Prevention, Rescue and Repair - The CORE 4 Philosophy

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WORDS:  Dietary Enzymes, Digestive Enzymes, Probiotics, Prebiotics, pH Restorer.

What is the CORE 4 Philosophy of Wellness? It is a "system" of supplementation that has been used by breeders and owners for the past 30 years with great success. This feeding system is based in feeding a Holistic diet, with a raw component, and 4 exceptional nutrients that helps to provide your pet with a life of wellness and longevity.

As a dog breeder/exhibitor for 40 years, I have come to understand through my research and feed trials, that the large/giant breeds have special nutritional needs. This lead to the development of my CORE 4 approach to feeding dogs. Regardless of the "method" of feeding one chooses; kibble, homemade, grain free, dehydrated or raw, each method has nutritional gaps that need to be addressed. This is necessary to prevent illness, disease, repair after physical activity, stress and the revitalization a whole system.

For prevention, rescue and repair situations, it is very important that the supplements one uses- be from natural, food based nutrition and NOT from synthetic supplements or crude forms of minerals. That way there is overdose and what the body doesn't need or use, is expelled in the stool & urine rather than collect in the body like synthetics supplements do over time. This can cause health issues (bladder stones, kidney stones, arthritis etc) and is a waste of money.

Research shows that 70% of our immune system is in the digestive tract, so it is imperative to keep our digestion process working properly. Also, with today's diets whether they are commercial, homemade or raw they are still stored or processed in some manner, therefore they are missing dietary enzymes and the "living" component you/your pet needs on a daily basis. The foodstuffs that our pet (and us) eat, have been stored or processed no matter how high quality the components are within the diets. That means we MUST make an effort to compensate for what is missing.

Active dietary enzymes are absent in all foods from the cheapest dog foods to the most expensive on the market, from homemade cooked and raw to commercially prepared raw, the dietary enzymes are weak or absent. If your pet goes out in the back yard and kills a rabbit or chicken, immediately guts it and starts eating they are now getting the active living dietary enzymes present in fresh killed foods.  These real living dietary enzymes are so powerful they can repair the body very quickly because of their detoxification capabilities. They work at a cellular level and detoxify the body like no other enzyme.

But our pets are domesticated and they no longer hunt for their meat or graze for their grasses, berries, nuts and seed. Therefore, it is our job to replicate these things in their diet on a daily basis.  Another important feature of living enzymes is that they take the load off the pancreas by providing the nutrients to the body so it can make its own digestive enzymes in the pancreas. Think of the pancreas as a checking account..you are born with a set balance and when they run out, you are without the ability to digest food properly. This is one of the problems with diabetes, the pancreas is overworked so providing dietary and digestive enzymes to a diet daily helps to keep the body from wearing out as fast and getting sick.

Since our pancreas is born with only a certain amount of digestive enzymes and the more processed  foods we eat, (dead foods) the sooner we wear out our pancreas and begin to age quicker. A good example of this is the abundance of diabetes in pets and humans in this country. Processed food lacking important dietary enzymes are at the core of this problem. The pancreas can't convert to making digestive enzymes for nutritional absorption.

Lastly, it is so important to pay attention to pH levels in the gut. Pathogenic (bad) bacteria, virus and high yeast levels CAN NOT flourish in a healthy digestive tract. By using a daily oxygenator in our pet's food or water we help to keep the pH levels from being acidic. When they are acidic we are asking for illness, poor digestion and systemic yeast over growth.

The reality is, there is no 100% complete dog/cat commercial food on the market, there are only minimum AAFCO standards for nutrients. The science of animal nutrition is a relatively new, and we know the minimum requirements needed in order to sustain life, but not necessarily what is needed to flourish and be the picture of health with greater longevity. Therefore there are healthy living components, or "functional foods" that we can add to our pet's diet, and ours, that will enhance their nutrition, and not disrupt the balance of the calcium and phosphorus ratios, and protect them at a cellular level.

So the CORE 4 Philosophy is a system of feeding your pet (or your eating) that provides the body with important dietary and digestive enzymes, as well as protecting the gut and the immune system with several beneficial bacteria (Probiotics). This will slow the deterioration of the body (anti-aging) and provide a longer life span with less disease for you and your pet!
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BASICS OF THE CORE 4

PROBIOTICS - needs to be a blend of 6 beneficial bacteria with 2 that are micro-encapsulated so they release in the lower digestive tract and not be killed off by stomach acid. They break down further in the intestines to help resolve difficult digestive issues. Remember,  70% of the Immune System is in the gut. There is an old saying "death begins in the colon"...so a healthy gut is the basis of all wellness. Probiotics or DFM's (Direct Fed Microbials) are known to protect the lining of the gut, helping to protect the mucus lining and prevent Leaky Gut Syndrome and systemic yeast overgrowth in the digestive tract.

DIGESTIVE ENZYMES - Digestive enzymes are often found in a combination probiotic product. There are many enzymes that help to break down the food for better digestion and utilization of the nutrition in the food. The 4 that are of most importance are amylase* (carbohydrates; peas, potato and grains) protease (protein: flesh/organ meats and fish), lipase (fats) and cellulase for fiber. Multiple digestive enzyme blends are beneficial in the destruction of fungi in the gut and they are critical in getting the most nutrition out of the foods you are feeding; kibble, raw, dehydrated, homemade, grain free, and they help take the load of the pancreas, which helps preserve the body and can help prevent diabetes. *

DIETARY ENZYMES - these enzymes are critical for their anti-aging properties. They come from a variety of sprouted foods and have the most living enzymatic activity of any food. Feeding sprouted foods provide dietary enzymes; the "living component", back into a processed dog food, dehydrated raw, homemade and raw that has been stored. Dietary enzymes have strong antioxidant, anti-inflammatory properties and they detoxify the body at a cellular level, which speeds any healing and repair. THESE ARE CRITICAL TO HELP PREVENT VACCINE REACTIONS so common in Great Danes (dogs), and especially any dogs carrying the merle gene.

pH RESTORER - is a liquid concentrate that helps to keep a healthy the pH in the gut, so pathogenic bacteria and fungus such as Candida Albicans (yeast overgrowth) does not over growth and make the dogs prone to bloat and systemic yeast infections. These drops come in a concentrated form and have many internal and topical uses when diluted.

*(Note: there is much discussion about dogs not having amylase enzymes, and therefore they cannot eat grains. This information is in correct and outdated - as of 2012 in research done at the University of Sweden involving 12 wolves from around the world, 60 dogs from 14 different breeds, they found 36 areas in the genome where dogs differed from wolves, but not from other dogs of other breeds. This indicated  changes likely linked to domestication. And, 10 of those 36 genes were found to help dogs digest starches and break down fats. The researchers suggested that these adaptations were linked to the development of agriculture about 10,000 yrs ago. What this means is most dogs digest starch well as evidenced by their ability to utilize calories from carbohydrates in a diet.")  for the complete article by Mary Straus see The Whole Dog Journal 2013.

BakPak Plus Probiotics - 6 probiotics/ Digestive enzymes 4 in 1 Probiotics - 6 probiotics/Digestive enzymes and Vit C, Barley Grass 4 in 1 Probiotics PLUS - 6 probiotics/Digestive enzymes and Vit C, barley Grass, 7 fruits & vegetables

Nzymes Granular or Wafers - Dietary Enzymes to put the living component back into the diet and to detoxify the dog. Fast repair from inflammation and joint support supplement as well.

OxE-Drops - Liquid Concentrate - A natural pH restorer put in food or drinking water.

CORE 4 KIT  # 27 (small/medium dog) - includes all 4 supplements - use once daily with food CORE 4 KIT  #28 (large/giant breed dog) - includes all 4 supplements - use once daily with food

For Linda's educational website for all breeds: www.GreatDaneLady.com
Nutritional Consultation Appointment contact: 877-434-0724