Diet like a grizzly: Zookeepers in Chicago helped grizzly bears lose hundreds of pounds of weight by making some simple diet and behavior changes.Courtesy DiliffWhen zookeepers at Chicago's Brookfield Zoo noticed their grizzly bears were getting flabby, they came up with a novel idea on how to turn their health around. They got the bears acting and eating more like they do in their natural environments. And the lessons learned for the grizzlies can easily be applied to us humans to eat better, too.
In fact, there's a growing trend in medicine now to for doctors and veterinarians to share their research to find out if new behaviors that can help animals could help humans, too. You can read all about it here.
But looking specifically at the grizzly bears in Chicago, zookeepers ditched the laboratory composed diets of mixing dog foods and ground beef for the bears and went to more traditional berries, grains and meats the bears would actually prey on like fish and rabbits. The food was no longer delivered on metal trays the same time each day, but hidden around the bear's enclosure, forcing them to forage and work to get their grub. Within a year, both bears had lost hundreds of pounds.
So what's the human equivalent diet modifications? For one thing, not stockpiling up several weeks worth of food is a good start. Rather, buy just a few days worth of fresher, seasonal foods at a time. Most vegetables at grocery stores now days are engineered to have longer shelf lives, but less nutrition. Buying foods at farmers' markets and the like can lead to healthier greens.
And like a grizzly, we can burn more calories if we "forage" by walking or biking to the market. Not using a cart in a store or a car to transport our food home will also limit the amount of what we buy to what fits nicely in a basket or bag.
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wow that is really interseting....but the best diet is duck tape, is you tape it over your mouth then you wont eat anything!!!!!!!
it depends on how much weight a grizzly bear loses but even if it usually loses alot i will still try to keep up so i can stay healthy!!!!!!!!!!! :)
so true. i like staying healthy
staying healthy is great, but one time when my aunt went on a health kick she would not get in the car, she walked everywhere!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
It is a good thing that the bears lose weight
Grizzlies don't eat Oreos, thats why they are in good shape!
They had a great idea of helping the bears and it's also good to apply the same concept for humans. Another good approach to losing weight.
ohhhh you dontttt say, eating fruits and veggies helps you lose weight?
Grizzlies are in the best shape! They don't eat junk like me!
Well PERSONALLY... I LIKE the junk food I eat. hmph
us americans are addictid to sweets and bad food
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