Using a food calorie chart to choose foods when shopping or eating out is a pretty wise thing to do. It will not only help you lose and maintain weight. It will also help you get healthy and stay that way. And keeping a food calories chart handy will help keep you on the right track.food nutrition chart

Benefits Of Equine Bone And Joint Support

By Marci Nielsen


Horses have always captured people's hearts. They are strong, swift, and beautiful in motion. Once free to run over grassy hills, these animals are now used for all sorts of things from pulling heavy loads to excelling at extreme sports. Equine bone and joint support supplements are designed to help keep horses sound and pain-free in spite of the demands placed upon their bodies.

Many horse owners are familiar with equine supplements designed to provide nutrients missing from the horses' regular diet. Instead of ranging freely over miles of country with mixed vegetation, horses today are confined in stalls or fenced pastures. Hay is often a mono-crop, being largely timothy or another grass.

Pastures may look like lawns, being seeded with lush grass and mowed frequently to give a well cared for look. Since weeds have a lot of nutrients that grass does not, and things like vitamin E and essential fatty acids are found in seeds, this short grass may be appetizing but nutritionally deficient. Many feeds formulated for horses contain added nutrients for this reason.

Horses that are ridden hard, asked for extra exertion (as in racing), or used for competitive sports are under unusual stress. Nutrients that are specifically for bones and joints include MSM, glucosamine, chondroitin, and hyaluronic acid. The first three are natural substances that provide what the animal needs to rebuild and repair its skeletal system, and the last is a component of joint fluid.

Many other nutrients can help an equine athlete withstand the huge demands of performance sports. Consider the jumpers, which are asked for extreme effort in training as well as in competition. They must push off from the ground with enough force to lift their massive weight up and over an obstacle. The simple fact that such a gigantic animal can leap so high is part of the fascination of the sport.

Often the entire weight, force, and shock is on one foot. A jumper pushes off with both hind feet, soars over the obstacle, and lands on one foot on the other side. This single foot carries the entire weight of a large animal, as well as the force of coming down from a height, and then must push that weight off as forward motion continues. It's amazing that these animals can do this, and they do it over and over.

This immense stress can, of course, cause pain and lameness. A lame horse cannot compete and may never do so again. Specialized formulas provide nutrients that have been proved to help a horse repair daily damage to soft and hard tissue. These vitamins, minerals, and nutritive substances can hasten recovery time and make bones and joints more resilient. Preventing injury is much easier than trying to fix it after it happens, so better nutrition makes a lot of sense.

Aging is another form of stress that requires extra nutrition. There are all sorts of formulas designed to make your horse more comfortable and keep him sound and healthy longer. Manufacturers of specialized formulas are able to help owners choose the perfect supplement for the level of activity of each horse. Trainers all have their favorite products, too, so look for professional endorsements.




About the Author: