WHY EXERCISE IS CRITICAL

If you think about it, life for dogs and cats is about motion. In the wild, creatures must escape predators, travel about to find a mate, and work hard and relentlessly to find food.

But think about how modern life has changed that for us and our pets. In our urban settings we have no predators lurking about, mates can be found on the Internet, and food simply sits in a refrigerator, pantry, restaurant, and grocery store. We have become about as immobile as it is possible to become.

This departure from what is natural takes a tremendous toll on health. The body becomes what it is called upon to do. Sit on a couch; start to look like a couch. Exercise and work hard; look like an athlete.

Every disease is positively impacted by exercise. In medical studies of drugs, billions of dollars are spent to prove effectiveness. In almost every instance where the drug is measured against exercise, the drug loses-not to mention the dangerous side effects of drugs.

When the body is exercised it senses the need to stay fit and capable. It feels alive through the tests placed upon it. Not only is stamina increased, but reserve capacity and resistance to disease are increased. If we act dead by barely moving, then the body loses its resistance and easily succumbs to disease and death.

With regard to the best pet food, consider this. Food is the payment for exercise. In the wild we and our pets would starve if we did not expend considerable effort finding it. Therefore, in the natural order of things it is theft to take food without paying the price of exercise and physical work. The penalty for this theft is obesity and disease.

Video: Cheetah catching prey

In the wild animals must work extremely hard to obtain their food. The result is incredible fitness, strength, and resistance to disease. We simply need to mimic this model for our pets (as much as possible) to achieve the same benefits.

Thought for the day: "The mountains, rivers, earth, grasses, trees, and forests are always emanating a subtle, precious light, day and night, always emanating a subtle, precious sound, demonstrating and expounding to all people the unsurpassed ultimate truth." – Yuan-Sou

Word for the day: cholesterol - noun: A lipid common to all mammals that is required to build, maintain, and regulate the fluidity and permeability of cell membranes, provide the framework for the construction of hormones and vitamin D, exert antioxidant effects, and more. It is essential to life. It is supplied both by the diet and by internal synthesis.