Green bean diet?!?

[sheltielover]

Has anyone ever heard of the "green bean diet" for dogs? I was playing on pogo in a pets room and overheard (well, "over-read) a few people talking about this kind of diet to help their dogs with loosing weight....anyone heard of it? I'm looking to help my sheltie loose some weight.

[LisaLQ]

I read somewhere that some people reduce the ammount of kibble that the dog has and replace it with green beans and live yoghurt....but I've never done it.
I suppose it just fills them up, but I know that Sky would never eat it! :lol:
When Sky had to lose weight, we just lowered the ammount of food she had, less treats too, and more exercise. Then you find a balance that keeps it off and yet doesn't make them lose any more.
Here's a link that might help (just did a search on overweight dogs)...
http://www.canineplanet.co.uk/hart003.htm
Hope it helps :)

[sheltielover]

Thanks so much, Lisa! We actually put Honey on a low calorie diet, she gets absolutely no table scraps (unless we drop somethnig and just aren't fast enough to get it before she pounces on it) and no treats. She gets a walk or two almost every single day, and we have had the vet check to make sure there wasn't anything going on with her thyroids or anything. She is actually doing alot better, though. As much as Honey loves to eat, green beans are one food she hates. :roll:

Thank you for the website, though. I'm going to check it out now. :)

[Aroura]

Havn't heard of the diet myself, but it makes sence. A couple of words of warning though, if you add beans to your dogs normal food, you may unbalance the protein etc levels in the rest of the diet. Also, beans are deficient in methionine - if you want to balance it out it is a good idea to feed in combination with corn, which is high in methionine, yet deficient in lysine. Beans are high in lysine so they are best fed together to compliment each other (see, I HAVE learnt something at uni!!! :bday: ). I'd suggest to add some tuna, which is low in fat and high in protein. Sometimes substitute green beans for kidney beans or something also for protein, though they also provide alot of fibre too. Yoghurt is great for so many reasons and I'd also suggest kelp, not only does it aid in digestion, but it is also packed with minerals such as iodine etc. Of course, don't take my word as gospel, what I have done for my slightly overweight dog is taken dry food away from her completely and give her alot of a large variety of veggies each day with chicken meat, which is low in fat.

[sheltielover]

Thanks for the info, Aroura!

[Nancy B]

Back when I was feeding kibble I would sometimes supplement Whitney's meals with green beans. Whit gains weight very easily and I used the green beans to fill her tummy when I needed to cut back the kibble. (Whit gets weighed every week. Since she does agility I track her weight very carefully.)

Green beans fed whole have no nutritunal value to a dog. Dog's can't digest them (or most other veggies) unless they are either cooked a bit or purreed. (Breaks down the cell wall.) Because of this adding green beans will not any impact on your dog's diet....they simply fill the tummy and pass through the system.

One thing to consider if you use green beans is what type to use. I mostly used fresh but, occasionally used frozen. (Kept a bag in the fridge.) If you use canned you need to watch for any added salt...not a good idea to add to the dog's diet.

Whole carrots are also another veggie I have used to fill tummies.

[sheltielover]

Thanks, Nancy!