Welcome to The Raw Entrepawneur’s Season 1 episode 65! Good morning, afternoon, evening wherever you are in the world right now, this is Amrys Wang of The Raw Entrepawneur! Today’s episode is with the ‘Laziest man in the world’ who has made such a profound impact in the way I think and view how raw food should be fed to our cats and dogs. His Barf Lite formulation has helped so many sick rescues of mine that people used to think that I was being paid to promote him. NOT! He is the Godfather of The BARF Diet – Dr Ian Billinghurst. This is Part 1 of his story. Dr Ian Billinghurst Bio: Nutritionist, Agricultural Scientist, Veterinary Surgeon, Author, Lecturer, Nutritional Consultant and Acupuncturist Ian Billinghurst graduated B.Sc.Agr. in 1966 from Sydney University as an Agronomist and Nutritionist for cattle, sheep, pigs and poultry. Ian spent 1966 as a research Scientist at the Orange Agricultural Research Station in the Central West of NSW. The next four years were spent teaching secondary level Science and Agriculture in state High schools (NSW). During this period Ian obtained his Diploma in Education from The University of New England Armidale. These studies included an in depth investigation of the philosophy of Science, most particularly the writings of Karl R Popper. In 1971, Ian commenced his Veterinary Science degree, graduating B.V.Sc.Hons) from Sydney University in 1976. His long held dream of dairy practice was shattered by unforeseen events and as a result he has remained (principally) in Companion animal practice (with some equine thrown in) since that time. Between 1984 and 1987, Ian studied for and passed his examinations in Traditional Chinese Medicine — acupuncture — (for humans). These studies and the association with health practitioners who thought a little outside the square proved pivotal to Ian’s future professional direction. By the end of the 1980’s, the combination of his formal and private studies, together with his clinical research into the relationship between what his dog and cat patient’s ate and their state of health, had convinced Ian that Evolutionary Nutrition (genome–based nutrition, including the recent but limited version called “Nutrigenomics”) was the only nutritional program able to promote and sustain genuine health. He realized that this principle applied equally to all animal species… including humans. His first book, Give Your Dog a Bone” — published in late 1993 — sets out the basic principles for canine nutrition. This book details the use of raw, whole and commonly available foods, including raw bones, meat, offal, vegetables, eggs yogurt etc. that may be used to produce genome-based — and therefore genuinely healthy — canine food. This book proved an instant hit and remains his most sought after and influential publication. “Give Your Dog a Bone” is (arguably) one of the most influential books on canine nutrition written since the 1990’s. Its basic principles now impact or influence much of the nutritional decision making of any pet parent wishing to develop healthy canine (and feline) nutritional programmes. Those principles are also influencing the marketing of the products produced by the multinational pet food companies. However, while we see it in their “spin”, those principles are rarely if ever applied to the products they produce. In 1997 Ian was invited to England where he lectured in Birmingham, Bristol, London and Manchester, kick-starting the raw-feeding industry and widespread adoption of this way of feeding throughout the UK and beyond. In 1998… during a 9 weeks tour of the United States, Ian presented 13 seminars, of one and two days duration, from the west to the east coast and back again, including Seattle in Washington State, Dallas in Texas, Orlando in Florida, Hartford in Connecticut, Richmond in Virginia, Valley Forge in Pennsylvania (APDT), Chicago in Illinois, Toledo in Ohio, Bellingham in Washington, Los Angeles, San Francisco and finally Honolulu Hawaii. These seminars were held in October, November and December of 1998 and where the principles presented were adopted, proved to be the turning point for pet health. This was accentuated by the fact that they spawned the enormous raw food movement that now flourishes across North America and throughout the western world. In the USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and much of Europe, raw feeding has become widely accepted, and that includes a growing number of veterinarians. Unfortunately, it has also spawned enormous opposition; principally from the pet food companies together with their faithful acolytes, the vast majority of companion animal veterinarians practicing today. Meanwhile, there are now numerous Internet lists and web sites extolling the virtues of raw feeding, together with many hundreds of pet food companies producing raw pet foods right across North America, Europe, Australia, New Zealand and the UK etc. During his 1998 US tour, Ian released his second book, “Grow Your Pups With Bones”. This book was written as the breeder’s supplement to “Give Your Dog a Bone,” and includes a section dealing with the prevention and treatment of skeletal disease in growing pups GYPWB formalized the concept of BARF, an acronym for either “Bones And Raw Food” or “Biologically Appropriate Raw (or Real) Food”. The latter use is from a more scientific perspective. In 2001 Ian Released his third book, “The BARF Diet”, a basic primer, or introduction to the concepts and practicalities inherent in the raw feeding of both cats and dogs. It too remains popular today. Since his initial US tour, Ian has made frequent visits to the US and Canada, speaking to veterinarians, breeders, dog trainers, and dog owners (including twice speaking at APDT), promoting the concept of Evolutionary Nutrition at every lecture. In 2002, Ian gave two half days of lectures on Evolutionary Nutrition to the American Holistic Veterinary Medical Association. In 2003 and again in 2007, Ian spoke at the Pet Food Forum, the official annual conference of the North American Pet Food Industry. In the 2003 lecture, Ian challenged his audience with a provocative presentation titled … “Raw Whole Foods: Is this the future of pet Foods?” Again, in 2007, Ian challenged the pet food industry with a talk titled … “Neoplasia and Pet Food: Do Modern Processed Pet Foods Drive Neoplasia? Are RAW Diets the Answer?” Ian has also spoken in New Zealand, Singapore, Japan and Australia, to breeders, dog training groups, technical colleges and post-graduate veterinary groups. Ian has made numerous lecture tours of Japan, with speaking venues in Tokyo (Shibuya), Kobe, Hukuoka (Hakata) and Aichi (Nagoya). The first of these tours was in 2001, the second in 2003, the third in 2006, with another series of tours in 2007 and 2008, where Ian began the first of his formal BARF courses for Japanese Students. It was during his 2006 tour that Ian released the Japanese translation of “The BARF Diet.” This book has now been further translated into French, Italian, Spanish and Simple Chinese. Between 2003 and 2015, Ian and his wife Roslyn produced frozen RAW Foods for cats and dogs under the brand “Dr. B’s Genuine Aussie R.A.W.” These frozen raw pet foods are based on Evolutionary principles of nutrition; they are formulated to be suitable for all stages of life. Even though Ian and Roslyn no longer work in this business, these same foods continue to be available and continue to promote brilliant canine and feline health) throughout Australia, Singapore & Hong Kong. In May 2016, Ian spoke at the AVA annual conference in Adelaide, speaking about the role that modern pet foods play in producing feline diabetes. He had previously spoken at the Australian Veterinary Association’s (AVA’s) annual conference in Tasmania, in May 2006, where he spoke on the role of nutrition in treating cancer. Ongoing literature and research over the decade following that presentation resulted in Ian’s fourth book, “Pointing the Bone at Cancer” (PTBAC), which was published in November 2016. PTBAC deals with cancer in dogs, cats and humans; it details the role Evolutionary Nutrition, the ketogenic diet and calorie restriction must play in preventing and treating Cancer. It explains why we are unable to defeat cancer using the current “Standard of Care” and that includes the so-called “smart drugs”. PTBAC showcases the science, which reveals that cancer is not primarily a genetic disease, but rather, a disease with mitochondrial/metabolic origins. PTBAC outlines the evidence supporting cancer as a disease that stems from a pre-existing genetic program (part of the same programme that drives the early stages of development following fertilization during embryogenesis). PTBAC shows that cancer cannot possibly stem from a series of randomly generated genetic mutations, which is the currently accepted (and apparently set in stone) hypothesis for cancer’s origins. From this understanding, PTBAC presents a vital message… if we are to defeat cancer, — and do so humanely — it must be understood as primarily… a metabolic disease. In this approach, which is proving both humane and successful (where applied), nutrition is directed at supporting the vital organelles we call mitochondria (in healthy cells), while metabolic starving is directed at cancer cells; generally via ketogenesis and calorie restriction. This understanding brings with it the opportunity to treat and defeat cancer without harming the patient and is already having a positive impact in the lives of cancer patients and their carers. In short, the basic message in this book is that … “No matter what else we do…” it is imperative that we employ these simple but powerful nutritional tools… if we are to ever defeat cancer. In 2016 and 2017, Ian delivered lectures in Melbourne, Adelaide, Sydney, Brisbane, Perth and Darwin on the role of nutrition in treating and preventing cancer in dogs, cats and humans. This was followed in 2018/19 by lectures in Spain, Canada, the UK, and China on both evolutionary nutrition and the role nutrition plays in treating (and preventing) cancer. Most Notably, Ian delivered three lectures at the American Holistic Veterinary Medical Association’s Annual Conference held at Nashville in September 2019, where he spoke on… L1… “The Failing War on Cancer”, L2… “The Evolutionary origins of Cancer” and L3… “Cancer, One Disease… One Solution”. Since retiring from day-to-day veterinary practice, Ian has intensified his research on the relationship between nutrition, health and disease, in cats dogs and humans and continues to be a much sought- after speaker on these topics, most particularly as it relates to cancer. Ian is currently working on a book or series of books detailing raw whole food prescription diets, where each diet is designed specifically for each of a wide range of degenerative disease problems, ranging from allergies, skin problems, arthritis, all the common pancreatic problems, the various IBD’s, epilepsy, renal problems, hepatic disease, cardiac problems, etc., and of course … for cancer. It is these dietary regimes or prescription diets that Ian presents in his lectures and makes available to pet parents when treating health issues in companion animals. https://drianbillinghurst.com The Raw Entrepawneur: https://www.facebook.com/TheRawEntrepawneur https://www.instagram.com/raw_entrepawneur/
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