Health and Longevity Course for Dogs Chapter 5
Did you like chemistry in school? I wonder what your answer is to this question. Most people have a love/hate relationship with chemistry. The complex structure of chemical compounds makes most peoples' head spin.
I took quite a few years of chemistry at school and I even remember having a chemistry kit where I made solutions bubble up, change color or transform from liquid to a lava-like substance. Chemistry touches every part of our lives from food and clothing to airplane travel.
What do airplanes and chemistry have to do with dogs?
In airplanes, chemistry has a super important role in the fuel burning reaction that allows us to fly all the way to the wing and body composition.
Just recently, I watched a documentary on how Boeing and NASA came up with a new carbon fibre composite that they now use in the Boeing 787, called the Dreamliner.
The Dreamliner is a masterpiece. Instead of using aluminum and rivets to hold the plane together, the Boeing 787 body is first woven from carbon fibres, then stitched together, and then cured to make them stronger and lighter than metal. The cabin is less noisy and the aircraft can be pressurized to a higher degree, which reduces jet lag. I have flown on it and can attest that is true.
But you may still be asking, what do airplanes have to do with dogs? They have more in common than it appears. Both are made of the same building blocks - atoms, electrons, protons, bosons and other particles with names that are hard to remember.
On the atomic level, the only difference between your dog's ear and an airplane wing is that the atoms are organized in a very specific way that makes the unique final result.
The most fascinating part of all this is that if you remove one atom or molecule from the carbon composite used for making airplane wings it would turn into a useless material. Perhaps it would be as soft and pliable as your dog's ear!
Or if the chemical structure of collagen and cartilage in your dog's ear was changed by adding some elements, maybe, with a little bit of luck and science your dog could fly!!! Just kidding, but the point I'm making is that a missing or added element can make a night and day difference in the outcome.
From a Dreamliner to dogs and nature
In the previous paragraph, I mentioned that everything in the universe is made of the same building blocks. Some of the building blocks are as old as the universe itself and others have come into existence as the universe aged. This process has taken billions of years and lucky for us, we now benefit from all the building blocks found in the periodic table of elements the same way kids (and adults) benefit from Lego’s countless shapes and sizes to build from.
Life on earth is no different than Lego. Animals and plants are built by nature from blocks that are offered by the universe and then are taken apart and reused when the life form dies and decomposes. However, when one or more building blocks in your Lego house are missing, the Lego house will become weak and if several building blocks are missing the whole structure will collapse.
If one element or mineral is in short supply or missing in a flower, squirrel or your dog's body, they will be weakened. If several minerals are missing, they will wither away and die quickly.
The greatest challenge for every living organism is to gather all the building blocks needed to live.
How is this problem solved in nature?
Nature solved this problem by recycling nutrients in a very simple and effective way. Most things in nature either dissolve or decompose, which makes soil rich in minerals.
If you were in an African wildlife reserve, you could see the nutrient cycle undisturbed. Plants feed herbivores, herbivores feed carnivores and herbivores and carnivores feed the soil through feces and their bodies when they die.
In the past, all the plants and animals would live in a relatively small region and the cycle functioned perfectly.
The modern world has one big problem
This cycle was not designed with nutrients being removed from a specific location over and over again.
For example, if California strawberries or lettuce are exported to Canada or Minnesota, the nutrients will be permanently removed from the California soil. If Spanish oranges end up on a table in Sweden, even if they are composted, they are unlikely to end up back in the Spanish orchard where they came from and the same applies to livestock production.
Gradually, the soils of agricultural regions get more and more depleted of nutrients and this is passed on to farm animals, people and also our dogs. This depletion affects you and your dog's body and the bad news is that when it comes to minerals the only way to get them is from food.
At the beginning of this article, I said that I love making things simple and that also applies to healing and medicine. Minerals are absolutely essential building blocks for the biochemical reactions in the body. If the building blocks are low or missing, your dog's health will deteriorate the same way the Lego house will be weakened or fall apart.
Is your dog getting the vitamins and minerals they need?
From time to time, an online discussion on our Facebook page opens up this sensitive topic. Some people argue if they feed wholesome raw or cooked food and vegetables, their dogs will get all the nutrients they need. The problem is that after more than a hundred years of intensive agriculture, food no longer contains what the body needs. This applies to us and our dogs.
Learning in life happens in leaps and bounds and one of my "aha" moments was when I started seeing the profound changes in my patients after taking GreenMin, a full-spectrum, plant-based mineral and amino acid supplement.
Some find it funny that I too take GreenMin for dogs, including my family, friends, relatives and my mother. But when you look at nutrients such as minerals and amino-acids, they are the same for both species. The nutrients in GreenMin are top-quality, human-grade, plant-based and come in a natural form. The body knows how to manage these.
And while the body manages and regulates natural supplements well, it is not equipped for managing artificially produced food and supplements. Artificial nutrients are, in my opinion, like fake, decorative apples that are nice to look at, but useless when it comes to nutrition.
These principles of the nutrient cycle are so simple and make a huge difference in health and longevity. Ten years ago, I knew that a healthy diet is important, but I didn't know that nutrient depletion is most likely the single most common cause of disease.
The irony is when I ask people if their doctor or veterinarian asks questions about potential nutrient deficiencies, does mineral profile testing or suggests natural mineral supplements, the most common answer is no.
Where can dogs get minerals and vitamins?
Those of you who know me know how much I love healing and holistic medicine. The most exciting part of this work is to see that simple steps, such as adding nutrients and minerals to your dog's food, can make a huge difference in thousands and millions of dogs. The part that I love the most is to read the stories and reviews of GreenMin.
I know that you love your dog because I've lived with one too. My dog Skai passed away just before his 16th birthday. When he was alive he always looked and acted much younger than his age. I loved seeing people guessing he was five-years-old, or other ages much younger than he was at the time. And while I knew he wasn't going to be with me forever, I'm super thrilled that a product with his face on the label will continue making so many other dogs healthier and happier beyond the bounds of his life.
I confess I'm shedding a tear or two writing these lines right now. Why are dogs' lives so short?! But nothing is more comforting than knowing that based on the reviews of many dog lovers and my experience, supplementing high-quality, plant-based minerals equals more quality time with our dogs. It's so simple!
Listen to my podcast on this topic, here.
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© Dr. Peter Dobias, DVM
