Why Are Circadian Rhythms Important For Your Pet?

Alright, well today, I wanted to talk about when to feed and how often. So a lot of times in the shop we're so focused on what exactly we're feeding and what we should be feeding. but there's some new research search that, shows when we are feeding might just be as important. and actually today I'm, really going to be drawing a lot of this information from The Forever Dog. there's a really just fantastic section in that book about kind of time restricted feeding, fasting and all that good stuff. And so that's kind of what I'm trying to do today is to kind of encapsulate that part of the part of the book. But according to that book, the Forever Dog by Dr. Karen Becker and Ronnie Bead, when in what you eat, or in this case, what you feed, are the two most important factors in longevity and health span. so really important, right? So what we're eating and also when we're eating it are really important when we're talking about not only the length of time that we're living, but also our health span. So the length of time that we're healthy and active. so there's just two really big factors to think about, especially when it comes to your pets. this is really neat because for example, if the only thing you can afford right now is processed food for your dog, this is really good news because just by incorporating a feeding schedule for your dog can be really extremely beneficial. so really getting away from free feeding is going to be my main point today. So stop the free feeding. There's so much research showing that just not having a set schedule or feeding time for your pet is really harmful. And free feeding, by that I mean just leaving food out all day for your dog. So timing is important. so let's talk about circadian rhythms. So circadian rhythms are defined as, the physical, mental and behavioral changes that follow a 24 hours cycle, of course, in the body. So these natural processes respond primarily to light and dark and affect most living things, including animals and plants and microbes. so when you feed your dog is important. And again, I'm drawing this from the Forever Dog, but they, did a lot of work with Dr. Panda who studies chronobiology. so he's kind of studying their circadian rhythms and what affects them in humans and in pets. but according to Dr. Panda, dogs and most animals don't eat in the dark, right? So you have nocturnal animals that would do that. But our dogs and ourselves, we shouldn't be doing that. It's not how we've evolved. and their bodies specifically our dogs have not evolved to do so, to eat in the dark. So, we should avoid feeding dogs at night and really do not want to be feeding within 2 hours of bedtime. It's really important takeaway because, I know a lot of people that do this is, feed their dogs before they go to bed. But we want to try to alleviate as much as possible and have some tips that we'll get around to towards the end. But I always like to look at things under the kind of the ancestral lens. What would our dogs be doing if left alone to their own devices? They wouldn't be hunting in the dark like cats or felines do. They, don't have those evolutionary attributes that hold them in the dark. So when we look at wild dogs or free range dogs that we're studying down in Australia, wolves, et cetera, they all hunt during daylight hours. And this is important to consider when trying to nail down a timeframe to feed your dog. She can't make that decision, right? So you're making that decision for her, what time she's going to eat. one really important recommendation from Dr. Panda, that I mentioned before, is to obviously not feed right before bedtime. So it can really throw off that circadian rhythm and disrupt their sleep patterns. a really cool study that they discussed in this book is also, one that was done by Dr. Batson at the National Institute on Aging. But what they found was that mice who eat within an eight to twelve hour window live longer than mice with unlimited access to food. And this is a big thing despite consuming the same amount of calories. So in both groups of mice they're eating the same amount of food, same amount of calories per day. But the mice that we're eating within that window, the eight to twelve hour window, have longer lifespans. so when our dogs biological clock says that their body is ready to eat, the food is healthy for them. But, that same healthy food can be bad if eating at the wrong time of day when the body is not prepared to intake food and process it. So it's really something that I really want to ingrain in their minds. But, respecting our dogs circadian rhythm is one of the best, most proven ways to optimize their health. for some of you, I know you're probably thinking that it might be hard to feed your dog within an eight hour window, especially if you're working a typical work day, you're busy during the day, things like that. But there is a solution for this which I will get to. It's, a really good one, the one that I practice every day with my own dogs. But before I get into that, I want you to remember and kind of I really want to ingrain this in you. But there's no excess in nature. So like I said before, I really want to try to look at things through that ancestral lens. Cannons, have evolved to and I think I talked about this on a previous podcast, but dogs have really evolved to gorge and fast themselves. where do I even start with this? A lot of people are over feeding their dogs, of course. but, dogs have for millennia. If we look at the way wild dogs and wild cannons eat, they find a meal, they hunt their meal. They find it, they gorge on it. They might feed on it for one or two days, and then they're going to fast. They're going to be fasting for a day, two days, three days, four days a week, sometimes more than that, until they find their next meal. it's just how they evolved. there's actually a study done from the university, I think it's the University of Illinois, and this is kind of the short end of the, study, but they actually fasted a dog for 100 days, which is a terrible thing to do, and I'm not advocating that. But they did find something out. So what they did is they fasted this dog for 100 days, and he did have access to fresh, clean water. but on day 100, that dog jumped over a three foot fence. dogs, we tend to freak out if our dog misses a meal, or if we don't feed them for a day, or we skip a meal, we freak out thinking that that's it, that they're going to die. It's really incorrect and actually a detrimental way of thinking. so, again, I'm not saying faster dogs for days on end, but fasting your dog is really beneficial, something I do every day. And, we'll talk about how to do that, but a, lot of people incorrectly assume that their dog or cat, their current adverse pet, should be snacking or grazing all day, like a vegan, remnant, like, a cow or goat or something like that. But, I promise you, this will create a metabolic dysfunction. And, it's especially true if you're feeding kibble or, snacks throughout the day, which is essentially just sugar, which insulin and insulin sensitivity. All these things kind of are, tied to this. But Dr. Saint Claire actually shares my same thoughts on this matter. And he states in the book to keep your dog as lean as possible. So don't overfeed. Keep them lean, don't overfeed. And exercise them a lot with his exact words. we're at a time now in the United States. We're approaching almost 60% of dogs in this country, and over 60% for cats. But nearly 60% of dogs in the US. Are obese. This is really bad. We've, sort of become accustomed to seeing and having obese dogs. So much so that I would say that when people see a fit dog or a healthy dog, they think they're, like, somewhat emaciated. that's how far that spectrum has moved. We think that these big robust, obese, dogs are actually healthy dogs, but they're far from it. But the benefits of understanding your dog's circadian, rhythm and feeding the appropriate amount of calories and not over feeding and doing this within that window of time, the eight hour window are numerous. There's tons of benefits from improved alertness and resilience, gut health, brain health, improved sleep, better, muscle function, while also, reducing hypertension, anxiety, inflammation, risk of cancer and other diseases. but most importantly, since we're on the topic, is increased longevity and health span. So just how are you going to start this? Right? So this whole time restricted feeding schedule for your dog. So I just wanted to give you some really good tips when we're talking about there are different options out there and I just want to let you kind of know them, but also kind of think about what works best for you and your dog. But I, would start with creating that window. So, try to find an eight to twelve hour window, 12 hours really far in that spectrum. I would really try to keep to an 80 feeding your dog within an eight hour window if possible, or as close to that as possible. So find whatever time of day that works, and then stick to it. Also, you want to remember you got to keep that away from the bedtime. Pick up the bowl. is my second thing. So pick up the bowl. The days, of grazing, or free feeding your dog are over. So there's so much research out there that shows how detrimental that can be. So please do not leave that. I have a lot of people that come in and say that they put food in the bowl and then once they don't even know how much they're feeding, they just keep the bowl full. so you definitely want to have, you want to know how many calories your dog is consuming per day and how many they should be consuming per day. And you want to, stick to that. So no more free feeding. Remember that, time restricted feeding is not fasting. These are two different things. So time restricted feeding dogs are still eating the same amount of calories. We're just keeping, the time they are consuming those calories to an eight to twelve hour window. So we're not decreasing the amount of calories, we're actually just feeding those calories in a shorter amount of time. Like I said before, avoid feeding within 2 hours of bedtime. It was really going to throw off their circadian rhythm. Stop, guilt feeding. So this is a really big one that I wrote down. Maybe you've been gone all day or maybe you're tired of being lazy and so you toss, find a bunch of treats. I don't know what the reason is, but instead of guilt feeding them, I couldn't recommend enough. Just, giving them the attention. Instead, play time as nefarious walk around the block. Quick, frisbee, sesh, anything like that. Most dogs would rather have your undivided attention. More than anything, they're always present. So, one of my biggest recommendations is just be present with them. That, will have a far better impact on the dog, but also on yourself as well. So the guilt feeding has got to stop. I hear this all the time, but she gives me those eyes and I have to feed her. She looks at me and looks at the refrigerator. She likes these cookies. And I'm always like, well, some people like heroin, too. Doesn't mean it's good for them. So, just be cognizant of that. Another, thing to be aware of. Don't be afraid to change at the times you're feeding, as long as it's within an eight hour window. All right, so this is especially true, and I know there's a lot of dogs that suffer from this, but, this works great for dogs that will kind of toss up bile if not fed, exactly on time. So, again, this will be a slow process, but they will acclimate. So, it's actually really beneficial for them to not eat at exactly the same time every day. Again, keeping, it within that eight hour window span, but changing up the exact time they're eating. Another thing, don't be afraid to skip meals. Every now and then, this, will have a positive metabolic impact on them. This, is something I must do every day. But, I know people panic if they miss one of their dog's meals, but I, actually recommend it, especially, I'm not saying every day, but maybe not even frequently, but once a week. Skipping a meal caloric restriction can be a really, beneficial impact here. a lot of dog owners that told me that their dogs don't, want to eat every time they're presented with food. And, this is the dog literally telling you they don't want to eat anymore. But what happens when this happens as we panic and we start throwing all these caloric rich foods at them to entice them to eat it? We're essentially shoving food down their throats. but their own physiology is telling them not to eat more, and we'll just keep shoving the food down them. So, listen, the dog is trying to tell you something. This, is actually how I learned one of our dogs, Foxy, is it's kind of how I got started on feeding my dogs, once a day, which I'll talk about here in a little bit, but she just didn't want to eat twice a day. as much as I tried to get her to do it, she just wouldn't do it. And she would, actually fast herself for 24 hours, sometimes even 48 hours. And still she, does this but she eats a lot better. Since I've been feeding her once a day, she'll eat all the calories in one meal, and she seems, to do a lot better that way. So listening to your dog is really important. so what you want to be striving for is feeding your adult dog no more than twice a day. I would say, definitely within an eight hour window or as close to that window as possible. And like I said, in my house, we feed both our dogs once a day for the obvious benefits. So I kind of wanted to talk about fasting as well. So we talk about time restricted feeding or feeding our dogs within an eight hour window and away from bedtime. But fasting is also something that's incredibly, incredibly important. Feeding, your dogs once a day, in my opinion, is the best way to feed your dogs for lots of reasons. But, I do want to make a special note that puppies and cats, cats will develop, hepatic lipidosis.

Speaker A: If they are fasted. So we don't fast cats. We don't fast puppies or, dogs that are diabetic, even smaller breeds. They say, you really shouldn't be fasting dogs under £10 because they're just prone to hyperglycemia foxy, are smaller dogs around that weight. But she does really well with, eating once a day. she pretty much told us that without using words. So she just doesn't want to eat twice a day. She only wants to eat once a day, if that. And she maintains her weight. She does fine. so that's just part of knowing your dog, and you know your dog better than anyone does, so just pay attention.

Speaker A: Dr. Karen Becker, she has this quote here that I wrote down that I want to make sure I read because I think it's really important. I know I read a lot of quotes, but, sometimes they say it better than I can. And she's a veterinarian, so she really knows what she's talking about. But she writes, I believe fasting is the cheapest, most underutilized strategy for improving health, wellness, and longevity in dogs. And because most people in the US. Are food addicted, many pet parents are guilty of constantly feeding their dogs as they feed themselves, resulting in a host of chronic degenerative diseases that are avoidable through eating appropriate food and following an appropriate feeding schedule. So pretty much everything I just said, we want to feed the right foods, obviously, which we've talked about previous podcasts, but sticking to a feeding schedule is really beneficial. So, fasting fasting is the way nature intended, right? We talked about this before. There's no excess in nature. our dogs, their physiology is set up for this. They're set up to gorge themselves and then fast. And we'll talk about this. But there's lots of benefits to this for them, in even us as well. But according to Dr. Fung's research. Again, this is from the Forever Dog Doctor Fungus research. Each time our dogs consume a meal, their body switch from a sort of rejuvenation mode, so good to digestion, mode, right? So therefore, the fewer meals that we feed, the more time the dog's body is in the rejuvenation mode. So, what I'm really talking about here is autophagy. Autophagy, is the body's way of cleaning out damaged cells in order to regenerate newer, healthier cells. And this fasting, which we were talking about, is one of the best ways to turn this process on. So essentially, this is the body's process of regeneration, but it also is the body's way of destroying bacteria and viruses. So it's incredibly important to understand. fasting also allows for their digestive system to take a break, and it puts, their energy and other processes in the body, such as the autophagy, so, if you're constantly feeding your dog, means that the digestive system is constantly, being overworked. So fasting, allows that just assistant to take a break. It definitely reduces, the amount of insulin being produced in the body. So, insulin is an inflammatory hormone, that's produced in the body. They actually have studies now that show that dogs that are fed once a day have almost produced 50% less insulin than dogs that are fed multiple times a day. So, another really incredible benefit, feeding once a day, fasting, also allows the body to go through, periods, let me see, I'm at the backtrack, on this. Allowing the body to go through, periods of fasting.

Speaker A: Another benefit of fasting is that it actually can alleviate digestive issues and allergy relief. Actually talk about this quite frequently. we have a lot of people, that if the dog has about diarrhea or some digestive issues, vomiting, something like that, we want to throw things out of anything but the kitchen, sink to make them feel, better. But honestly, one of the best things you, can do is fast them for at least, I would say, half a day, if not 24 hours. over 99% of the time this works. So ditch the, boiled chicken and rice and all that other ridiculous, stuff that is recommended. Sometimes just letting, their bodies take a break is really important. Dr. Robert Mueller actually wrote, he writes, when a dog's body is allowed to focus on other metabolic activities, it conserves energy, detoxifies, and builds resistance to disease. So fasting, it's just a really beneficial and like I said, it's something that we do with our dogs. Our dogs eat in, the morning. I don't know, there's no specific time. Just depends on what we have going on. But they eat every morning. they eat all their calories in the morning. They might, get a bone or something like that. Later on. Sometimes I feed it with their meal like they do turkey, duck and chicken necks, things like that. actually Mouse has an ostrich femur that he's working on in the backyard that's been out there for like a week now. So he, does, I shouldn't say he's not getting any of the calories throughout the day. I mean most of the time that's probably the case, but he does from time to time he'll eat other things, but yeah, anyways, we feed both our dogs once a day in warning for the obvious benefits. But also it does make it easier for you too. I'm sure everyone's really busy and has a lot of things to do and there's a lot of things going on and it just really makes it easier when you're just feeding your dogs once a day. You have a healthier, dog and you have more time. To summarize, your dog has adapted over millennia too fast to gorge themselves and then fast. So most dogs, I'll say, should not be eating more than twice a day. Most should be eating once a day. We know we, have tons of research that shows that our dogs benefit tremendously from eating within the eight to, twelve hour window. So allowing their body to rest from eating. We need to, stop free feeding, stop feeding, before bed. All these habits that we know aren't good for us are also not good for our dog. Right? So we need to try to find an eight hour window that works. Try to find an eight hour window within your schedule which you can feed your dog. don't be afraid to skip meals every now and then like I talked about. Don't be afraid of fasting. This is how our dogs evolved. I can't stress that enough. Keep them lean, keep, them hungry, keep them moving, is really important. Remember, your dog is, not going to die if they don't feed them. If you don't feed them for a few hours. The opposite is true. actually, you will actually negatively impact your health if you don't allow your dog to fast. Karen Becker actually wrote, if you fail to implement a fasting protocol, you will prematurely cut short their life, guaranteed. No question about it. They were designed to fast. And if you deny them that because you think somehow they're hungry, you're going to prematurely kill them. Which is very, I think, extreme. But I think she really wants to draw home how important it is to let your dogs fast and to not overfeed them and to not feed them, free feed them, essentially. I think sometimes we say things because you really want to get people away from some of the habits they're in and in this case it's free feeding and then letting your dog's insulin spike and crash all day. I think it's, really important. And then lastly, you want to work with your local, integrated or holistic vet, if you're lucky to have one, to help you kind of formulate a feeding, plan and help you kind of decipher, when is a good time for your dog? How many times a day should they be eating? But I would for, most an overwhelmingly amount of dogs, it's going to be no more than twice a day. I really recommend for anotherwise healthy dog, adult dog over £10 that's not diabetic once, a day. and I would probably recommend doing this, in the earlier part of the day because we don't want to be feeding before, bedtime. Anyways, I hope this kind of helps you. I know we get a lot of questions about I get a lot of questions in the shop when I feed my dogs and how I feed my dogs and what time of day if I switch up the times, do I fast my dogs? I guess I don't really look at it as fasting. I just feed my dogs once a day. So technically they're fasting for 24 hours every single day. But I hope this helps answer some of those questions and hopefully you can kind of come away with a better understanding of how our dogs work and operate and kind of develop, a better feeding schedule. I think the most important things are keeping the eight hour window, finding that time that works best for you and the dog and try to feed them no more than two meals within that eight hour window. so awesome. That's it. Thanks for listening. Bye.

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