Seasonal Foods
Keep your Dog in Balance throughout the year
Chinese Medicine is deeply rooted in the concept of finding balance to achieve optimal physical, mental, and emotional, health.
We can do this with aligning our dogs diet with seasonal foods and a rotating diet, which is crucial to achieve balance. Another benefit of a rotating diet is to reduce the risk of food sensitives and their symptoms. If you suspect your dog has food and environment sensitives you can quickly resolve through a food sensitive test.
We feed warm foods when its cold, cooling foods when its hot, and moistening foods when it dry.
In mentioning the temperature of the foods, we are actually relating to their capability of warming and cooling the body. Think of a jalapeno pepper versus watermelon.
By using the thermal temperature of food we can balance the physical, mental, and emotional states of wellness.
In addition, seasonal foods and rotating diet gets you out of the rut of providing your dog the same foods over and over again. Feeding Seasonal foods isn’t hard, just take what you’re already doing and adjust from there.
You may not realize that we naturally do this with our own diets. We eat lighter meals in the summer, like salads and fruits and we in the colder months we eat harder foods, like grans and stews.
Changing to Seasonal Foods, Protein, Herbs, and Vegetables
can reduce food sensitivities and their symptoms.
Spring Protein
Protein base, beef and turkey rotating chicken, duck and goat. Feed more chicken and goat at the beginning of Spring with duck, beef and turkey towards the end.
Spring Herbs
Dandelion Whole dandelion detoxifies the liver and stimulates the digestive system while helping eliminate built up toxins. Dandelion is high in minerals and helps balance your dog’s body as well as nourish the digestive system.
Violet is an active lymphatic, help dissolve cysts, swellings and fatty tumors. Whole violets are nourishing when added to your dogs food.
Chickweed helps dissolve soft, fatty tumors. It supports lymphatic and systemic detoxification, highly nutritious, anti-inflammatory, and lubricating to the joints.
Spring Vegetables
Asparagus excels at bringing down inflammation. It appears early in Spring and has a slightly warming energetic.
Alfalfa is anti-inflammatory, immune-supportive and cleansing. It’s highly nutritious and full of digestive enzymes.
Watercress stimulates digestion and supports the liver as well as the kidneys. It helps remove stagnant blood and stimulates the formation of bile and liver enzymes.
Whenever you choose a food, be mindful of how it makes your dog feel verses just the assigned energetic of hot and cold.
Summer Protein
Beef or duck as a base with a rotation of rabbit, mackerel, sardine and tripe.
As a general rule, in summer, dogs who have a hard time regulating heat, should avoid chicken, lamb. Focus on proteins like eggs, white fish, rabbit, duck and beef in order to help your dog regulate it’s body temperature through hot summers.
Summer Herbs
Nettles support digestion and eliminate wastes. They help quell summer allergies and support the small intestine. Nettles are highly nutritious, full of minerals and cool the body while assisting with seasonal related lethargy.
Cleavers are another lymphatic plant that cools and moves fluids through the body during summer.
Plantain is cooling and soothing to the small intestine as it contains a good balance of nutrients making it an ideal addition to your dog’s diet. It also helps with hot summer skin conditions as well as supporting the entire digestive system.
Summer Vegetables
Cucumbers are cooling and easily digested. They cleanse the blood and help tone the digestive system. They can assist with overheating and stomach inflammation.
Summer squash, which you should always feed organic because they are highly genetically modified in conventional agriculture. Summer squash are lower in natural sugars than winter squash. They help relive pain with their anti-inflammatory and cooling effects, regulate liver enzymes and help circulate energy.
Autumn Proteins
Protein base beef, duck, or rabbit and rotate goat, chicken, and turkey.
Older dogs may need warmer base proteins like wild game.
Autumn Herb
Mullein supports the lungs by opening passage ways and reducing tightness. It also aids water absorption in the large intestine.
Calendula is warming and drying to the lungs and relieves excess moisture in the entire respiratory system while soothing digestive mucosa and membranes.
Echinacea balances, cleanses, and clears heat out of the lungs.
Autumn Vegetables
Green beans help tonify the liver and the lungs as well as nourish the nervous system and support elimination.
Pumpkin benefits both the lungs and the large intestine. It helps protect the mucus membranes in the large intestine while supporting beneficial bacteria. Pumpkin cleans out the large intestine as well as removes parasites.
Parsnips help clean and tone the digestive system. High in manganese, antioxidants, and vitamins, Parsnips are anti-inflammatory and aid in respiratory health
Winter Proteins
Protein Base: turkey, chicken, and beef. Rotate venison, mutton, salmon or any type of wild protein which helps the body compensate for heat loss.
Lamb is one of the hottest proteins.
Winter Herbs
Marshmallow root is anti-inflammatory and helps heal irritated tissues throughout the body. It coats mucus membranes and helps keep fluid moving.
Parsley tones and strengthens the kidney and the bladder while deterring kidney stones. Its bitterness increases digestion and helps keep your dog warm inside.
Goldenrod stimulates the kidney especially when dark urine is present. It’s an essential bladder infection.
Winter Vegtbles
Acorn squash is anti-inflammatory and high in antioxidants. Avoid giving to dogs with kidney disease as it can be too irritating.
Sweet potatoes are full of vitamins, they’re anti-inflammatory, and add nutrient packed fiber to your dog’s diet. Sweet potatoes are high in A, C and B vitamins.
Garlic is perfect for bladder health because of it’s antibacterial properties. Garlic contains allicin, which has been proven to act as a broad-spectrum anti-bacterial agent.
Use fresh prepared organic garlic and avoid dried or powdered garlic.
Don’t overfeed.
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