IDEAL COMMERCIAL BEST PET FOOD FEATURES

When purchasing a packaged pet food, these are some features to look for:

• Stay away from brands highlighting a marketing fad or attempting to deceive you in any way. The best pet food is not about "no" this or that, the shape of a nugget, special formulas for breeds, life stage, indoor formulas, time of day formulas, specific size formulas, exotic ingredients, colors and flavors, "natural," "organic," "award winning," cudos from an incompetent ranking site, etc. Remember, no single feature makes health.
• Organic, fresh, whole, natural, free-range, and carnivore-targeted features.
• Fatty acid balance, life preserver vitamins and minerals, enzymes, probiotic cultures, and prebiotics.
• Natural preservatives, antioxidants, and anti-pathogenic and anti-glycation features.
• Phytonutrients and other nutraceuticals at optimal levels (not mere label dressing) designed to optimize health.
• Processing designed to protect and preserve nutritional value: fresh batching, fresh or frozen ingredients, ingredients naturally protected from insects while stored, mold and mycotoxin tested and neutralized, special portion packaging that is a barrier to light and oxygen.
• Manufactured by the company who's name is on the label and with a history of nutritional, processing, and health competency.

These criteria cannot always be easily discerned. Finding the best pet food means going beyond the flashy package, the simplistic advice of a store clerk, and the Internet fables to learn what the company is really doing, what they really believe, what their history is, and whether there is true competence. Use common sense and discernment. Health is a real thing. The only way to achieve it is with real food and real knowledge.

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Thought for the day: We are in exile from biological reality.

Word of the day: phytochemicals - noun: although the term can mean any chemical found in plants, in common parlance it means the active health-protecting compounds. There are thousands of these that science is only beginning to understand. Examples include the antioxidants that plants use to protect themselves from the sun and that we benefit from if consumed. Some phytochemicals are therapeutic and preventive as they are found in whole foods and as isolated nutraceuticals.