I have a confession to make—I can’t stick to a recipe. I absolutely must tweak it to add some sort of healthy ingredient.
Take my smoothies, for example—I can’t simply toss in bananas and oranges, blend it up, and call it done. I have to include parsley, chia seeds, greens powder, protein powder, and yogurt. My family takes one look at the green concoction, roll their eyes, and drinks it anyway.
The same thing happens to my dog cookie recipes.
Luckily my dog isn’t very picky.
The Challenge
Take a plain dog biscuit recipe, add as many superfoods as I can find in my kitchen, and see if I create a “super cookie” that dogs love!
At its very simplest, a dog biscuit is flour, eggs and water. But let’s kick it up a notch, shall we, and make this thing a little more super!
Our goal is to make the most health impact with a little cookie, so we need to choose the most nutrient dense foods we can find.
We do that by choosing superfoods!
I was vaguely surprised when I learned that there was no international governing body that grants different foods superfood status.
It’s mayhem… chaos.
Can anybody just call anything a superfood, and get away with it?
Pretty much, yes. The main culprits are companies that want to sell you an expensive product with the latest trendy superfood in it, with as many health claims as possible.
The term superfood is more a marketing ploy than a hard and fast rule about classifying foods. This Harvard article discusses the emergence of the term superfood.
Bananas were marketed as the first superfood 100 years ago, to sell more bananas.
Blueberries came into the spotlight 30 years ago as the new kid on the block superfood. Since then, there has been quite a few new kids on the block! It seems like a new superfood is being “discovered” every month.
Does that mean searching out superfoods is pointless?
No, I don’t think so, but we need to look past the marketing hype and the latest trends. We don’t need expensive and exotic foods to eat healthy and it isn’t realistic to expect a single food to cure disease and save lives.
In combination, the varied nutrients complement each other and can do some amazing things in the body.
So what is a superfood anyway?
In general a superfood:
- Has high levels of nutrients (nutrient dense)
- Is thought to prevent or treat disease
- Offers multiple health benefits.
So let’s search the pantry for some winners and make some cookies!
A good place to start is the backbone of a biscuit recipe—the flour.
White wheat flour is common, inexpensive, and makes a great dough for baking but no one would mistake it for a superfood. High in carbohydrates, low in protein and seriously lacking in vitamins and minerals, this flour should be saved for pie crust.
Instead of wheat flour, we can make a flour blend for a better nutrient profile.
Almond, Quinoa and Pumpkin Seed Flour
These flours are:
- Gluten-free
- Lower carbohydrate than wheat flour
- High protein with great essential amino acid profiles
- Full of healthy fats (almond is highest) with omega 6 fatty acids and some omega 3’s (pumpkin)
- Packed with prebiotic fiber to feed the gut microbiome
- A good source of minerals: magnesium, manganese, zinc, iron
- Full of antioxidants like Vitamin E and quercetin
We can actually make all these flours in our own kitchens just by grinding in a food processor or coffee grinder.
Tip: Quinoa needs to be rinsed to remove bitter saponins from the outer surface, but some brands come pre-washed, like that from Costco.
What about the eggs? Do we need to change them?
Gosh, no.
Eggs are just about as perfect a food as you can get!
Eggs
These little superheroes are full of:
- Highly digestible, high quality protein
- Omega 3 fatty acids if from pastured or omega-enriched chickens
- Tons of vitamins( A,D,E,B ) and minerals
- Lots of choline for brain health
- Antioxidants, especially for eye health
So what about the water? We really can’t do anything to make water more “super.”
Or can we?
Let’s turn our water into bone broth.
Bone Broth
Bone broth is made from simmering animal bones and connective tissue for hours (with a little vinegar to help extract nutrients). This process creates gelatin- especially great for joint health. It is also good for gut, skin and coat.
Amino acids found in the broth can help with gut health also, even helping to repair damaged and inflamed intestines.
We have now turned our simple biscuit recipe into a superfood dog treat.
We could stop right there.
But should we? Nah. Lets push the envelope.
What are some of the healthiest foods out there that we could stuff into a dog treat recipe?
Healthy fats are a natural choice. Two that are easy to find are olive and coconut oil.
Olive Oil
Olive oil is a great choice because of the healthy monounsaturated fats, high antioxidant (Vitamin E and polyphenols) levels and anti-inflammatory benefits.
Coconut Oil
Coconut oil adds energy to our recipe, in the form of quickly utilized MCT’s (medium-chain triglycerides). Coconut oil also has antimicrobial properties and can help fight infections.
Have you heard that coconut oil is bad for people because it is high in saturated fat, and may contribute to heart disease and atherosclerotic plaques in blood vessels?
Dogs don’t get the same type of heart disease, so we can add coconut oil to our cookie recipe to provide a great source of energy.
We have the basics of a superfood dog cookie. Now comes the fun part.
Let’s check around in the cupboard to see what other little gems we can add in!
Seeds
Seeds are tiny little powerhouses that are packed with protein, fiber to feed the gut microbiome, and antioxidants. My two top choices are chia and hemp. Chia contains quite a lot of calcium, while hemp brings magnesium, zinc and iron to the table.
Omega 3 Fatty Acids
You may have heard that chia, hemp and flax seeds are a great source of super healthy omega 3 fatty acids.
That may be true in people, but not in dogs and cats.
Dogs and cats are terrible at converting the main plant-based omega fatty acid ALA found in chia, hemp and flax seeds, to the true omega superstars, DHA and EPA. It is EPA and DHA that are responsible for the truly life changing omega fatty acid benefits.
It is worth taking a moment to really talk about omega 3 fatty acid benefits because they:
- Reduce inflammation
- Support brain and cognitive health
- Promote eye health
- Improve heart health
- Enhance skin and coat quality
- Support joint health and mobility
- Boost immune system
- Aid growth and development- especially of brain and nervous system
- Speed recovery from injuries or illness
- Support weight management
- May have anti-cancer properties
We need to make sure our pets aren’t missing out on the super benefits of omega 3 fatty acids DHA and EPA by adding a marine source of omega 3 fatty acids.
EPA and DHA are produced in certain types of marine algae, and the fish that consume them.
We find high levels in:
- Marine algae oil
- Krill oil
- Cold water fish oil- salmon or cod liver
- Fish- mackerel, salmon, herring, sardines
- Other seafood like oysters
In this recipe I will add freeze dried salmon pieces and canned sardines. The canned sardines have the added benefit of lots of vitamin D.
Spirulina
While we are plucking ingredients from the sea, let’s not forget Spirulina.
Super high protein and antioxidant levels are the main reasons to add this ancient blue-green algae to our recipe. The very strong taste can be a turn off though, so we will need to go easy.
Parsley
I like my superfoods tall, dark, and… leafy!
Some of the healthiest foods on the planet are the leafy greens, like kale, spinach and parsley. They are packed full of vitamins, minerals, fiber and antioxidants.
Blueberries
When someone says the word superfood, I immediately think “blueberries!”
They have high levels of vitamin C, K and fiber, but what really makes these berries so super is the high level of powerful antioxidants that are found in bright colored fruits and veggies.
Antioxidants and Free Radicals:
Playing an Eternal Game of Hot Potato With Electrons
Free radicals are highly reactive, unstable molecules that have unpaired electrons. In an attempt to stabilize themselves, free radicals will try to “steal” electrons from other nearby molecules, leading to damage in cells and tissues.
This damage ultimately leads to inflammation, faster aging, chronic disease and shortened life.
Where do free radicals come from?
- Metabolism -the breakdown of food for energy
- Air pollution, including cigarette smoke
- Toxins
- Bacterial, fungal, or viral infections
- High blood sugar levels
- Poor diet- high in processed foods, sugar or unhealthy fats
- Stress
- UV radiation from the sun
Antioxidants are substances that neutralize free radicals by donating electrons, thus preventing the damage from free radicals.
Unfortunately, antioxidants are “used up” in this process and must be replenished from the diet. Oxidative stress happens when there are not enough antioxidants in the body to balance free radical production and neutralization.
TL;DR
To prevent damage to cells and tissues, we and our pets need plenty of protective antioxidants in food, mostly fruits and vegetables, the more colorful, the better.
Top 10 foods with the highest antioxidant levels:
- Dark Chocolate
- Pecans
- Blueberries
- Artichokes (cooked)
- Kidney beans
- Cranberries
- Blackberries
- Raspberries
- Strawberries
- Purple cabbage)
Just avoid giving chocolate to pets!
Turmeric
Last, but not least, is turmeric, a potent anti-inflammatory spice from ancient Indian Ayurvedic medicine.
Do you know the tip to increase turmeric bioavailability by 2000 %?
Add a dash of pepper!
Learn more about this simple turmeric hack and how to give it to your pets in this Posh Paws Life article and video.
I assembled my super list of ingredients, and created a green and purple masterpiece. Check the recipe out!
They look great, smelled pretty good, but do the dogs like them?
Almond flour, chia seeds, spirulina, sardines, blueberries… the ultimate DIY superfood dog treats —and my dog LOVES them. 🐾
— Dr. April Veterinarian (@Dr_April_DVM) December 4, 2024
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Coming soon on YouTube… “The Making of Superfood Cookies.” Check out the PoshPaws Life channel and subscribe- it sure helps to get the word out to other pet parents that want to level up their pet parent game!
The great thing about cooking for dogs?
They are easy to please and appreciate the effort!
Have fun and try making some superfood dog cookies at home with whatever healthy ingredient you can find in your cupboard.
Send me a picture of your dog enjoying them!
