Marketing Hype: Should you believe it?

Do you believe all of the marketing hype that you see and hear?  

For instance,  do you honestly think that Jennifer Aniston uses Aveeno and that is why she looks like this?  

 

 

 As for food, the “fruit” bars that have delicious looking fruit filling “Made with Real Fruit”…..

 

 

Look at the ingredients and decide for yourself….

 

 

What I see is a bunch of ingredients that your body does not need like:  soybean / canola oil, sugar, dextrose, fructose, natural and artificial color. The ONLY fruit I see anywhere is “apple puree concentrate” at the very bottom with more sugar, coloring and corn starch and more sugar.   

 

And how about dog food.  You know the one, with chicken and vegetables on the label and the tag line “complete nutrition and vegetable “flavor” …….

 

 

 

What is complete about this?  Does your dog need corn meal?  What about corn gluten meal?  How about soybean meal? Which by the way they use because it is cheap and it adds to the protein count.   I see A LOT of food coloring in there as well.  I am pretty sure your dog does not need that nor your kids for that matter in the foods that they eat including Gatorade.  

 

 

Recently I, Jack’s mom, went to a screening for the documentary named, Pet Fooled.   The premise behind the documentary is “what exactly is in your pets food”?  

According to the documentary….

The Integrative Veterinarians are saying that our dogs should be eating “real food” like what their species are intended to eat.  That would mean a protein based diet like raw meat.  That is what wolves eat.  They kill an animal and they eat the animal raw. No microwaves or processing centers available in the wild.

Most main stream Veterinarians are taught to promote foods like, Hills and Purina because that is what they are taught in school.  They are sponsored by these companies and these companies write the teaching manuals for the veterinary schools.  It is similar to people medical doctors, where their schooling is sponsored by the pharmaceutical companies.  There is not much in the way of “nutrition education” in the schools so they are educated by their sponsored companies so of course they are going to promote them.  

So who is right?  

Somewhere along the line, food became processed.  Very processed.  Big corporations got involved, and they saw it as a HUGE money making opportunity.  When that happened, the food quality became cheaper with corn, wheat and soy being the main factors in the food because it is a lot cheaper to make it with those ingredients than fresh meat.  When I say, fresh meat, I am talking about grass fed beef and free range chickens that are not force fed and mis-treated.  

When did it become common for our dogs to be fed these grains?  And how come the dog food companies have been saying all along that these grains are safe but now all of a sudden, we see “grain free” foods popping up everywhere.  Maybe because they are seeing that consumers are tired of the lies.  They are tired of their dog being sick with allergies, arthritis, cloudy eyes and dull coats not to mention one in two dogs getting cancer.  

The grains are not the only problem.  The preservatives and food coloring are not helping matters at all. Does your dog really care if the food is a pretty color?  Does it need all of the chemicals that are being recalled on a monthly basis.  

The message that we are all trying to get across to the consumers is:  READ THE INGREDIENTS on all food that you buy.  Don’t even look at the front of the package, it is all MARKETING!   This not only goes for dog food, it goes for people food as well.  

Recently a friend was told by her doctor to drink this: 

 

 

I was mortified.  An actual doctor told her to drink corn maltodextrin, fructose, glycerine and soy protein which is a cheap protein that is genetically modified and will wreck havoc on your hormones?  That is so scary.  And what is that supposed to do for you?   Certainly not make you healthy!     My point is, that they put this yummy shake on the front with “designed for people with diabetes” to entice people that it is actually good for them.  Look at the ingredients and decide for yourself…..

 

 

 

 

 

We run a group called, Healthy Habits.  In this group, we educate our members on safe food, food that will help you and food that will hurt you.  The marketing on the FRONT of all packages is used to entice you to purchase the food.  When you see the words, “natural”, “organic”, and “healthy” on the FRONT, they do not mean ANYTHING!  READ THE INGREDIENTS! That will tell you, the consumer what is in the package.   

Ask yourself.  What are the first four ingredients.  That is what is most important because that is what the food contains the most of.  Do they agree with what you are expecting in that product.  If we are talking dog food, does the first ingredient include a REAL meat and not a meat “meal” that can be anything?   Where are the grains listed?  Your dog does not need corn, wheat, soy and other fillers especially as the main ingredient.   

As for dog food.  It is beyond the scope of my ability to rate them or recommend one to you as all dogs are different, but there are many sites that do.  If you can not afford to feed raw,  don’t feel comfortable with it, or just plain do not want to, no judgement here! It is certainly not for everyone and I was back and forth with it many times before Jack got diagnosed with a brain tumor.  

If you want to stick with kibble, I would just ask you to educate yourself on a good brand of kibble because some are definitely better than others. There are many sites that rank the different brands.   You can check out one of these sites.  

 

There are also many different forms of all natural food in different forms.  A few of them are: 

 

If I have learned anything from being in the fitness field, the medical field and now the dog business it is that you have to EDUCATE yourself.    You certainly can NOT trust big corporations to care about your well being.  They are in business to make money and will tell you anything to sell you their product.  

So, if you take nothing else away from this blog, please, please, please learn to read the INGREDIENTS on the back and not the marketing hype on the front in anything that you buy!  

I feed Jack Souly Raw Pet Food.  These are the ingredients, see the difference….

 

 

If you would like to join our Healthy Habits Group, you will learn a lot that will save you a lot of money on food that your body does not need and you just may get off of medications that you are taking because of your poor diet.  Especially if you are dealing with achy joints, sleepless nights, tired feeling during the day, feeling bloated, not able to lose weight, have high blood pressure or any yucky feeling!  

Spend a month with us and maybe you will figure out why!  

For more information or to Sign Up, click HERE! 

If you want to learn more about dog food and what is going on with it, get Pet Fooled.  

You may be a little surprised by what you learn.  

 

On January 12, 2017   /   Tip of the Week