For years now I’ve been recommending a low-starch diet for dogs and cats. (Starchy foods include all grains, as well as certain root veggies such as potatoes, sweet potatoes, and tapioca.) Carnivores are adapted to getting the bulk of their calories from animal proteins, fats, and presumably the glycogen stored in their prey’s muscle tissue and liver. They are not well adapted to diets that are rich in starches and other carbohydrates.
It wasn’t until recently that I fully understood the negative impact of feeding a diet that is high in starches (i.e. the typical commercial dog or cat food).
For the past year or two, I’ve kept myself on a mostly raw-food diet (~ 80% raw, 20% cooked). I feel really good when I eat this way; I feel lighter, cleaner, and both calmer and more energised.
But it does take some adjustments in the way I shop and prepare my food. Being the lazy bum that I am, sooner or later I end up slacking off and, to some extent, reverting back to my former way of eating, which is more cooked foods than raw.
When that happens, I start feeling crummy again; I feel heavy, gummy, tired, achey, and grumpy. I wake up in the morning feeling unrested, touchy, sad, and stiff & sore, as if I’m a sickly 80 years old; and I drink lots of fluids, but my skin still seems dehydrated. I even woke up one morning with that line from Garth Brooks’ rodeo song playing in my head: “I’m too damn young to feel this damn old!”
So, this last time I decided to not only recommit to eating mostly raw foods, but to also make a little study of what starchy foods do to my body. I’d remembered hearing some (older) veterinary colleagues discussing their own health issues and one recommending a starch-free diet; and as I said, I’ve been recommending to dog and cat owners for years to take starchy foods out of their pets’ diets. But I was still eating some starchy foods (primarily bread) myself.
Here’s what happened when I stopped eating bread, rice, pasta, and other cooked starches: within 2 or 3 days I felt good again on my mostly-raw diet; and whenever I would break down and buy a sandwich for lunch, I’d start to feel crummy within a couple of hours, and on into the next day. I’ve “tested” the effects several times now, all with the same result. (By the way, I’m having no trouble with sprouted grains eaten raw; just with cooked grains.)
Why is that? Is it because the readily digestible starches are creating large swings in blood glucose (big peaks followed by big drops)? Or is it because some portion of the starch makes it to the large intestine and messes with the microflora there, which has systemic effects on the host (me)? Is there also an effect on the immune system? (With something like 70% of the immune system's cells embedded in the lining of the gut - the gut-associated lymphoid tissue - that certainly must be considered.) I’m not sure exactly.
All I know for sure is this: when I eat a lot of cooked starches, I feel bad. And it’s no stretch for me to correlate what I’m feeling in my own body, with regard to physical symptoms, mood, and energy, with what I see in my patients on commercial dog or cat food diets.
The lesson: feed a species-appropriate diet of fresh, minimally processed foods. For dogs and cats, that means mostly animal sources, and little or no starch. More on feeding dogs and cats in future posts. In the meantime, here’s the link to an article I wrote on how I feed my own dog: www.animavet.com/feedingdogs.html.
(And here’s another on feeding horses: http://www.animavet.com/feedinghorses.html.)
Stay tuned...
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