“Food is the medicine you take every day.”

Food Therapy is the use of the diet to treat and prevent imbalance within the body. It utilizes knowledge of the specific energetic properties of different food ingredients to create diets that act like medicine for individual animals. Energetics of food is why we eat cooling watermelon in the summer and warming stews in the winter. It is also why you feel better after drinking ginger ale for a stomach ache and taking vitamin C for a cold.

Like other TCVM modalities, the ultimate goal of food therapy is to restore and maintain balance  and therefore health in the body. The effects of food therapy are slower-acting than modalities like acupuncture and herbal medicine. However, there are virtually no side effects when food ingredients are chosen correctly, and food therapy is a mode of treatment that can be used safely throughout a patient’s lifetime.
Food therapy can be as simple as switching from a chicken-based dog food to a turkey-based dog food, or treating your pet to a boiled egg or sardine with dinner. For pets with more complex complaints or allergies, or if owners desire to prepare fresh-cooked food, a formal recipe can be created. Each home-cooked diet is tailored to each individual pet and family, and balanced in essential nutrients, vitamins and minerals.