On a raw diet, dogs have been observed to lose weight or acquire weight that was needed. A raw diet balances your dog's system and helps them lose any unnecessary weight. 

Of course, the balance (also known as homeostasis) helps aid in weight management. But, think about it for a moment. When we want to lose weight, what’s one of the main recommendations aside from exercise? 

Of course- cut the carbs! By transitioning to a raw diet, our dogs are moving from a diet that's about 50% carb content to one that’s 5% or less. So, it doesn’t come as a huge surprise that their weight would balance out similar to ours would.

Aside from the carbohydrate content though, there are several other factors that help bring our dog’s weight to a healthy level including:

Before we dive into how digestion is improved, you must first understand digestibility and bioavailability. The proportion of all nutrients in a food that is available to the dog for absorption from the intestine into the circulation is referred to as its digestibility. The proportion of ingested nutrients delivered to target tissues and available for utilization by your dog is known as nutritional bioavailability. Generally speaking, digestibility and bioavailability greatly improve as the quality of the food improves.  

Dogs can absorb more of the ingredients when they eat raw food (AKA increased bioavailability). As a result, your dog’s digestive process is brought back to a level of balance, known as homeostasis, that may not have been achieved with a kibble-based diet. In most cases, that’s because a kibble-based diet does not contain the level of quality dogs need to thrive. Yes, they can survive on a kibble-based diet, but thrive? Not necessarily. 

Dogs also spend less time and energy digesting meals because they don't consume as much indigestible or difficult to digest food. Raw food only takes 1-2 hours to digest, whereas kibble lingers in a dog's stomach for 7-9 hours.

If you think about it, let’s say you spend an entire day eating fast food or foods loaded with carbs. Maybe you have been traveling and that’s all you could get your hands on. How do you feel? What are your energy levels like? For most, especially those who generally eat healthy, a large difference can easily be felt. Energy levels are much lower and there’s a kind of churn in your stomach that slows you down. 

Our dogs are in the same boat. When dogs eat higher-quality food, there are fewer "fillers" to filter out, so they have more energy. Their bodies have a healthy energy source to build their days around, and most of the time, fats and proteins offer that energy rather than carbs. Your dog will obtain the nourishment he or she needs on a raw diet without having to carry a weight of carbs and fillers around with them all day.

When fat is used as an energy source instead of carbohydrates, a whole new universe opens up inside your dog's body. Protein, fat, and vegetable-based diets don't need insulin to produce energy, which is why they're frequently recommended as the first line of defense against diabetes.

For this reason, fat-based diets are recommended not just for humans with diabetes, but also for our dogs. It also assists our pets (and us) in losing weight or achieving a healthy weight balance.

Fat is not stored by the body when insulin synthesis is limited; instead, it is used for fuel (AKA energy). This is especially beneficial when combined with periods of fasting, in which our dogs don't eat for at least six hours. Fats also encourage the production of leptin because of their high energy content. Leptin is a hormone that suppresses hunger. This isn't the case with a carbohydrate-based diet. Instead, leptin is not effectively produced, resulting in an insatiable appetite.

A biologically appropriate diet, like the ancestral diet, could come in handy for dogs who need to shed some extra pounds. Not only will carb content be limited, but their health will likely improve significantly. You’ll notice more energy, healthier skin and coat, and potentially an all-around different dog once a healthy diet is provided. 


Sources:
https://bmcvetres.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12917-017-0981-z?fbclid=IwAR27HMMzOTsTRKWNNmRQdUhH0KqLOeF-6qG-Vg_n5vVw6V6rA4pUY7rFZHA
https://www.ahajournals.org/doi/abs/10.1161/01.HYP.9.6_Pt_2.III64
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s13099-017-0218-5
https://healthypets.mercola.com/sites/healthypets/archive/2014/06/23/dog-cat-dietary-needs.aspx
https://academic.oup.com/femsec/article/84/2/332/478569?login=true
https://healthypets.mercola.com/sites/healthypets/archive/2014/06/23/dog-cat-dietary-needs.aspx


Can A Raw Diet Help My Dog Lose Weight?

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