Photo: CREDIT: ALTON BROWN/INSTAGRAM
Much like her name suggests, Scabigail’s life wasn’t always filled with delicious treats and unlimited cuddles. When Brown andhis wife Elizabeth Ingramfirst adopted the dog three years ago, “she only weighed seven pounds.”
With time, however, Scabigail recovered and got comfortable with her new pampered life — maybe a little too comfortable.
“Late last year, her mom and I noticed that her snoring had gotten worse,” Brown, 59, tells PEOPLE.
After some research into why, the couple found Hill’s Pet Nutrition’s websiteendpetobesity.comwhere they used the body assessment tool — one of Hill’s new tools to provide healthy pet weight solutions — on Scabigail.
“It turns out that she has a little too much curve for a girl, so we immediately set up a meeting with her vet and figured out what her ideal weight ought to be,” Brown says.
The trip to the vet launched “a whole new journey of understanding pet nutrition” for Brown and his family.
“I thought I knew all there was to know about food and nutrition. I was wrong,” the celebrated food show host and cookbook author jokes.
Brown’s eagerness to learn more about pet nutrition has already benefitted Scabigail.
“We have her on the Hill’s perfect weight Science Diet. And she’s been on it for just a few weeks and already has lost some weight. She actually seems to be a little more energetic than she used to be,” Brown says of his pooch.
Brown also shared that he and Ingram have “reformed our ways.”
“We ration treats every day. Her mom and I are pulling from the same pile, so she’s not playing us off one another,” he says, adding that he and his wife have made other small changes that have made a huge difference.
For example, Brown used to reward Scabigail with treats for good behavior and has now replaced food with a “special toy that she only gets to play with once a day.”
“Now when she comes and begs, we play instead of feed,” Brown says. The switch was easy for him and Scabigail because “dogs are incredibly trainable, and they’re creatures of habit.”
After switching Scabigail and his other dog Francis Luther to healthier eating habits, Brown wants to inspire others to do the same.
“Turns out that 90% of us that have overweight pets don’t know that our pets are overweight. And so, a big part of it is figuring out if you have an issue. And then if you do, working with your vet to figure out what you ought to do about it,” Brown says.
“The thing about pets is that weight management isn’t just about what we don’t feed them. It’s about what wedofeed them, and having scientifically balanced nutrition is a pretty big deal,” he adds.
Brown recently went on his own weight loss journey and found pets and people can benefit from the same healthy eating advice.
“I’ve always maintained weight loss better when I was concentrating on what I should eat instead of what I couldn’t eat,” Brown says. “And then it comes down to prioritizing on those things that we shouldn’t, you know, do I want dessert or do I want a cocktail? Well, I’m going to take the cocktail and forget the decision.”
With their new healthier diets, Brown and his family will hit the road this year for the second leg of theAlton Brown Live: Beyond The Eatstour. The tour, which will visit another 40 to 50 cities across the U.S., starts Feb. 9 in Tampa, Florida.
When describing the show, Brown says, “it’s a culinary variety show” with numerous acts such as “strange food demonstrations, live music comedy and a game show on stage.” Mindful of all the COVID-19 restrictions, Brown also can’t seem to hide his excitement for the show “it’s really great to be back in theaters again, and to see people coming into theaters again.”
In addition to the tour, Brown is also preparing to release his newest cookbook, thefinalGood Eatsbook, which will be out at the end of April.
“This book encompasses all of the shows that weren’t in the last book, including all of theGood Eats: The Return,Good Eats: Reloaded,and a whole season ofGood Eats: Reloadedthat we never actually made the shows for, but we did the food for,” Brown shares. “It’s a nice, big juicy book with lots of science, lots of know-how, lots of recipes in kind of a wrap-up of theGood Eatsera for me.”
source: people.com
