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Dog food allergies are more common than most people realize, and true allergies (as opposed to sensitivities/intolerances) generally produce skin irritations and problems rather than digestive upsets.

Symptoms of food allergies in dogs can appear within a short time of eating a particular food, or take weeks, months or even years to develop. Contrary to popular belief, most dog food allergies occur as a reaction to a familiar food that your pooch has been eating quite happily for years, rather than to a new food that you’ve just introduced him to. In fact around 70% of dog food allergies are caused by a food that’s been well tolerated for more than two years.

An allergic reaction to a food almost never happens on first exposure, but on second or subsequent ones.

Symptoms of dog food allergies

Food allergies in dogs produce a range of symptoms, the majority of the time they involve skin irritations of some kind, including -

Excessive itching, licking or scratching – particularly at the feet, legs, tummy or tail areaHot spots Rashes Red, scaly patches Rubbing or pawing at the face or ears Frequent shaking of the head

Canine food allergies can cause other symptoms, unassociated with skin irritation. These may include -

Stomach or digestive problems Breathing difficulties (similar to allergies/asthma in humans) Chronic ear infections Eye irritation, inflammation or infections Behavior problems such as aggression or hyper-activity
Recognizing allergy triggers

It’s not always easy to tell what is causing your dog’s allergy symptoms. It could be fleas, seasonal things such as pollen, weeds, dust etc., or even contact allergies. A few clues that point towards dog food allergies are when the symptoms are present all year round (not just seasonally), antihistamine treatment doesn’t seem to help and if your dog is still young and has recurrent, chronic ear or skin problems.

A dog can react badly to almost any ingredient, but the ones that tend to cause the most food allergies in dogs include -

Beef Dairy Products Chicken Wheat Yeast Preservatives and colorings

This is not a comprehensive list though, and foods that tend to cause problems in humans also tend to cause allergy symptoms in dogs. Things such as egg whites, tomatoes, fermented cheese and so on should be avoided!

For a definitive diagnosis, take your dog to the veterinarian who can do blood tests and other procedures to identify his individual ‘triggers’. If a dog food allergy is suspected, an ELIMINATION DIET is recommended. This involves eliminating any food ingredient your dog has eaten, and replacing his food with an entirely new diet. Then reintroducing ingredients one at a time to look for reactions.

Natural dog foods and those specifically designed for dogs with sensitivities and allergies are the best bet for dogs with these kinds of problems. It’s important to realize that you need to wait at least a month, probably more, before you can accurately determine whether or not a food is suitable. It takes that long for any remaining allergens from previous foods to leave your dogs system.

Breeds more likely to suffer from allergies

Any dog can suffer from canine allergies, of any type. But some breeds just seem to be genetically pre-disposed to being ‘allergic’, especially to food ingredients. A few of these breeds are -

Terriers Bulldogs Schnauzers Labrador Retrievers Golden Retrievers

By: Susan Koranki

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The core is best worked not by isolating it from the other muscles but by working it with the other muscles it is supposed to support. By doing compound exercises in which you use multiple muscle groups at the same time you will work the core the way it was intended to be worked, inadvertently. This will help you build a solid core that will stabilize you in any sort of situation.

The way we are going to do this is by weight lifting exercises such as the dead lift, the clean and jerk, squats, military press, lunges one armed dumb bell snatches and others. While it may not look as if you are working your core, believe me, you are. Do you think that you could possibly move any weight with your arms or legs if your back and abs weren’t involved? Nope.

Those exercises are typically done with dumb bells and bar bells and they are great. However, there is another piece of equipment that, because of its design is even better. The kettle bell is a cannon ball shaped device with a large handle. Because of this it is very versatile and, while exercises with dumb bells and bar bells are designed to develop maximum strength, KB exercises are designed to develop strength, flexibility and endurance, key things in promoting stabilization.

There are hundreds if not thousands of KB exercises. However, the fundamental one is the KB swing. To do this you simply squat down and pick up the KB in one or two hands and, as you are lifting up, you thrust out with your hips and back.

By: Jim Conway

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Here are 2 really fast weight loss exercises to lose weight in just a few days. You can forget about jogging and all that other typical cardio nonsense, these exercise are WAY BETTER.

Fast Weight Loss Exercises to Lose Weight

1. Quickest way to lose weight with exercise is to do hindu squats

Sounds like something hard? Nope, it’s not hard at all. It’s really simple. Do you know how to squat? If yeah, then all you do is squat… but do it as fast as you can and do it over a period of 5 minutes. No weights are needed. Just you and your body.

To get the most out of this exercise, try to do it non-stop. People who average 20+ squats a minute and over 100 squats in 5 minutes are the ones who get unbelievably fast fat loss results.

One tip… if you can’t quite do 100 squats in 5 minutes, then build up to doing the whole 5 minutes by starting with doing fewer minutes but averaging at least 20 squats per minute. Slowly build up from there.

2. Jumping on a mini-trampoline 2 minutes at a time

This is a quick way to lose weight without even sweating. And the best part is you can do these during tv commercials since they last about 2 minutes. In fact, if you have a favorite 1 hour tv show, just watch that show and do this during all the commercials. You’ll get in an easy 20 minutes of exercise that way.

These are 2 fast weight loss exercises to lose weight at a rate that is beyond anything you can do at a gym even though you never have to leave your home to do them.

By: Jennifer Jolan

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Chicken is a healthy way to get protein in your diet and you can find many versatile cooking methods to ensure you eat it in a healthy way. Not only are these methods nutritious and easy, but they are tasty and inexpensive as well. You do not have to fry up this poultry to enjoy the flavor. Flavor can be enjoyed in healthier ways if you are worried about cutting calories and fat in your diet.

Even if you decide to cook chicken in healthy ways, it will not make it less versatile. You will find hundreds of ways that you can create tasty variations of this mild meat. It does well with sauces, is amazing with spices, and is great on the grill too. Since healthy issues are a reality for many people, learning to make the most out of poultry is important.

Of course, for healthy chicken dishes, there are a few health and safety tips that you will need to keep in mind along the way. First, ensure that the chicken has been cooked thoroughly. Ensure juices run clear or you can check the internal meat temperature with a meat thermometer. If you want to cut fat and calories, always get rid of the skin on the pieces you plan to cook. For good safety, only reheat your leftovers one time and avoid keeping more than three days after you have cooked it.

One of the healthy cooking ideas for chicken is stir frying. Since you only need to use a little bit of oil, this allows you to make dishes that are low fat. Add in plenty of veggies that are low in calories and you will make stir fries even healthier options for you.

Roasting and baking are both healthy cooking methods that will provide you with tender poultry. You can easily put various veggies in the same pan or roaster as well. Adding herbs, onion, garlic, teriyaki sauce, or even soy sauce can boost the flavor. Make sure you add some liquid when using this cooking method to ensure you do not allow the meat to dry out.

Grilling is a tasty way to cook up some chicken without sabotaging your diet. It is a low fat and calorie method of cooking. The fat is able to drip away while you are grilling, cutting the fat content. To get plenty of flavor, consider marinating in a nice marinade for 4-6 hours before you throw it on the grill. Simply rubbing with some olive oil and spices is a great idea if you do not have much time.

Swiss Mushroom Baked Chicken Recipe

What You’ll Need:

4 boneless skinless chicken breasts 1 cup of chicken broth 1 large portabella mushroom, sliced 4 tomato slices 1 teaspoon of garlic pepper seasoning 2 slices of low fat Swiss cheese, torn in half

How to Make It:

Spray an 8×11 glass or metal baking dish with cooking spray. Arrange chicken breasts in the pan. Top chicken with garlic pepper seasoning. Add chicken broth to the pan. Top with tomato slices. Put pan in the oven and cook for 1 hour at 375 degrees or until juices run clear. Remove pan from oven and top chicken with portabella mushroom slices. Add half a slice of Swiss cheese on top. Put back in the oven for 5-7 minutes or until cheese has melted.

By: Christine Szalay Kudra

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How many multi vitamin products have you tried to improve your health? well, there are hundreds if not thousands of supplements in the market that help to certain health purposes. Some products claim to do wonders for your health but there is one product that is hands down the best option for your health is called fish oil.

Fish oil dietary supplements have been used for a while, but recently they have been getting more popularity due to the many benefits that have been found and the media coverage of it. In fact just a few weeks ago i was reading an article about how one miner saved his life by taking fish oil daily.

But why is fish oil so important for your health?

Fish oil contains the essential fatty acids that our body requires to function properly. DHA and EPA are the essential fatty acids, our body needs high amounts of those fats, but it can produce it on its own. So, we need to take those fats from food or supplements.

There are various sources of omega 3 fatty acids, but not all are good, for example is known that flax seed oil contain omega 3 but it has low DHA and does not provide all the benefits that fish oil gives you.

Farm raised fish is widely used by many supplements, but there are a few problems with it, it is usually high in mercury contamination and contains low DHA fats, then is not the best source of omega 3.

On the other hand wild fish oil gets it food from natural and thus it contain high DHA and epa that our brain, heart and body need to work well. But there are a few things that you need to look for in a good omega 3 supplement.

The supplement has to be molecularly distilled to make sure that the fish does not contain any contamination and needs to come from clean waters of the ocean.

If you take fish oil on a regular basis you will:

- Prevent heart disease
- control blood pressure
- improve vision
- improve immune system
- prevent cancer
- heal arthritis
- improve skin health
- control cholesterol
- reduce inflammation
and much more.

By: Lauren J. Ronie

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Acai berry has become popular as an efficient fat burning product. However the marketing growth of this humbled fruit from the Amazonian forest compared with other weight reduction pills in the market is rising in popularity.

Many have attempted using Acai berry to replace weight loss tablets in their diet. It is available at an affordable price and has no known impact or side effects. This dark purple fruit is one inch in diameter with a giant seed pit. It only contains ten% pulp and comes in bunches like a grape.

The taste is a mix of berries and chocolate that’s appealing to the palate. Historically Brazilians like to eat it or drink its juice or use it in drinks like smoothies. It is loaded with antioxidants, fiber, amino acids and other vitamins that’s good for health.

Acai berry has the ability to stop the damage of free radicals due to inactive movement. Antioxidants are natural chemicals that assist digestion. Acai contains the highest antioxidant level in the world based primarily on its Oxygen Radical Absorbance Capacity values.

Apart from antioxidants, acai berries are favored for their high fiber content that helps cleanse the colon for quick weight loss. It is packed with soluble and non-soluble fibers that rid the body of greasy deposits deposited on the liner of the gut.

It takes away the plaque and food debris caught in the liner of the gut and helps saturate hunger and increases the fat burning capacities of the body. It is loaded in protein that’s also needed for fat burning and hunger control. It’s also packed with minerals and vitamins like Vitamin A B1, B2, B3, C and E, calcium, potassium, copper and zinc. It also contains unsaturated fats like Omega three, six and nine that are good for the heart. Phytosterols are present in the berries that help the body effectively in the absorption of the nutriments. It promotes better digestion, fitter life-style and natural answer to the effect of inactive living. Acai berry is an amazing superfruit that everyone should consider.

By: Mike Alcott

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