For decades, experts told us that the secret to health remains simple. When we discuss the nutrition of both dogs and humans, we always hear the same message: provide enough protein, enough fat, enough vitamins, and enough calories. If nutrition tables, formulas, and recommended daily allowances speak the truth, health should feel relatively easy to achieve. Simply follow the numbers, and the body will function properly.
I once believed that idea too. When I began working with dogs more than thirty years ago, teachers taught me the exact same concepts as everyone else. Health could undergo measurement, calculation, and prediction. If a dog received enough energy, enough protein to build the body, and enough vitamins alongside essential minerals for dogs according to recommendations, then it should radiate health. On paper, everything looked perfect. The tables were precise, the formulas were clear, and the numbers were accurate. However, the only problem was that life rarely follows paper.
Over the years, I began observing dogs that broke almost every rule I had learned. Two dogs could eat nearly identical diets, live similar lifestyles, and consume the same number of calories. Yet one would radiate vitality while the other constantly struggled with skin issues, digestive problems, allergies, low energy, or behavioral challenges. Of course, experts first offered genetics as the main explanation. Genetics certainly matters.
However, the longer I worked with dogs, the more I realized that genetics could not explain every difference. I saw dogs that struggled with certain problems for years suddenly begin to improve after positive changes in their environment, stress levels, lifestyle, or diet. Some became healthier, more stable, and more resilient after moving to new homes. Others, despite excellent genetic potential, began developing issues they had never previously experienced. Consequently, genetics may determine potential, but the environment determines how much of that potential the body ultimately expresses.
At that point, I turned my attention to something experts discuss far less often than calories, proteins, and fats: minerals for dogs and humans. The story of minerals represents, in many ways, the story of life itself. Before humans, dogs, plants, or trees existed, minerals already filled the universe. Iron, magnesium, calcium, copper, zinc, and selenium forged within stars billions of years before Earth even existed. Consequently, when those stars eventually died, the elements they created became part of the planet we call home today.
Over time, rocks slowly released these minerals into the living soil. Plants absorbed them through their root systems. Animals ate the plants, and other animals consumed those plant-eaters. Therefore, this natural process formed the chain of life that continues to this day. The earth feeds the plant, the plant feeds the animal, and the animal feeds another animal. Ultimately, all of us depend entirely on what exists within the living soil.
The Industrial Illusion and Natural Mineral Balance
Over the past century, as agriculture and industrialization expanded, pollution increased and the soil itself gradually lost part of its natural mineral balance. The modern response introduced synthetic fertilizers. There is no doubt that this approach increased crop yields and helped feed billions of people. However, an important question remains: did we solve the underlying problem, or merely postpone the consequences?
A plant does not grow from only a handful of isolated chemical compounds. It forms an integral part of a much larger ecosystem involving soil biology, microorganisms, organic matter, and hundreds of interconnected natural processes. Consequently, when we attempt to replace natural balance with industrial solutions, we often create a new form of chronic dependence. The soil becomes less of a living ecosystem and more of a mechanical production medium requiring constant chemical correction.
Sometimes I wonder whether we follow the exact same pattern today in modern dog nutrition. When processed food loses part of its natural nutritional value, manufacturers respond by adding synthetic vitamins and minerals for dogs. Of course, these additions can prove useful and, in many urgent situations, absolutely necessary. However, the question we rarely ask is whether we actively restore natural balance or merely compensate for its complete absence.
In a sense, synthetic supplements added to processed food function as a kind of “fertilizer” for nutritionally depleted ingredients. They attempt to replace what processing destroyed, but they cannot reproduce the complex nature of the biological systems from which those nutrients originally came. Consequently, the greatest challenge of the future will not focus on producing more factory food or adding more artificial supplements. Simultaneously, the real challenge requires learning how to restore the natural processes that create healthy soil, healthy food, healthy animals, and ultimately healthier people. When we continually correct consequences rather than addressing the root cause, we risk becoming dependent on an endless series of adjustments that never truly solve the underlying problem.
What Kind of Water Should Dogs Drink?
Dogs That Would Not Survive: Breeds That Could Not Live in Nature
RETURNING TO THE EARTH AND THE ESSENCE OF HEALTH.
Returning to the Earth and the Essence of Health
Perhaps, as a human civilization, we have spent so long trying to conquer nature that we have forgotten our place within it. We tried to replace fertile living soil with artificial fertilizer, rich food diversity with strict formulas, and natural biological balance with synthetic supplements. Consequently, every time a new health problem appears, our response adds yet another correction to the previous correction. Yet no amount of industrial technology can permanently replace what we lose when the connection between soil, plant, animal, and human breaks apart.
That is why holistic canine nutrition cannot simply exist as a manufactured product created inside a laboratory. Perhaps dogs are reminding us today of a fundamental truth we have begun to forget. Life did not originate in a high-tech laboratory. Life did not originate in a commercial factory. Life did not originate in a rigid nutritional chart.
Traditional canine nutrition and canine health remain deeply connected to the natural world. Life emerged directly from the earth, rising from it just as a child emerges from its mother’s womb. Ultimately, when we learn once again how to care for the living soil from which everything begins, we will discover that the greatest problem was never a lack of food quantity. The greatest problem stemmed from our lack of understanding of what truly makes food alive, both for our beloved dogs and for ourselves.
Thank you for reading.
To discover more about how emotional alignment, balanced lifestyle, and authentic energy restore internal balance, read our canine nutrition guidelines.
See you next time.
At Sasha Riess, we look past commercial labels to honor the unique biological blueprint of your companion. True health requires addressing the subtle internal patterns that create lasting vitality and pureloveandharmony. Discover the customized path to your dog’s longevity: Linktree Sasha Riess
What If The Dog Was Never The Problem?
👉 Follow our Facebook page and never miss our latest articles, news, and updates.
View this post on Instagram