Everything you need to know about eating you can learn from your dog

I wanted to share this very insightful and rather witty blog entry with you - it was written by Dr. Stacey over at Every Woman Has An Eating Disorder

"You could learn a lot from a dog about eating and appetite.

Well, not my dog. As many of you dog lovers know, you have a choice when it comes to feeding your pooch—you can go with regular meals or allow the dog to free feed, meaning she has constant access to food.

Callie’s on a meal plan—she eats two meals a day. She’s a healthy weight, but outside of mealtime, you’d think she was slowly starving to death. Luckily for her, the sidewalks of Manhattan provide ample opportunity for her to indulge her cravings. Despite my best efforts at leash control, Callie has dined on pizza, soft pretzels, French bread, and, on occasion, a whole chicken discarded outside a restaurant. She’ll even, outside the local bars, mop up vomit from the night before. I know, I must be so proud. . . .

If Callie were to free feed (and, at this point it may be too late, and I’m not really trying to cure her of an eating disorder), her food dish would remain full, and she’d graze throughout the day—a bite here, a nibble there, maybe even a full meal in the morning or after some rigorous play. Because the food would always be available, she wouldn’t feel the need to so desperately scavenge the sidewalk gutters. She’d follow her appetite, instead of relying on the external cues of mealtimes. She’d likely be less anxious and obsessive around food.

As a human, you may restrict your intake to designated mealtimes, and to certain foods at that (the hallmark of the diet). As a result, cravings develop and bingeing becomes your way of guaranteeing satisfaction within the realm of these restrictions. If you’re to remove the restrictions and free feed, the likelihood is (after some adjustment time), you’ll learn to follow your appetite, eat when you are hungry, and stop when you are full. . . because you’ll know that the food will always be there, and you won’t have to scramble on the sidewalk to retrieve it."

(Leslie here): So...eat when we're hungry, stop when we're full. A remarkable idea!! And yet, when presented with food left out in the open - dish of M&Ms, spinach and artichoke dip, a veggie platter with dip - how hard is it to just take a little sample because our stomach signals "I'm hungry"? Our society's hyper-focused diet mentality has trained us to place so many foods "off-limits" that, when presented with them, we go crazy. Denial will do that to you. Now, granted, a dog has a much more bland diet than we humanfolk do. Kibbles n bits ain't got nothing on the smorgasbord that meets us everytime we open our fridge. But still, I'm going to start taking this dog mentality to heart a bit more. If only I had a Great Dane (my ultimate dream dog!) to guide me.

How about you? Dog owners out there...do you see what Dr. Stacey is talking about? Could you learn a lot of about eating from your pooch?

Woof!
Leslie

Comments

I have a pekingese and we leave his food dish down all the time. he rarely eats it unless starving. he instead trolls the floors for crumbs and acts like he's been starved for weeks when we eat dinner, barking whining and pawing for scraps. no doubt this is in part because we've given him a taste of that human smorgasbord, but still... i think there is a link between overeating and emotion - and some people cannot stop at just a taste... at least not until they've addressed deeper emotional issues.

I agree with you that having a green light is better than restrictions, which cause us to feel denied. My new plan is that I can eat anything I want to, whenever I want to, but I have to diligently write down everything I eat and keep track of the calories. What this has done for me is it makes me think longer before I still some free-roaming smorgasborg fare in my mouth, plus the thought that someone might read my food journal keeps me from writing down (thus eating) all those snack foods that are on my clients' counters and in the candy dishes.
Emotionally, I am still dealing with things from childhood, but aren't we all really? I can't hold my parents responsible, but those old haunts and hurts will catch me, and comfort is only a bowl of icecream away. Good luck!

I heard that dogs didn't eat like this, which is why you shouldn't just leave them lots of food out when you go on a trip. Am I wrong? but anyway, yeah, while I agree in theory that just leaving food out all the time and eating when hungry is better, I have a terrible time doing it-if it's there and out, I'll eat it. even to the point that keeping cereal and milk around for breakfast is hard for me(don't ask, I love my Cheerios).

I do think there's something psychological in all of this. I can buy a candy bar just after finishing lunch because I "crave" something sweet, and it will sit in my desk drawer for days (and if I'm lucky, weeks). Right now, I have Twizzler Bites in the drawer. I'm fine. But what's in the back of my head right now? Oh yeah... you know it. Potato chips. And I haven't anything salty in front of me.

For the record, though, I have cats. And I leave their dishes out all the time, which most mornings when it's feeding frenzy time, I still find half-full of food. My one cat, though I've tried, refuses to eat anything but Meow Mix or Chef's Blend. That's it. No wet food, no tuna, no chicken, no milk. My other cat... my mom, when she visited, decided to give him tuna. Now all hell breaks loose when I open a tuna can (thanks Mom). But even he will just have a few flakes and then he's done. He apparently just wants that taste.

Maybe I need to unleash my inner cat.

Thanks for posting this!

"Our society's hyper-focused diet mentality has trained us to place so many foods "off-limits" that, when presented with them, we go crazy."

That's exactly right--and, scary as it seems, the more we allow them, accept them into our menu of options, with time, the less allure they have when it comes to overeating.

(Clean) kisses from Callie. . .

A fascinating observation. I always thought the importance was that when an animal was sick, it would hone in on the vegetation that served as a remedy, since their craving and sense of smell would combine to let them target the correct natural remedy. But, this holds potential. I suspect because their snacks tend to be small, that the delay in time between snacks is what distinguishes us from them. When we get a craving, we glom out and keep on eating past the point of hunger fulfilment. This goes hand-in-hand with the advice to stop eating before you appear full because it takes twenty minutes for the message to get to your brain, and that's why you over eat. So eat frequently but sparingly. A good experiment.