What can you really find in a pet’s food composition?

Well, there are different reports that analyze the main differences that the owners are inclined to buy when talking about their pet’s nutrition. They focus mainly on already known brands, that gained awareness through marketing promotions and commercials and that are on the shelves in each supermarket, on a constant discount. But the truth is that some companies focus on publicity and awareness on the market, but not necessarily in keeping a nutritional valued food for our pets. This example may change the way the consumer behavior works but most of the products existing in supermarkets that are oriented towards our pet’s nutrition are the commercial ones, not the good ones. There are the fast food equivalents to humans, which have a good taste, our pets love it but in time it can be damaging to their health.

Whole chicken pieces, fresh hunt, fresh cereal, duck meat, rabbit meat, vegetable fiber full diet, and so on…these are the main menu’s for a pet. The sardine pack, the beef pack, they all taste good, and contain some of the nutritive values our pet’s should eat but not enough.
Every pet lover knows how to tell a good food from a “junk food”. The secret lays in the color. Most of the good products are chemical produced in one color only. We are talking about the dry pet food. Food that has red and green part is not recommended, and although it sounds like a superficial analysis there are substances that your pet should not ingest.

Let’s not forget the pet industry alone in Europe has in this particular moment food evaluated for 5 billion dollars.

The vast majority of pet food consumers do not know the fact that the pet food industry is actually an extension to the human pre prepared meal industry…it is the same one …the same one.



This is why many commercial products are often damaging to our pets. This is also why house pets get sometimes very fat, and eating a regular two a day meal…fast food. There are also cancerous reported cases, due to some intestinal and esophageal troubles, link directly to the digestive system and type of food.

There of the five major food companies are affiliated to Nestle, Heinz, and Colgate-Palmolive. Others are Proctor& Gamble, Mars and Nutro. From an economic point of view, the multinational companies that own the producing industries represent an ideal relationship. The multinational companies give them a greater awareness and subsequently a better sale.

This is an encouragement for the companies that have alimentary food production to start producing other food, using the rests. Nothing is wasted.

There are thousands of pet food products, and even though the majority uses the same waste recycling method in order to create pet food, there are specially designed pet food producers, that never use second hand or bad ingredients.

Wellness was always associated with the overwhelmingly feeling of good and the balance between the mind, body and spirit.

Health is the one thing that binds the mind, the body, and the spirit. Health is the balance. The deep feeling of wellness comes from the internal emotions, the intellect, the body, the environment and of course, it comes from the spirit. These are all linked together but to achieve them all you must first start with the spiritual wellness.

The spiritual wellness can be defined as the ultimate inner peace, the achievement, the “finding yourself” part, the search, the journey, the spiritual self that is pure, knows his meaning, follows his up stand moral purpose. There are other facts that need to be exposed when defining spiritual wellness.

Morals, values, ethics, and faith.

Many religious associations have implemented numerous services and programs that help create a clearer image of spiritual wellness. This includes details like free food for homeless people, special shelter areas that work in a close collaboration with the social services. Organizing clothing donations centers and redistributes them to poor or distressed people affected by natural calamities, and other childcare educational camps and services for the community. A wellness program that is based on spiritual adherence and faith is defined in one word: “giving”. Giving refers mainly in doing the right and moral thing for the unfortunate ones, giving something back to the community, help it grow in a positive manner. In this sort of programs the main change agent is you. It all about the perspective you see things and the impact you create. The internal happiness that comes from caring and thinking about others, and this alone has absolutely nothing to do with your religious view, it is just a humanitarian act of compassion.

There are a lot of charitable services that are not based necessarily on faith. Spirituality can be defined in various forms and terms but being spiritual is something else. Is the rational instinct to use whatever resources you have in order to reach a moral goal you’ve set.

The already faith based wellness programs are in a constant ascension.  First it started with a small advisory and guidance mission, the Catholic Church is opened to all individuals regardless of their religious creed.
There are Cross Cultural Centers that try to teach the importance of appreciating a different culture and tradition with the upmost respect they should deserve, by holding conferences across the country, numerous seminars, exhibits and public lectures for all interested.

There are drug addiction problems, and in solving those, the inner wellness program volunteers work hand in hand with the specialized social workers, volunteering in order to help stop and fight the addiction.

Even Alcoholics Anonymous is not excluded from this line of sensitive activities.

There are counseling and psychological care wellness clinics, that help each year hundreds of confused adolescents to find their way and their place in life.

What is the future in destination of wellness resorts?

Wellness and health business plans have become a more and more attractive investment for many entrepreneurs. It started with nutritional and other medical and care cabinets and ended up with fitness in the workplace environment. But what about the future? How does it look, from this perspective?

What is the one true unique selling point that can make a wellness resort really worth visiting?


Yes, we already talked about the fast future and the progressive environment we all live due to the fast development of the Information and Technology. The sedentary life with all of its risks and the fact that many employees that lead moderate lives with no physical activity whatsoever try to break the routine by joining a health and wellness program.

The future in destination of wellness resorts are the relaxing spa’s that offer massage, rejuvenating activities for not only the body but also the mind. This may consist in a travel adventure in the eastern sides of the world where the thin balance between mind and body is not just a complex marketing approach, but also a dream come true for its previous visitors.

Thailand has numerous low budget vacation retreat offers that manage to implement a feeling of detachment from all the day to day problematic issues. Indeed, your mind is set to roam free from all the papers, clipboards, schedules, meetings, one hour lunch break, your boss’s nagging voice, deadline, the office buildings’ smell, the telephones ringing sound, the struggle to find a good parking space, the crowded elevators, the rush hour traffic, the missed calls, the appointments, the stress, the income, your debts, your bills, ... it all gone when a beautiful young woman massages your tensed back muscles, while smelling that lavender mixed the essential oils and the deep trance oriental music , all this while taking a gaze to the peacefully sea green of the Southern Chinese Sea…

How does that sound? And it wasn’t even a brochure reading…it was the pure reality… a far reality, into which any of us must escape…at least once, in their lifetime…


Of course the wellness travel can take another turn…and if you are sky amateur with a strong desire to go to the beach afterwards you can always try the Dubai sky resort…where artificial snow is “trapped” in a giant oval shaped glass house right in the middle of the desert. Here you can enjoy the cold white snow, gliding with your snowboard in an incredible futuristic environment that you have never seen before.

Dubai nowadays has become a haven for any kinds of travelers, accomplishing almost everything you have in mind for making your wellness in an updating mood.

For this of course you will need some stashed money or juniors college fund, but we believe that being there ..you’ll not only energize yourself to a bursting point, but also relax in the most soul peaceful fashion ever…

With our constant change in this fast times we turn around to the tech free activities that once kept us happy, healthy and content while still doing our work.

We are talking about wellness, we are talking about health, and the main issue for today is the various academies that not only encourage sporting and healthy activities but also educate its pupils to all the benefits of starting a wellness plan, a wellness oriented lifestyle.

We set our eyes on the Huckleberry Wellness Academy for Youth in San Francisco.

This is an intensive health oriented career start up for young individuals who want to act in this kind of field. The program is mainly created by a work force development grant that belongs to the San Francisco’s DoC, Department of Children, Families and Youth. In their beginnings, the Academy had recruited seventeen high school teenagers catalogued as highly eligible to develop and with a lot of potential in this area. All of them come from families who never graduated college.


The program is structured so that it includes internship possibilities in the health and care segment, trainings and health educational weekly schedule, setting not only the necessary preparation but also tutoring, group supports and different techniques to approach the people in need, direct exposure to the health profession all over, management cases and advisory regarding other applications.

This went swimmingly last couple of school years for both the freshmen’s and the seniors.

The main advantage that makes this Academy unique is represented by the constant assistance the students dwell upon. For example the freshman student are always oriented to the different possibilities, have support from the leading staff in orienting the juniors towards better choices, in their future activity. The seniors on the other hand are advised about the health related opportunities and the existing careers in different medical environments. This is why the Huckleberry Wellness Academy for Youth is keeping a close collaboration between the local medical and care centers, massage parlors, fitness clubs, chiropractors and so on…

The Huckleberry Wellness Academy has an interesting Youth Programs that recently gathered proactive and impactful leaders from the medical community and the educational environments in order to consolidate the Academy’s honorable Advisory Board.

This Advisory Board is essential in advice, insights and guidance for all the students activating here and holds a yearly conference with all the prominent leaders in this field.


Besides all the educational and career orienting profile and benefits, the Huckleberry Wellness Academy for Youth is also a 24 hour shelter house. This serves as an emergency shelter for all the young troubled teenagers between 11 and 17. It has a history of sheltering the homeless and the runaways’ youth from all over the country. The program also acts as a guide even in this case and more and more troubled teens find themselves here through the innovative seminars for empowering self esteem and offer pragmatic solutions.

This tricky word association can fool you at first but the main idea still gravitates around a balanced life style more and more avoided by most of us. The need of change is mandatory when we think about the present environment ruled by fast food, chemical fertilizers, toxic for humans in the long term, and less and less natural products, that do not require pre production substances and other artificial or non organic mixes.

Easy to say, hard to actually do the change you want to see and feel. Some companies already implemented a wellness program that acts during your working schedule. The corporate leaders want to make the participation an imperative, and it is already set to be signed in order to be implemented in the job description, as a daily responsibility.
If we would like to talk about the health and wellness workplace in the workplace we must first take a look at the benefits that a program like this could bring.

Setting up a workplace where some of the priorities consist in keeping health and wellness is only a gain – gain kind of a deal.

Taking care of the employee can make the difference, keeping him motivated and giving the right incentive to perform his best in his line of work.

Providing regular shots for different afflictions, screenings for cholesterol reading, checking the blood pressure constantly, making assessments for the body and fat ratio, free medical advisory and consultations for the employees as part of a health and wellness program in every kind of workplace can really help prevent some costs with the health insurance.

Wellness and health in a working environment changes somehow the overall vision that going to work means something very bad and undesirable activity, and manages to promote its employees to attend. Employees’ absenteeism can be easily prevented through the right approach from a company leader…and this wellness and health programs are exactly the missing links. Maybe in time every corporate environment will consider implementing a similar plan.
A healthy business is always run by healthy and content workers and in order to facilitate the best conditions the manager must make a careful strategy in the wellness and health segment. The need for this to be introduced can be set after some careful analyses made inside the employees’ behavior and their lifestyle habits, whether or not there are healthy and keep a perfect balance between work and sporting activities or diet food, have a low stress level and positive energy.

There are of course many approaches to sell this program inside a company. Some corporate leaders even try to stimulate their employees by giving them more money to spend on healthy diets or joining a fitness club, which they have to visit on a regular basis.

There are companies who took things to a whole new level, constructing a fitness club inside the company, making the presence mandatory, as part of the working hour.

Wellness nowadays has become more than just an idea for a business start. Of course, every business start is based on a necessity the exists on the market, a pre study that certifies the need  gravitates around  a certain area, in this case, fitness and nutritional consultation, taebo, martial arts or the combination between sport and dance.

Due to the up growing rates of heart attacks, obesity, type two diabetes, directly linked with the lack of physical exercise, some companies, have altered the approach, creating a balanced proactive work and sport program.  This consists in allocating a space specially designed to serve the sporting needs.

Some companies even force their employees to use them, for one hour a day.

Other corporate approach towards the healthy life style consists in organizing low fat diet menus for lunch, and a veggie snack in between.  Some Indian companies even stretch together at 9 a.m. just before starting their regular activity.

This new perspective and the attention to the employers’ health can be really beneficial for both parties. The worker will start feeling better after a regular sporting activity and this can cut out some of the stress that many employees feel after a full office day.  The company on the other hand can reduce the risk of health problems, creates an energizing atmosphere, light up the environment, have a better long term productivity, keep workers motivation and content and the costs with insurance risk polices that otherwise can become more and more expensive (if some employers complain or have a health problem, the insurance companies are obliged to pay up, but next time add a percentage in the interest).

Corporate wellness is a big priority, and every progressive entrepreneur knows this. There are downsides to this issue but only in short term.  Take for example a company that used to keep a tight working schedule, with highly productive employees that need the whole full standard program in order to do what de job descriptions tell them to do.  One hour lunch break, and then start again. Now, the same day, the same schedule must compress the one hour lunch break, that is a mandatory right and cannot be reduced, or cut out, and the time allocated to the gym or fitness activities.

There are alternatives, such as joining a gym by your personal self, not linked with the working environment, and in spite of the success that fitness clubs have today, the vast majority choose to avoid this.

Media continues to fight the battle by trying to scare the population, always presenting the risks, always picturing the extreme cases that they “glorify” in numerous commercials and posters in order to convince us to change our ways.

With or without a moral incentive, an active life must be balanced between the health of the mind  and the one of the body.

Wellness and modern work place does not seem to match nowadays.

As television, newspapers and the other mass media channels reflect, the progress of technology and all the industrial revolution that we embraced so strong has ease up our way of doing our jobs to a level that it became dangerously unhealthy and damaging to our bodies.

Of course, easy and fast is good, but only from an economical point of view. But the world cannot be divided only in economic agents and consumers.  As we evolved and use machines for half of the job, our bodies rapidly feel the negative environmental change… Obesity rates have gone up with 34 percent from the 1970s and they’ll keep growing in this worrying fashion unless we as individuals do something about it.

The statistics balance the fact that the life expectancy is now 74-75, from 62-63 that were registered forty years ago, but the heart attack rates doubles from decade to decade, due to our fast way of living, less time for exercises, no proper meals, snacks between the essential meals and the incredible monopoly that fast food restaurants managed to achieve.

Other social analyzes confirm the up growing rates of the populations suffering from  chronic conditions associated with high blood pressures and all in all the fast increase of obesity that can directly lead to type two diabetes and other heart complications.

Why do this concern any good shaped individuals? Well, for instance in America, where health and more specific poor health can cost and affect the premiums of the insurance, and cost both the insurance companies and the businesses billions of dollars a year. Of course, here, the American population spends four times as much as the defense programs the government consolidates, and everyone know Americans appetite for the “best defense is offence” politics.

So what to do in these situations?

You have an office desk job, a comfortable chair, you love pizza in the lunch break and it has become a diet routine, you drive a car, and always use the elevator or stay on your stair step to wait to be ascended… if you are this guy you’ll need a powerful incentive to start a wellness program.

Start easy with a 2-3 day gym exercise program, just as got out from the office. Try walking towards the gym, wake up earlier than your usual 8 a.m. and jog for half an hour between the blocks. Give up the bacon and… try, just try to limit your daily pizza overdoses.  After that you can ask some professional help.

There are numerous “fit not fat” wellness programs, that can help you find your inner balance. But all in all, sport must become a necessary activity in schedule.
Free weekends can be spent in a more productive way than television and video games. And for what is worth, the benefits come right away. Energy generates energy, and you’ll soon find yourself happier and more efficient in any activity that you start.

The sedentary lives we all live now due to the fast advancement of technology, and all its electronic or mechanical helpers managed to transform the previous hunter gatherer individual to a false static reality when words like cholesterol and heart attack are more and more commune.

It is said that our beliefs are the stone foundation of every personal achievement.  What about in this case? What about when we want to change our old selves and create a new path, a new plan, a new beginning? Does it work?

First we must ask ourselves: what is the righteous path towards physical health and the feeling of wellness? Can we consolidate a lesson plan in order to reach the true wellness?



But firstly, the most important thing is how you manage change. It is important because change and your openness towards it can make a difference in your new beginning.  Once you embraced it you have no basically limits. Once you achieved this step you realize that all your bad habits of your previously self, were irrational and that all the material possessions and dependencies such as cigarettes, fast food and alcohol, did not managed to bring you beatitude. So it was the wrong path… but what about my phobias? Are those rational?  Can I alter the thinking process to get rid of those as well?

Of course you can! Once you opened up, you can start the lesson plan for wellness, but be wise.

So, wake up early in the morning and wash up, start with your face then your teeth. You must insist on every part, from every angle, with fluoride toothpaste and a hard brushed toothbrush. There are numerous techniques for brushing properly but the best one is to brush each side with a continuous motion 35 times then repeat this sideways until every part of the teeth are clean and brushed.

Breakfast. Try milk with cereals, cheese and a boiled egg (don’t have eggs daily), light meats and yogurt, fruits, toast with honey…diversify every day.

After this take a moment and read or do some kind of a mental exercise. The best way to flex your brain muscle is by reading. Choose a book with metaphors, with double meaning words, riddles and things that put your mind in work.

After this you can do exercises, start light, by stretching properly and then select an area of muscles and exercise them for about an hour.



Then return to the mental exercises, continue to read another 100 pages, or play interactive progressive games that require strategy, calculated decisions and intense responsibility.

After some time you can do some pushups, stand on your head for 1 minute,jog or just stretch again.

The body will respond positive in time, helping you to perform in everything at your best.

Sleep is also a very important factor. It is necessary for your body to rest between 10 and 12 p.m. and from 4 to 5 p.m.  the afternoon nap.

In order to achieve wellness it is recommended to have a pet, such as a cat or a dog, to show empathy and care.

No more sedentary life style, no more comfortable sitting in the office leather chair, no more cigarettes, no more elevators,  no more fast food, no more coke, diet or not, no more chocolate, sugar…brown or not…and the list can go on …

But how can you really take control of yourself and your health?

There are, of course, a lot of online tips and suggestions, in order to implement a solid and helpful plan. And it all starts with taking control of your schedule. Than the next step is to realize the controversial truth that …our bodies even though through consumption, the food is designed to balance our need of nutrition, it is not enough if we want to have a healthy body.

Many of us believe that because of modern day agricultural practices, and all the chemical fertilizers that try to enrich the soil and change its shape color and taste, many nutritional values have been lost. 95 % of the food we eat it is processed. Nature intended for us to consume food in its whole form because all the enzymes, antioxidants, minerals, and vitamins are together in one package. They work together to give your body the nutrition it requires for your optimal health.  Your body only absorbs a small part of an isolate form of vitamins and minerals and it utilizes even less. You get the best bio availability in all food forms.

Leonardo da Vinci had an unusual program to stay fit, both physically and mentally. He would sleep 3 days a week in 20 minute intervals. He woke up, continued his work, then, after 20 minutes, he went to sleep again.  Of course, he did not care for the presence of “E” components in his food, and the chemical fertilizers were not an issue in those days but still this bizarre exercise managed to substitute all of today’s vitamins pack and specially designed fitness tools…

The vital things for your health come from the delicate balance between the mind and the body. This characteristic is essential and it can change the way your entire body responds.  A key characteristic is meditation, first light meditation; it can be exercised by focusing all your attention to a single thing, to see it all, in your mind, to visualize absolutely every aspect of it. For example: many people choose to think about a tree, for their intro into meditation…for this you must see the tree, its branches, the leafs, its color, impurities, birds, fruits, flowers, tree bark, it smell, the whole tree. Then you must remain focused for half an hour. Also your body position is important, because your back must always stay straight, in order to keep a constant amount of oxygen into your lungs and breathe correctly, effortless.

This gives you an inner peace, an openness that exceeds all other forms of physical exercise, and until deep trance meditation you should join a yoga class, where you’ll stretch both your body and your mind, so that you can really take control of your wellness .