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Archive for May, 2010

We all want the best for our dogs, and dog health food is becoming an important component of giving them the best. Most of us have looked at the ingredients list on our dog food, but what does it really mean? There are so many terms that are confusing or downright misleading. And how are the labelling laws different to laws governing pet food different to human laws?

What is animal meal exactly? Meal is made by processing meat or fish. Cooking it, blending it into a puree and baking it. This sounds like it?s not going to affect the content of the meat. However it?s one of those cases where they can get away with putting preservatives and other things into the meal, but then it doesn?t appear on the ingredients list because it was?t added as part of the final processing of the food.

Fish meal is the worst offender as far as toxic preservatives go. The meal is made on the fishing boat while they are at sea and the law says that it has to be preserved with a chemical called ethoxyquin. This is due to the fact that unpreserved fish meal can become extremely explosive. On the surface it seems ok, but ethoxyquin is unfit for human consumption because it’s so toxic.

In dogs it has caused problems from skin problems to cancer. Because this preservative is added before the fish meal arrives at the manufacturing plant, it doesn?t need to be listed on the list of ingredients. However, unless there is a specific statement that the fish meal does not contain ethoxyquin, you can assume that it does, like the overwhelming majority of fish meal.

Other types of animal meal are not always going to be as bad but you won?t know just by reading the label. A good guide is to avoid ‘animal’ meal – would you buy animal meat for dinner? Using the term animal is an easy way to disguise the true origins of the meat. You want to see beef, lamb, chicken etc. listed on the ingredients to be sure.

There is still some discussion about whether meal or plain meat is a better option. This is because even though meal is processed and may contain some chemical nasties, it is more concentrated because it?s been dried and so has more protein per gram than meat which has a higher water content.

Another tactic that is often used, is to list some sort of meat protein as the first ingredient and the next few being cereals so that it looks like there?s plenty of protein when in reality, there?s a whole lot of filler and not much meat.

By using too many grains to bulk out the food, your dog is just getting empty carbohydrates. While some grains are part of an ideal diet it?s in a quite small proportion to the amount of protein. This can contribute to dogs suffering from allergies and them not really being satisfied by their food. It?s a bit like expecting white bread for dinner to keep you full and healthy. Unfortunately our pooches can?t tell us if they like it or not.

Dog health food can get around all of these problems, by making it yourself you can make sure that only the best goes into your dogs dinner. It?s simple and will often save you money. Best of all though, you?ll be adding years of life to your dog, giving them more energy and doing the best thing for your best friend.

U.S. Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa, said Democrats are working to create a “dependency class” in America in an effort to expand their political base and stay in power.

“That’s part of the motive,” King said when discussing federal health-care reform efforts with reporters after a Tuesday taping of Iowa Public Television’s “Iowa Press.”

King, who represents Iowa’s 5th District, said he will do what he can to try stop a health-care bill from heading to President Barack Obama’s desk, and he urged others who opposed the bill to join him.

He said Democrats are moving toward nation health care, whether a public insurance option is included in the final bill or not.

“That’s the goal; that’s the endeavor,” King said. “They’ll regulate everything, and when they do that, we will lose the liberty we have today to buy health insurance policies.”

He predicted that if Congress passes health-care reform, Democrats will pay a price at the ballot box in 2010.

“I’ve never seen this kind of energy in America, this kind of uprising, especially from the heart of the heartland of America,” King said.

King said he is worried about the “mindset” drifting into America that doesn’t seem to understand the free-enterprise system.

“We’re descendants in this part of the country from people who came across America in covered wagons,” King said. “I mean, they came here to live free or die on the prairie. They didn’t ask for a government handout.”    

Norm Sterzenbach, executive director of the Iowa Democratic Party, called King’s comments hypocritical.

“Before he rails against Democrats for working to help seniors pay for prescriptions and help students afford college, he should consider giving up his government salary, as other members of Congress have,” Sterzenbach said.

King, a four-term congressman, said he plans to seek another term in 2010. Iowa is expected to lose one of its congressional seats, and King said he probably still will seek re-election in 2012 even if redistricting places him in the same district with another member of Congress.

As Iowa Republicans look to unseat Gov. Chet Culver next year, King said he did not know whether he would endorse one of the candidates in the GOP primary.

“I’d like to see them fight this out, because it tests their vigor, and it tests their ability, and it also shapes the policy for Republicans that will be matched up against the policy that’s been set by Gov. Culver,” King said.

The “Iowa Press”  featuring King is scheduled to air at 7:30 p.m. Friday and noon Sunday on Iowa Public Television.

Allergies can make your pet miserable and dog health food is cheaper and easier to make than ever. Have you noticed that there are more allergies and sensitivities today than ever before? Why is that? Grains are being used as filler in our food and preservatives, and with greater exposure there is more chance of developing allergic reactions. So what about dog food?

There’s heaps of grain, by-product and preservatives going into your dog’s food too. It can be hard for us to figure out if we have an allergy, so how much harder is it when your dog can?t even tell you if they?re feeling sick from their food? Allergies make us all miserable so why would it be any different for our pets.

So what does a dog suffering from allergies look like? Unlike humans the allergy usually comes out through the skin rather than the nasal passage. Not sneezing but itching and chewing. Often they will suffer from poor coat condition, sometimes there?s greasy layer to the coat and an unpleasant smell. Often the dog’s coat will be in a bad way Also your dog can get hot spots. These are itchy areas that often cause quite a lot of distress and irritation for the dog. They?ll end up as open sores that can take a long time to heal. And short haired dogs can get these just as much as long haired ones. They are most common at the base of the tail, but can occur anywhere.

Some dogs can really benefit from regular bathing in a hypoallergenic shampoo, as this will strip off the dirt and bacteria that can cause or contribute to the allergic reaction. If this is combined with a treatment to soothe the skin it can bring a lot of relief to your dog. Doing this every day is a good way to break the cycle in severe cases.

One more common way for allergies and sensitivities to exhibit is a constant scratching and worrying at particular area. This is something that is distressing for your dog and we want a solution right now to give them some relief.

Dogs can be allergic to the same sort of things that humans are like pollen, dust mites and mould. So a good first step is to simply make sure that your house is kept clean, from dust and mould.

Another allergy that dogs can develop is food allergies. It is rare for dogs to be born with a food allergy and it usually develops to a certain ingredient in the food that they are having. Often this is a grain that is being used to bulk out the food. These grains are commonly corn and wheat gluten that is a useless by-product of the human food industry. It is then put in our dog food and supposed to be healthy! There is not any real nutritional value in this and it isn?t surprising that it causes allergy and sensitivity, especially after years of consumption.

While it is important for our dogs to have some sort of vegetable matter to give them the complete nutrients that they need, grains should only make up a small part of the total diet. Meat proteins and animal fat are much more important parts of the canine diet.

In many foods there is a preservative called Ethoxyquin which has been linked to many allergies and even cancer. So reading the ingredients list is really important to your dog having the best health possible. But the problem is that sometimes the nasty preservatives can be hidden or added before the final processing, so it won?t appear on the list of ingredients.

It?s more important today then ever to be aware of what is really going into the food that we feed our dogs and dog health food is a great way of giving the best to your pooch. By making sure that we only give them the most nutritious food, we can add years to their life and more energy everyday. It?s really a little effort for a fantastic and lasting pay off.

Democrats’ strategy for merging health care reform bills began to unravel under growing attacks Wednesday, including unexpected criticism from Colorado’s two Democratic senators.

Final negotiations on merging the bills began in earnest Wednesday as congressional leaders spent more than eight hours behind closed doors at the White House using a process that bypasses a formal conference committee and cuts out Republican participation.

They dug into a series of sticky issues that separate the two versions of the bill passed by the House and the Senate — including abortion, access to health insurance by illegal immigrants, and how to pay for the sweeping legislation, which will insure an estimated 37 million Americans over the next decade.

A White House statement said they had made “significant progress in bridging the remaining gaps” between the bills.

Republicans have been howling about the process for nearly two weeks — House Minority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, called it “a breeding ground for more of the kickbacks” — but now congressional leaders are facing a growing mutiny within their own ranks.

Wednesday, Sen. Mark Udall, D-Colo., suggested the talks lacked transparency and called for televising final negotiations. Sen. Michael Bennet, D-Colo., also said final talks should be open to live cameras.

“I haven’t been in Washington long, but one thing I can tell you is this is one town that can use some fresh air, and some real transparency,” Bennet said. “The outcomes from the negotiations on the health care reform bill are far too important to be done behind closed doors.”

Those criticisms could create significant difficulties for efforts to finish the health care bill and move on to other legislation before the press of this year’s election cycle swamps Congress.

Media organizations and others have said televising final negotiations between the House and the Senate would be natural given the enormous potential impact of the legislation.

Instead, Democrats have created a process under which House and Senate leaders will hammer out key compromises, then send the retooled bill to both chambers.

Those negotiations are expected to go for days, if not weeks, and Democratic leaders have said a conference would only provide Republicans — only one of whom voted for the bills in either chamber — a new chance at obstruction.

“This non-conference conference was a bid to speed this up and bring it to an end. A conference committee seemed one more area where Republicans would attack the Democrats and liberals would get upset with leadership,” said Julian Zelizer, an expert on Congress at Princeton University.

“The problem is it looked bad. Republicans can use that to say health care is being rushed through and done behind closed door because Democrats want to hide something,” he said. “That’s why you’re seeing Democrats now getting nervous about the process as well.”

Dog health food could add years to the life of your Dachshund. By making sure that your dog is not eating toxic additives they’ll have more energy and vitality.

With companies around the world looking for ways to increase their profits, you have to question if they are going to justify the expense of high quality ingredients. With many sources of cheap protein available now, who knows how it was produced, under what conditions and if it even has any real nutritional value for your dog?

With so many cases of profits being put before the health of humans, what is being done to our beloved dogs? By taking waste products from human food production and putting them in to dog food, there has been a huge increase in diet related health problems in recent years.

In 2007 over 100 different brands of dog food were recalled after contaminated ingredients caused the deaths of a number of dogs and made many more very ill. Eventually it was found to be melamine in rice protein and wheat gluten, from a factory in China. This means that there could be anything in your dog food no matter what the standards are in the US factory. Also there is very little nourishment in these grains for dogs. Usually it’s just a filler to add bulk to the food.

Recently there was a case of melamine being found in milk powder that had been produced under the much stricter human food production standards. This leads me to think that it’s only a matter of time before there’s another contaminated batch of dog food released, and I certainly don’t want to have my puppy suffer as a result of not taking action. We now need to be aware of how safe the food we are feeding to our dog is, not just if it has the right nutrition in it.

Now we have to have a look at the actual nutritional value of your dog food. More and more it’s becoming accepted practice to bulk out dog food with rice and corn proteins. These proteins are an unusable by product of the human food industry, until someone realised that they would fall under the definition of protein and could therefore be added to dog food. Now while there is nothing wrong with plant proteins, they simply give very little nutritional content for a dog. Even if they were whole proteins rather than the highly processed ones that are added, a very small amount would be sufficient for a dogs diet. Instead, often there is more plant protein than animal. This isn’t going to help your Dachshund stay healthy and free of disease.

These days fish protein is being hailed as a great source of nutrients, which may be true. But, along with that protein comes a carcinogenic preservative which has also been linked to severe allergies. So be wary of fish meal in your dog food

This is just the start of what could be going into the food that your Dachshund is eating every day. By learning about dog health food you could add years of life to your best friend. If you make it yourself you will know exactly what is in your dog’s food, and best of all it’s great fun.

We’ve all seen the wide spread dog food recalls, so it’s no surprise that more and more people are turning to dog health food. There are so many questions surrounding this topic so here’s a few common ones answered:

1. What Is Really Going Into Our Dog?s Food?

This is a really concerning question for many of us. There have been rumours and some of them sound too far fetched to be true, but what if they are? Some of the things that are put into most commercial dog foods could be seriously impacting on the health of your best friend.

One of the most common is a highly toxic preservative called ethoxyquin. This toxic chemical has been banned in human food for years but it seems to be ok to put it into our dog food. In dogs, ethoxyquin has been linked to allergies, immune deficiency syndromes and cancers of the spleen, stomach and liver.

Factory workers who have come into regular contact with ethoxyquin have exhibited side effects similar to agent orange, from hair loss and blindness to leukaemia. This is a pretty sobering thought when you fill up a bowl of dog food and tell your beloved dog to eat it all up.

But even apart from the chemical additives, there?s a lot of grain being used as a filler to add bulk to the food. Corn and wheat gluten which are useless by-products of human food production are routinely added. And it can be hard to figure out exactly how much of these fillers is really in your dog food. If you see two or three grains listed near the top of the ingredients list, it?s probably a sign that there?s a fair bit of filler in there.

2. Is It Doing Them Any Harm?

If you?ve read this far you?re probably aware that there can be some really nasty side effects from some of the common preservatives that are found on many commercial dog foods. The hard thing is that often it takes years for the most serious side effects to appear. This also means that unfortunately it might be too late to save them by the time symptoms become obvious.

Few dogs are born with a food allergy, but more and more they are developing an allergy or sensitivity later in life after years of eating discarded grain by-products. The effects of this can range from flatulence to excessive weight gain, and your dog can?t really tell you if they don?t feel well after they eat. Other signs can include lethargy and poor coat condition. Simply changing to the right food can add years to the life of your dog, as well as more energy and vitality.

3. Haven?t All The Bad Ones Been Recalled?

Now you might be asking if all the really nasty batches of dog food have been recalled. While many deadly batches of food have all been recalled, that doesn?t mean that the rest are necessarily safe. Toxic preservatives are routinely added and food allergies can cause a huge variety of nasty long term health problems.

At the end of the day, we never know when there?s going to another batch of commercial food that has been contaminated with plastic that could mean the end for our best friend. Do really want to be at the sharp end of the next scandal when you think about what it could mean for your dog.

4. What Are The Alternatives?

You might be wondering what you can feed your dog when there are so many nasty additives in commercial food. Well first of all, I want to make it clear that not every food is going to contain all of these horrible ingredients. By looking closely at the ingredients list you?ll be able to get rid of quite a few popular brands straightaway. Another thing to watch out for is fish meal, ethoxyquin is routinely added to fish meal so, unless it specifically states that it isn?t present, just don?t buy that food.

However, the only way to be completely sure of what is going into your dog?s food is to make it yourself. More and more people are taking this option. By giving your dogs some variety in their meals you can help to make sure that they live a long healthy life.

So making your own dog health food is a great way to do the best by your dog and often ends up being cheaper too. Why not give it try and see what your best friend thinks of your cooking!

Oleta Fitzgerald, director of the Children’s Defense Fund’s Southern Regional Office, says she is concerned over the welfare of Mississippi children if either of the two health-care reform packages considered by the U.S. House and Senate ever make it into law.

The House passed H.R. 3962 earlier this month, and Senate Democrats managed to beat back the threat of a Republican filibuster a few weeks ago, allowing the Senate to move forward with debate on the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, H.R. 3590. Both bills promise big reforms in the health-care and health-insurance industries. The Association for American Medical Colleges states that nearly 15 million people will be newly eligible for Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program under H.R. 3590, at an estimated cost of $374 billion over 10 years.

Fitzgerald says both bills contain huge holes regarding CHIP coverage for Mississippi children: “Right now, the fight over health-care reform in the House and Senate is all about abortion and the public option, but the children are getting lost in this discussion,” Fitzgerald said.

The issue, she said, centers on Mississippi’s unconventional requirement for CHIP eligibility.

Many states recently expanded their Medicaid program requirements to accept people who are a little further from the federal standard for poverty. Eleven states recently extended CHIP-eligible families’ income levels up to 200 percent of the federal poverty level, or higher. ($20,800 for an individual or $35,200 for a family of three).

But instead of expanding Medicaid, Mississippi set up a new health insurance program that contracts with private insurance companies. The states that expanded Medicaid will continue to receive federal support for those programs under both the bills under discussion in the House and Senate. But in Mississippi, all children and their families over 150 percent of the federal poverty level ($16,245 a year for an individual and $27,465 a year for a family of three) would go into an insurance exchange created by the House and Senate bills. The Senate bill plans to put CHIP-eligible kids in an exchange by the year 2019, while the House bill has them transferred by 2013.

Insurance exchanges do not promise the reliability of a government health program, Fitzgerald warns.

“Going into the exchange could require co-pays and premiums, the children would get lumped in with adults, and it’s not clear what requirements the insurance companies would have for their benefit packages,” she said.

There is also the question of permanence. Exchanges like the ones proposed by the House and Senate bills have not always been long-lasting. Texas, Florida, North Carolina and California all attempted—and failed—to create enduring insurance exchanges, primarily because private insurers tampered with the market.

A July report issued by the California HealthCare Foundation tried to pinpoint some of the factors that killed the California insurance exchange, which closed its doors in 2006. According to the report, the California exchange became too expensive when the clients it served became too costly. An exchange requires a certain number of healthy individuals to complement the more sickly participants of the exchange’s customer base; otherwise the cost of participation becomes too high for all participants.

But insurance companies in California lured healthy customers with lower premiums and steered the more sickly individuals into the exchange, creating a disproportionately expensive customer base.

“People involved in operations of the California exchange agreed that when there is competition for the same customers within and outside the exchange, the exchange is in ‘extreme peril’ of becoming a victim of adverse selection,” the report states. “If an exchange attracts a disproportionate share of higher risk individuals and groups as the California exchange did at various times, it cannot succeed.”

Fitzgerald said Mississippi’s eagerness to boot CHIP-eligible children from the program to keep down state costs is another factor complicating the new bills.

“Another problem is enrollment. We need enrollment in the exchanges to be simplified, because enrolling in state health programs have a history of being anything but simple in Mississippi,” Fitzgerald said, referencing a Medicaid policy championed by Republican Gov. Haley Barbour, which requires Medicaid recipients to meet Medicaid personnel “face-to-face” to be considered for program renewal.

CDF is working with its national office in trying to insert an amendment in the Senate bill though Democratic Sens. Robert Casey and Jay Rockefeller, which would keep all children up to 300 percent of the federal poverty level in the CHIP program until the new insurance exchange is thoroughly vetted.

Everyday that we wake up and look in the mirror who do we see in the reflection? Does this image that we see reflects the person that we want to be and the life that we are about to create. Remember that each day is a new beginning and regardless of the past, we create our lives mentally, emotionally and physically without being totally conscious of our efforts. Take control of what kind of life you want to create for yourself and your family today. We need to get off the automatic pilot and make a conscious effort to live a good life. Our creation begins with what we input into our minds and our bodies everyday. We are like a computer mentally because what we input determines the output. If we input negative thoughts, we will reap negative outcome and if we input positive thoughts, we will reap positive outcome. Our body is like a bank; if we deposit with the negative teller (poor diet), than we will withdraw from the negative teller (poor health).

To live a good and healthy life, it all begins with our thoughts. We need to police our thoughts 24/7. First, we input the right thoughts in our mind, and then we act on our thoughts to get the desired result. In everything that we do, we have a choice in the direction of the outcome, God willing. Keeping in mind that we can only control our thoughts and actions and not the thoughts of anyone else and their actions. That being said, our physical and mental health is our responsibility. For us to live a good and healthy life, we need to exercise and eat well. This can be done by anyone. To eat well, means cut back on the foods that are unhealthy and begin exercising by taking a walk after dinner or before breakfast at least 3 times a week. Preferably, you should exercise 20 to 30 minutes 5 times a week to begin your journey to good healthy and good life. You need to do this for yourself and the people that love you. Along with this regiment, you should also take nutritional supplements in this process of improving your health.

For the supplements, I would recommend True Essentials vitamins and supplements offered through my website. This is only one of the products that we offer at Fortune Hi-Tech Marketing. Paul Orberson, the founder of this company, had a battle with cancer and he attributes his recovery to the vitamins and the supplements offered by True Essentials, which are totally organic nutritional supplements. Paul swears and highly recommends the use of the following products. Paul is a multi-millionaire who has many times said that ” you can have all of the money in the world, but without your health, you have nothing”. Below are few of the supplements that Paul recommends for our daily consumption.

Mineral pH

Mineral pH is a nutrient dense, whole body enhancer, rich in minerals and amino acids to detoxify the body and help balance overall pH. Newly advanced and even more powerful, Mineral pH now includes barley grass juice powder and acaiberry—both among the most powerful antioxidants ever tested. The powerful minerals and antioxidants in Mineral pH work together to balance the body and help cells stay strong.

CoQ10 Cellular Health

CoQ10 is a powerful, highly concentrated supplement combining CoQ10 with D-limonene and mixed tocopherols. This trio of power-packed nutrients is rich in antioxidants and assists with energy production at the cellular level while protecting cell formation. Studies show CoQ10 has a positive effect on heart disease, low-energy, cancer prevention, neuro-degenerative diseases, and periodontal disease, among others. This vital supplement provides nutrients targeted to help each and every cell make energy, protect cell membranes, and function at top level for nutritional well being.

Fruit and Vegetable Essentials

Fruit and Vegetable Essentials provide the goodness and benefits of whole, raw fruits and vegetables so you can consistently receive the nutrients you may lack from your diet by not eating the recommended amounts each day.

Men’s Essential Pack:

Each pack contains 2 Multivitamin Essentials gelcaps, 1 EFA Essentials softgel, 1 Men’s Virility tablet and 2 Calcium Plus tablets. True Essentials Men’s Essential Pack is a maximum performance formula, which is formulated to provide a premium blend of vitamins, minerals, and other nutrients specifically for men. The Men’s Essential Pack provides a month’s supply of valuable supplements in four complimentary formulas to assist men in obtaining a foundation of nutrients that will contribute to the enhancement of well being and a healthful lifestyle.

If you are interested in improving your health and enjoying the good life, please contact me! 

Leonel DaRosa

1-774-281-0095

theleaper@gmail.com