begin shipping this month.
Here are some pictures of Cedric and Edith giving their final approval.
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Have you ever wondered why vets and canine nutritionists constantly talk about “balanced” food, but you never hear about balanced meals for people?
Why do only dogs have to have balanced meals? Are dog’s nutrition requirements more specific than peoples’?
Like with anything, most logical errors are rooted in truth. Every animal has essential nutrients that they must get from their food. There are things that the organism can’t make on their own. For example, people have to get certain amino acids (the building blocks of proteins) and vitamins (like vitamin C) from plants and animals that make them.
Commercial dog food has to be “balanced” or fortified with all required nutrients because for most modern dogs, it’s the only thing they eat, day in and day out.
The only time balanced meals would be necessary for people is if we also ate the same exact thing for every meal.
If the only food you ate was cereal, your health would quickly deteriorate as you became deficient in multiple nutrients. The cereal would have to be fortified somehow with your entire daily required nutrients in order to keep your body going long term.
On the other hand, if your diet includes different foods everyday, you’re probably covering your bases. If it’s a colorful mix of whole ingredients— fruits, vegetables, meats, fish, fats, grains—you’re likely thriving. (There is research showing that as many as 50% percent of people are sub-clinically deficient in some nutrient, but that’s a topic for another day.)
When dogs eat a varied diet, as people do, most of the concerns with balance automatically go away. There is both anecdotal evidence and scientific evidence that this is true. As we shared in a previous newsletter, Bobi, the only dog on record to ever live more than 30 years, ate a whole food diet. According to numerous interviews, Bobi’s caretakers just fed him human food soaked in water to remove the seasoning.
This anecdote is backed up by science. According to a study done by Waltham (owned by Mars, a global leader in kibble no less) dogs fed unbalanced home diets did not show any signs of deficiency. There could be multiple explanations for this. The first is that natural foods are more bioavailable than synthetic additives. Second, is that current nutritional recommendations could be inaccurate. Lastly, it could just be that balance only matters if dogs are eating the same meal every day. It’s probably a mix of all three.
At any rate, unbalanced natural food is far superior to ultra processed kibble. Most commercially prepared foods are made to be cheap, and the cheapest source of calories is carbohydrate. Although dogs can digest carbohydrate, and some carbs may be beneficial, it is not meant to make up the majority of their calories. Today, many kibbles contain 50%-70% carbohydrates. In another study done by Waltham, the most preferred diet for dogs consisted of 63% fat, 30% protein and only 7% carbohydrate.
We still balance our daily meals to better than AAFCO standards in the event any of these meals are fed everyday. But for Cedric and Edith, balance just isn’t a concern.
Hope you all are having a great week!
All the best,
Joelle, Cedric and Edith